San Antonio plans to honor the late civil rights activist and journalist Jovita Idár by dedicating a memorial way designation to a portion of Robert B. Green Way downtown.
Idár is the second activist honored as part of the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute’s effort to recognize civil rights trailblazers. The first was labor organizer Emma Tenayuca with a street designation near the site of the famous Pecan Shellers strike.
Idár was a bilingual Mexican American educator, journalist, nurse and political activist from Laredo who had a transnational and bicultural impact. She lived on the West Side of San Antonio for almost 30 years, until her death in 1946.
Recently honored with her own quarter as part of the American Women Quarters Program in September 2023, Idár was the second Latina featured on a quarter.
Honoring Mexican American activists
San Antonio seeks to implement at least two dozen more memorial way designations dedicated to Mexican American civil rights activists in San Antonio, said MACRI Director Sarah Gould at a panel discussion at Northwest Vista College about Idár’s life on Wednesday.
“San Antonio is the cradle of Mexican American civil rights history nationally. We want to expand what people associate with San Antonio,” she said.
Gould said she’ll meet with Mayor Ron Nirenberg soon to go through MACRI’s recommended list of 24 trailblazers.
It’ll take some time to finalize the list, Gould said. Once a request for the designation is submitted, the city will host a series of community meetings in the neighborhoods that could get the designation for feedback, as the designation process requires.
“What we hope is that it helps people, locals or tourists, understand that they’re in a city that’s just full of Mexican American history,” Gould said.
A public art piece will contextualize each activist’s work by complementing the memorial designation in areas where the honoree had an impact.
The mural dedicated to Idár narrates her life work and is located at Dress for Success San Antonio, steps from where she lived. A mural honoring Emma Tenayuca will go up on Cevallos Street in Southtown soon, Gould said.
MACRI plans for memorial way designations in the city center and on the West Side, Gould said, and the organization expects to see all 24 street designations by the end of Nirenberg’s term.
Defending freedom of the press
Idár’s family operated La Crónica in Laredo. The newspaper combined political action and reporting for Mexican Americans during what historians call the “Juan Crow Era,” a time when Mexicans were victims of lynching and racial violence perpetrated by the Texas Rangers, said Gabriela González, associate professor of history at the University of Texas at San Antonio, at the Wednesday discussion.
González is studying Idár’s story and searching for documents that can prove Idár family testimonies that the late activist single-handedly defended the entrance of Laredo’s El Progreso newspaper from the Texas Rangers, who were ordered to destroy the publication after it ran an editorial about former President Woodrow Wilson’s decision to militarize the Texas-Mexico border.
“When they arrive there, they find Jovita Idár, who stands at the door and tells them, ‘You’re not going to do this. We have freedom of the press. This is un-American, nondemocratic,” González told students, who listened on eagerly. The Texas Rangers later returned when Idár was gone and destroyed the offices of El Progreso, she added.
Idár continued her work as a journalist in San Antonio and in Laredo, writing for La Prensa, El Heraldo Cristiano and her own newspaper, La Evolución.
Christopher Carmona, visiting associate professor of comparative Mexican American studies at Our Lady of the Lake University, reminded students that Idár’s activism and bravery to publish stories no one else was covering was significant during a time when Texas Rangers killed and committed crimes against Mexicans in Texas.
Cybersecurity freshman at Northwest Vista College Celena Ortiz listened from the front rows. She was there to learn about more trailblazers besides her late grandmother, María Guevara Cárdenas, who was a Mexican Civil Rights activist in San Angelo in the ’50s and ’60s.
Guevara Cárdenas was known for writing letters to the editor of the San Angelo Standard-Time, voicing her opinion about discrimination children of color faced at school and the city government’s neglectful attitude toward neighborhood improvement, according to the Texas State Historical Association.
“We grew up with her stories, but I didn’t … dive deep into what she did for communities until much later in life,” Ortiz said on Wednesday.
Her father, the “historian” of the family, recently died. Ortiz said she wanted to learn about the stories of Mexican American activists so that her daughter also learns and is proud of her heritage.
Hours before the panel discussion, City Council’s Governance Committee reviewed the council consideration request for the designation filed by District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo. Once the rest of the designations are ready, she’ll file a request for some, or all at once if possible, Gould said.
“Jovita Idár was an important figure …. Her fearless organizing efforts and journalism were instrumental toward the struggle for equality and serve as a guide for us today,” Castillo said.
Approval for the historic designation will head to City Council to make the final decision on May 16.
