Part II of Feminists before their times…
“A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman.” Melinda French Gates, American philanthropist
Velia Jiménez.
In Part I of this series, I noted that back in the day, before the term “feminist” was popular, there were many strong, assertive women within our community. I refer to them as “organic feminists.”
In Part II I feature some more organic feminists from my community whom I was privileged to interact with, learn from, and be inspired by.
Organic feminists existed in every community. Research the ones in your community. I guarantee: you’ll be proud and you’ll be inspired.
It’s a two-fer…
Learning about our community’s organic feminists is a two-fer. On the one hand, we show respect to, and appreciation of, people who have contributed much to our community, people who are at the heart of our community’s history.
And on the other hand, we learn from and are inspired by the organic feminists who paved the road we walk on.
Velia Jiménez
Born in the Arizona mining town of Ray-Sonora, Velia Jiménez was tough yet caring. Velia lent a helping hand to people in need even as she vigorously fought local and federal bureaucracies in behalf of common folk.
During WWII, Velia’s family established a grocery store, the El Rio Market, in Tucson’s Barrio Hollywood. Velia owned and operated the store for over 25 years. [I grew up in Barrio Hollywood and patronized Velia’s store.]
[As we’ll see below, the El Rio Market was a constant in westside activism.]
Velia’s fingerprints and DNA are all over Tucson activist history. For example:
She was active in campaigns to integrate the Tucson School District school board. And Velia was a founding member of the Barrio Education Center that trained parents in how to deal with the educational bureaucracy.
Velia was a board member of the Manzo Area Council, a barrio-based advocacy agency involved in immigrants-rights work. In 1977, Border Patrol agents raided the Manzo Area Council. Client files were seized and agency staff were charged with felonies. Velia and the agency fought back fiercely, putting together a broad-based support coalition and suing the Border Patrol.
Velia served as President of the League of Mexican-American Women, which has awarded millions of dollars in post-high school education scholarships to needy young women. And Velia was an active member of the Citizen Advisory Board of the Tucson Police Department’s barrio-based Adam One policing program that was established after a series of confrontations between TPD and barrio activists.
Velia was a founding member of Nosotros, a social-service agency that referred people who needed help to relevant agencies and advocated for them. Velia and Nosotros were part of a coalition (Chicano Consortium for Public Issues) that pressured the United Way to fund westside agencies. [Nosotros is still a robust and dynamic agency that serves our community.]
Velia, along with Sister Corina Padilla (discussed below), pioneered the establishment of the Catholic Diocesan Council for Hispanic Affairs, where she was an advocate for Mexican American parishioners.
And Velia was heavily involved in the historic “El Rio for the People” movement discussed below that fundamentally changed Tucson’s political culture. Velia (and her children) participated in many of the El Rio for the People activities.
Even in the twilight period of her life, Velia was pressuring local and state officials to establish a westside Mexican American History Center/Museum that Tucson voters approved.
Indeed, Velia Jiménez set a great example for us and deserves our respect.
The women of El Rio…
The heart of that dynamic movement was a cadre of “older” women, including Carmen Urrutia, Patsy Douglas, Victoria Fimbres, Mary Chiaffino, Josefina Noriega, Sacramento Rodriguez and others.
The 1970 “El Rio for the People” movement in Tucson, the parent of today’s neighborhood empowerment movement, established the fact that neighborhoods have rights that must be respected.
[El Rio was the name of a municipal golf course located in Tucson’s west side. The residents were proposing that part of El Rio be converted to a neighborhood park.]
About “El Rio for the People”: In 1967, a slate of Tucson City Council candidates committed to building a park in Tucson’s west side but once elected, the politicians denied ever having made such a promise. Westside residents demanded that the politicians keep their word.
Two dynamic forces came together under the banner of “El Rio for the People.” One was the Manzo Area Council (MAC), which was part of the government’s “War on Poverty” initiative. The MAC had launched a Voter-Registration/Go Vote campaign on the westside, targeting people in their 40s-50s. [The MAC would later change its focus to doing immigrant-rights work.]
The other force was the youth-led Chicano Movement which was developing in Tucson. Like the MAC, the Tucson Chicano Movement was based in the westside Barrio Hollywood. The Chicano/a activists were mostly in their 20s.
El Rio for the People involved hundreds of people. The heart of that dynamic movement was a cadre of “older” women, including Carmen Urrutia, Patsy Douglas, Victoria Fimbres, Mary Chiaffino, Josefina Noriega, Sacramento Rodriguez (They of blessed memory), and others. Prior to the El Rio movement, none of these women had ever been involved in protest marches or pickets or had attended a city council meeting.
These women set the moral tone of the movement (“it’s not political, it’s a matter of right versus wrong”). The religious among them often cited this or that Bible verse to explain the movement. And they lifted our spirits when we were down and set the practical parameters of strategies that were proposed, etc.
Over the period of several months, there were marches, and a picket/demonstration was held every weekend at the golf course. We took over the golf course twice. We picketed in the 110-degree summer days, in the rain during the monsoon season, and in the cold of the winter months. Once, in September 1970, we took over Speedway Blvd., a main thoroughfare, and held a community picnic on the street. In December 1970, we had a sleepover outside the golf course. We also picketed City Hall.
After months of confrontations and struggle, negotiations occurred and a westside park was built, as was a neighborhood center.
[After the El Rio for the People campaign, most of the “women of El Rio” remained active in the Centro Chicano.]
Sister Corina Padilla
Corina Padilla.
Corina Padilla was born in the mining town of Clifton, AZ. A Catholic nun for over 65 years, Corina is of the Dominican Sisters of Peace – originally the Eucharistic Missionaries of St. Dominic, which in 1939 started teaching religious classes, visiting incarcerated people, feeding the hungry, and nursing the sick in Arizona mining/smelter towns such as Globe-Miami, Douglas, Hayden-Winkelman, Bisbee, Clifton-Morenci.
As a teenager Corina had a profound religious experience that moved her to work with the poor and with people who were marginalized. To pursue those goals, Corina became a nun.
In the 1950s, Sister Corina lived in and worked out of South Tucson’s Pío Décimo Convent. Founded in 1946, Pío Décimo dedicated itself to serving people in need, families facing poverty and hunger. Pío Décimo’s mission and work jibed perfectly with Corina’s calling to serve the poor.
Her desire to work with marginalized communities led her to become a strong supporter of the Manzo Area Council – described above – and its immigrants-rights work and overall work with poor people. She participated regularly in Manzo Area Council activities.
Corina was also a stalwart warrior of the Chicano(a) Movement. She was a regular at the marches, picket lines, and other activities organized by the Centro Chicano. For example, in the 1970s, the United Farmworkers Union (UFW) called boycotts of non-union lettuce and grapes. On Friday evenings and Saturday mornings, over many months, the Centro Chicano and other groups picketed stores that sold non-union lettuce and grapes. Corina was a regular on these picket lines.
The Centro Chicano also picketed the school-district headquarters in protest of mistreatment of Mexican American students and businesses that did not hire Mexican Americans. Corina was often on these picket lines also.
Corina was involved in the establishment of the Tucson Diocesan Council for Hispanic Affairs, which ensures that all diocesan amenities and programs are available to Latino parishioners.
Like those of Velia Jiménez and the Women of El Rio, Sister Corina Padilla’s footprints in our community’s history are huge. We walk on the footprints and stand on the shoulders of these organic feminists.
I end as I started: Find and learn about the organic feminists in your community. I guarantee: you’ll be proud and you’ll be inspired. c/s
NOTE: The aforementioned El Rio Market was a constant in many of the activities discussed above. After it closed the space was rented/leased. Many of the groups mentioned above were based in the El Rio Market space, viz.:
The Manzo Area Council – the original one, where the “El Rio for the People” campaign was launched and its successor which was raided by the Border Patrol – as well as the Barrio Education Center and the social-service agency Nosotros.
If only those walls could talk…
_____________________________________________________________________________
Copyright 2026 by Salomon Baldenegro. You can write to Sal at: salomonrb@msn.com All photo images courtesy of Sal Baldenegro or are used under the “fair use” proviso of the copyright law.