Herminia Álvarez Herrera

Natividad Herminia Álvarez Herrera (1888–1955) was a Mexican Revolutionary War veteran, propagandist and personal tutor and governess for the children of Venustiano Carranza. She was the founder of the Confederación Femenil Mexicana.

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Álvarez and the second or maternal family name is Herrera.

Herminia Álvarez Herrera
Born	Natividad Herminia Álvarez Herrera 1888 Santa María del Oro, Durango, Mexico
Died	1955 Mexico City, Mexico
Nationality	Mexican
Occupation	revolutionary, educator, feminist

Biography

Natividad Herminia Álvarez Herrera was born in 1888[1] Santa María del Oro, Durango, Mexico. She joined the Revolution in 1910 as a propagandist.[2] She joined the Mexican Revolution supporting Francisco I. Madero, but on his assassination in 1913, joined the anti-Huerta Women's Loyalty Club, participating in demonstrations distributing propaganda for the Constitutionalists with María Arias Bernal.[3] That same year, her sister Concepción also joined the Revolutionary forces.[2]

Álvarez, working with Arias Bernal, Eulalia Guzmán, and Dolores Sotomayor founded the Corregidor de Querétaro Vocational School to help women improve their economic circumstances.[4] In 1914, Carranza appointed Álvarez as the private governess[3] and teacher of his children.[2]

After the overthrow of Huerta, Carranza gave Álvarez several commissions to interview revolutionary leaders in various states.[3] Carranza also traveled with a group of teachers and professionals who he trusted to reform and reconstruct society by way of education and propaganda. He sent 44 teachers to Puebla, 27 to Querétaro, 4 to Tabasco, 20 to Yucatán, 5 to disseminate propaganda to General Obregon's army, and 27 teachers traveled with him.[5] Álvarez was part of the group accompanying Carranza to Veracruz.[2] In 1916, she was honored with a diploma for her revolutionary merit.[3]

Álvarez founded the Confederación Femenil Mexicana (Mexican Women's Confederation).[2] In the creation of the Mexican Women's Confederation in 1931 the communist women, including Cuca García and Concha Michel were vocal about exploitation. They wanted measures to counter exploitation of Mexican women, including their access to education, free agency placements, restaurants for employees and workers, communal housing, health care for workers, a legal department, to female attendants, and protectionist laws.[6]

In 1933 she joined the National Revolutionary Party. That same year she participated in the second National Congress of Workers and Peasants. Álvarez died in Mexico City in 1955.[2]

References

1. Mendívil, Ignacio (November 20, 2011). "Mujeres duranguenses en la Revolución Mexicana" (PDF). Especial (in Spanish). Vertebracion. Number 437. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
2. Hernández Camargo, Julieta (12 November 2008). "Sí hay mujeres en Durango" (in Spanish). Organización Editorial Mexicana (OEM). Retrieved 25 March 2015.
3. Ortiz Arana, Fernando, ed. (1992). Las mujeres en la Revolución Mexicana : 1884 - 1920 ; biografías de mujeres revolucionarias (PDF) (in Spanish). México, D.F.: Honorable Cámara de Diputados LV Legislatura. pp. 28–30. ISBN 968-805-713-4. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
4. Mitchell, Stephanie Evaline; Schell, Patience Alexandra (2007). The Women's Revolution in Mexico, 1910-1953. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 24–30. ISBN 978-0-7425-3731-6.
5. "Carranza and Public Instruction in Mexico: Sixty Mexican Teachers Are Commissioned to Study in Boston". New York: Internet Archive. 1915. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
6. Tuñón Pablos, Esperanza (1986). "El Frente Único Pro Derechos de la Mujer Durante el Cardenismo" (PDF). Departemento Sociología (in Spanish). National Autonomous University of Mexico: 95–123. Retrieved 27 March 2015.