INTERVIEW DISCRIPTION - This is the first of three interviews with Leticia Hernandez conducted as part of a project on Hijas de Cuauhtemoc. Hernandez was very forthcoming and helpful in the interview, which was recorded in her office at the CSU headquarters.
7/28/1992
Description:
SUBJECT BIO - Leticia Hernandez was active in Hijas de Cuauhtemoc at CSULB and worked on the group's newspaper by the same name. She was involved in Las Mujeres de Longo (Women of Long Beach).
Bilingual by the age of three, Hernandez initially planned to become a translator. She changed her plans, however, after EOP recruiters from CSULB offered her housing and/or a scholarship. In short order, Hernandez joined UMAS (which later became MEChA). The conflicts in UMAS, particularly around the issue of Chicana feminism, led Hernandez to join other women in Hijas de Cuauhtemoc.
From 1970-1973, Hernandez turned her attention to Ballet Folklorico, organizing community performances. After she married in 1979, she moved to Washington, DC with her husband and began working for Estaban Torres, eventually becoming his District Director. After her divorce and a sojourn in Atlanta, Georgia, she returned to California and in 1992 began working in the CSU Chancellor's office.
TOPICS - Family history of Leticia Hernandez; early family life in East Los Angeles; educational aspirations to attend college; struggles in secondary school; entrance to California State University, Long Beach; participation in Educational Outreach Program; involvement with Chicano movement; adapting to college life; learning about reproductive health; initial involvement with United Mexican American Students. Hernandez’s early college years; struggles with academic studies; involvement with United Mexican American Students; dropping out of school; organizing Ballet Folklorico; experiencing sexual discrimination in UMAS and MEChA; working with the Educational Outreach Program; activism in the Long Beach community; establishment of the Chicano Studies Program; adjusting to freedom in college; struggles over female gender roles. Hernandez’s involvement with farm workers and grape boycott; marching in a United Farm Workers protest at Delano; effects of Reagan Era on Chicano Movement; tracing the fading Chicano Movement.
