Chicana Activist To Speak At Caucus Benefit

The Hays County Women’s Political Caucus will host Martha Cotera, a Chicana activist and author, as its featured speaker for the “Girls Just Wanna Have Funds” spring benefit on Friday, March 29, from 5:30-7:30 PM at the Price Center, 222 W. San Antonio Street, San Marcos.

The event will raise funds for the organization’s Political Action Committee to support future endorsed candidates running for office. Contributions are encouraged to help match $1,000 in funds donated by Friends of the Caucus.

Musical entertainment will be provided by guitarist Gary Taylor. People interested in helping sponsor the event can contact Bobbie Garza-Hernandez, PAC chair, at 512-754-1012.

Born in Chihuahua, Mexico, Cotera moved with her mother to El Paso in 1946 and became a citizen in 1962, the same year she graduated from the University of Texas El Paso.  In 1963, she married fellow student, Juan Cotera, and they moved to Austin so he could continue his education at the University of Texas.

Martha Cotera was hired as Director of Documents in 1964 at the Texas State Library in Austin. Later in 1968, she became the director of Southwest Educational Development and was put in charge of 28 libraries across the state of Texas.

During this time, both Cotera and her husband were involved in several political and activist organizations including PASSO (Political Association of Spanish Speaking Organizations), and the farmworkers movement.

In 1964, Cotera and other educators formed TEAMS (Texans for Educational Advancement for Mexican Americans), a group of educators who garnered support for high school students who participated in student boycotts organized by the Mexican American Youth Organization.

In 1968, Cotera and her husband volunteered intermittently in Crystal City, Texas providing curriculum materials and tutoring students who were boycotting the high schools. In 1969, Cotera and her family chose to leave Austin and briefly moved to Mercedes, Texas where she and her husband helped found Jacinto Trevino College.

Supported by Antioch College and its University Without Walls program, Jacinto Trevino College was developed as a college for Mexican Americans to prepare teachers for bilingual bicultural education programs. Cotera earned a Master’s Degree in Education from Antioch College in 1971. 

Both Cotera and her husband were intimately involved in the founding and structuring of La Raza Unida Party, a third political party centered on Chicano nationalism. She and other women activists later established Mujeres de La Raza Unida, a women’s caucus with the party advocating the recruitment of women.

Cotera and colleagues also established a Chicana caucus within the Texas Women’s Political Caucus, founded the Chicana Research and Learning Center in Austin which raised grant funds for projects with an emphasis on women of color, and founded Information Systems Development, an independent research and publishing company focusing on Chicanos and Chicanas. .

She is the author of several books focusing on her experiences within the Chicana/o movement and the dynamics of feminism, racism and classism within the women’s movement.

Cotera worked for nearly three decades as a community liaison for the Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas until the position was eliminated due to budget cuts and shifting priorities.

She is currently an independent translator and community consultant, and remains active in local politics and community initiatives including the Mexican American Cultural Center, immigrant rights, and Code Pink. She has also been a strong and eloquent advocate against the death penalty in Texas.

Founded in 1973, the HCWPC is affiliated with the state and National Women’s Political Caucus with the goal of increasing women’s participation in the political process and to identify, recruit, train and support progressive feminist candidates for election and appointment to public office.

HCWPC supports equal rights for all individuals regardless of race, age, gender, religion, ethnic origin, ability, sexual orientation or immigration status.

With more than 80 Hays County members, the organization supports reproductive rights, quality health care services and the eradication of violence, poverty and discrimination.

Donations may be sent to HCWPC-PAC at 415 N. Guadalupe Street, Box 420, San Marcos, TX. 78666. Contributors should include their names, address, occupation and email address.