Martha Cotera, Activist

Martha P. Cotera is a librarian, writer, and influential activist of both the Chicano Civil Rights Movement and the Chicana Feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Her two most notable works are Diosa y Hembra: The History and Heritage of Chicanas in the U.S. and The Chicana Feminist. The Texas Women’s Political Caucus was founded by Cotera and other women in 1973. In 1974, she founded the non-profit Chicana Research and Learning Center in Austin, Texas. As a special staff consultant with the Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas, Cotera worked for over 25 years to locate and obtain the archives of important figures in Mexican American cultural politics in Texas and beyond.

Cotera earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a minor in history from Texas Western College, which is now the University of Texas at El Paso. Later, she earned a Master’s degree in Education from Antioch College.

Page last updated 2:48 PM, August 30, 2024