Superheroes may dominate the box office and our streaming services, but this year on National Super Hero Day we’re celebrating and recognizing our real heroínas. Throughout history Latinas have defeated odds and smashed stereotypes. I mean, everyone (absolutely everyone) knows the legendary impact Selena left on the world. From Frida Kahlo’s paintings to Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s memorable Super Bowl halftime show, Latinas are here to leave an impression, surprise us, and inspire us. These are just some of the powerful ladies that have helped make history and shape society as we know it today.
Sonia Sotomayor
Sonia Sotomayor became the first ever Latina Supreme Court Justice in U.S. history in 2009. Born in the Bronx area of New York, she knew she wanted to work in the justice system from a young age after watching an episode of the legal show “Perry Mason.” Sotomayor’s mother pushed her kids towards education and it paid off; she would go on to graduate from Princeton University and Yale Law School. She began her career as an assistant district attorney and worked her way up to the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals until President Barack Obama nominated her for Supreme Court Justice on May 26, 2009. Since then, Sotomayor has been known for writing passionate dissents and being a voice for marginalized communities and people of color. She had a hand in the vote that made same sex marriage legal in all fifty states and the vote that upheld the Affordable Care Act.
Melissa Villaseñor
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Saturday Night Live is an American staple in our culture and has boosted the careers of everyone from Chris Farley to Tina Fey. The comedy sketch show has been airing since 1975, yet it wasn’t until 2016 that Villaseñor became the first-ever Latina SNL cast member to entertain us “live from New York.” It was no easy get; Villaseñor actually auditioned for SNL way back in 2009 only to be rejected. The comedian never gave up and her hard work paid off when she finally joined the cast on the show she credited as one of her main reasons for pursuing comedy. Not only is she an expert impressionist (she’s done everyone from Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez to, most recently, Brad Pitt on her Instagram) but she’s also broken barriers by performing in a comedy space almost completely devoid of Latinas. Villaseñor also creates art and music – you can even find her on Spotify!
Ellen Ochoa
Many kids dream of becoming an astronaut, but Ellen Ochoa actually made it happen when she became the first Latina in space on April 8, 1993. Ochoa studied electrical engineering at Stanford University where she earned her masters and doctorate degrees before joining NASA as a research engineer in 1988. She was selected as an astronaut in 1990 and spent nine days in space aboard the space shuttle Discovery. Since then, Ochoa has flown into space three other times and has spent over a thousand hours in orbit. She went on to become the first Latina director, and second female director, of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Tanya Saracho
Saracho is a Hollywood show runner, producer, and writer, but she’s no run-of-the-mill L.A. professional. She’s the creator and voice behind the Starz dramedy “Vida,” a show that examines the modern Latinx experience and the gentrification encroaching the east L.A. neighborhood of Boyle Heights. Saracho actively pushes for greater Latinx representation in all of Hollywood. “We’re definitely having a moment, but it’s dangerous to congratulate ourselves too much – we’re not there yet,” Saracho said in an interview with Variety. She writes complex and layered characters of all orientations on “Vida” and doesn’t shy away from honest stories about generation gaps, race, and sex. The women of “Vida” actually reflect the full spectrum of Latina sexuality instead of merely sexualizing them. When real-life residents of Boyle Heights protested the show for, ironically, being an example of gentrification, Saracho admitting the accusations weren’t wrong and that the threat of displacement and erasure are very real. She continued to film the show with that in mind because, as she told Indie Wire, “It’s for them.”
Gabriela Mistral
Gabriela Mistral was the first Latina author to win the Nobel Prize in literature in 1945 and did so despite a life filled with all the passion and tragedy of a telenovela. Born in Chile, Mistral came to love poetry through her father who was a schoolteacher and poet. As a child, Mistral was “never happy again” after being sent away from her family and hometown to attend school. She worked as a teacher’s aid and wrote and submitted stories to newspapers, eventually publishing “La Instruccíon de la Mujer” (The Education of Women) that spoke against the limits placed on women’s education. When she fell into a passionate romance with a railway worker who would later commit suicide, her heartbreak led her to write poetry that touched on life and death in a way that was unique to Latin writers at the time. Mistral earned her teaching certificate and went on to work in education and write many poetry books. She helped rebuild the education system in Mexico after the Mexican Revolution, taught classes at prestigious universities, and traveled the world sharing her work.
Sylvia Rivera
As a gay, transgender, Latina drag queen, Rivera was a fierce voice for LGBTQ+ rights in the 60s and 70s. She fought for legislation banning gender discrimination and advocated for safer spaces for queer youth. As a child, Rivera left her home and became a sex worker on the streets of New York, where she became part of the “street queen” community. Rivera was eventually targeted by her own community, often upsetting others with her brash tactics to include transgender people, often overlooked, in their fight for equal rights. She was banned from New York’s Gay and Lesbian Center after wrecking a desk in their lobby because she believed they weren’t helping the homeless, trans youth that slept in front of the building. She was even booed at a gay pride rally. Rivera was famously the second person to throw a Molotov cocktail at the Stonewall Riots and co-founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with Marsha P. Johnson to provide shelter for queer homeless youth. After her death in 2002 the Sylvia Rivera Law Project was founded in her name to provide access to essential services for transgender, queer, and gender non-conforming people.
Cristela Alonzo
Alonzo is a stand-up comedian who made history and headlines in 2014 by becoming the first Latina to create, write, produce, and star in her own network sitcom, “Cristela.” While her path was certainly paved by comediennes like Anjelah Johnson before her, Alonzo’s talent for hilariously commenting on the modern Mexican-American experience is undeniable. In her Netflix stand-up special, “Lower Classy,” she jokes about everything from Trump’s wall (“Doesn’t he know we use tunnels now? Build that wall as high as you want, stupid, we’re underground!”) to her need to clean everything “because I’m Latina.” She was also the first Latina to play a lead character in a Disney-Pixar movie, voicing Cruz Ramirez in “Cars 3.” She released her book, “Music to my Years: A Mixed Tape Memoir of Growing Up and Standing Up,” in 2019 and actively advocates for immigration rights and affordable healthcare for low-income communities.
Dolores Huerta
If you haven’t heard her name, you’ve certainly heard her slogan, “Si Se Puede.” This was the rallying cry created by Huerta to inspire the working-class people she fought for in the 60s and 70s. She co-founded the National Farm Workers Association with Cesar Chavez in 1962 to help organize and fight for the rights of farm workers. Huerta was one of their loudest voices, lobbying for and securing disability insurance for farm workers in 1963. She was actively involved in the Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which granted California farm workers the right to bargain for better wages and working conditions, the first law of its kind. She also led a grape workers strike in 1965. The strike was so successful that it evolved into a nationwide consumer boycott of grapes and resulted in increased protections and wages for thousands of workers. Huerta also fought for women to have an equal voice in the workplace and in unions and mentored other young, female activists. She traveled the country to encourage Latinas to run for political office positions and was National Chair of the 21st Century Party. In 2012 President Barack Obama awarded Huerta The Presidential Medal of Freedom and in 2013 she was inducted into the California Hall of Fame.
Go out and make your own history! Si se puede!