Emma Estrada, Parteras of New Mexico
Prior to the arrival of the United States Army in 1846, no known doctors are known to have practiced in New Mexico. After that, a combination of vast distances and sparse, rural population in New Mexico contributed to a continued shortage of trained medical...
Dulcelina Salce Curtis
Dulcelina Salce Curtis was a hard-working visionary who spent her time in wise pursuits—teacher, agriculturalist, farmer, orchardist, and conservationist in flood control and surface water protection. Dulcelina, a lifelong resident of Corrales, gave generously of...
Doña Eufemia, “La Valerosa,” “The Spanish Entrada of 1598”
The colonizing expedition of New Mexico led by Don Juan de Oñate was marked by disagreements and uncertainty among the Viceroy and royal officers about who should lead the expedition. The start of the journey was delayed, and even after the expedition was enroute and...
Doña Ana Robledo
Ana Gomez Robledo was born in San Gabriel in 1604 to Bartolomé Romero and Louisa Robledo. Her mother was the daughter of Pedro Robledo, the oldest Oñate colonist to leave descendents in New Mexico. Pedro Robledo died at 60, the first of the colony to die, as the...
Lea County Cowgirls
Dessie Sawyer and her daughter Fern Sawyer are two women whose accomplishments and lasting benefits are hard to separate. Both came from ranch life in southern New Mexico in the counties of De Baca, Lea, and Lincoln. They could equal men in ranching skills, sought an...
Curanderas – Women Who Heal
While curanderas have existed in many societies throughout history, Curanderas (female healers) and curanderos (male healers) spread with Spanish society as it expanded globally from the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries. Because many curanderas also became...
Cora Durand
Three Picuris women, Maria Ramita Simbola Martinez, Cora Durand, and Virginia Duran, helped to preserve the micaceous pottery tradition that remains important in Picuris and other nearby pueblos today. Picuris is a Tiwa speaking Pueblo located fifty-seven miles north...
Chief Justice Pamela B. Minzner
One of approximately twenty women in the Harvard law class of five hundred, she and her female classmates found their job search after law school challenging. Law firms were recruiting male graduates but ignoring the women. The female students, well versed in their...