She Was A Journalist Who Was Passionate About Standing Up For The Rights Of Women And Preserving Hispanic Culture
Journalists have the power to change the way the world views something. A powerful female journalist you might not know about is Jovita Idar, and it’s time she earned a little more recognition.
Jovita was born in Laredo, Texas, in 1885. She was one of seven children, and her parents were big advocates for Mexican-American civil rights. Jovita’s father owned and published a Spanish newspaper called La Crónica.
Her parents were adamant about her getting an education, so Jovita attended a Methodist school called the Holding Institute. She received her teaching certificate in 1903 and began teaching in Los Ojuelos, Texas.
While teaching in the small community, mainly composed of Mexican-American families, Jovita was displeased with the poor conditions its residents had to live in.
Wanting to bring awareness to the mistreatment of these families, Jovita decided to leave teaching to join her family and write for La Crónica.
The stories written for La Crónicawere mainly focused on promoting civil rights and fair treatment for people in Hispanic communities. Many of the pieces focused on anti-racism, school segregation, etc.
Jovita used a pseudonym when she wrote for the paper and wrote many in-depth stories about Mexican-Americans’ poor living conditions in local communities, the lack of education for Hispanic children, and eventually began writing about women’s suffrage.
In 1911, using their paper, Jovita and her family decided to organize and promote El Primer Congreso Mexicanista (the First Mexican Congress) to rally Mexicans to fight against injustice.
That same year, Jovita founded the feminist group La Liga Feminil Mexicaista (the League of Mexican Women), which encouraged local Mexican women to break out of social norms, get themselves a proper education, and begin advocating for their rights.
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Jovita became the first president of La Liga Feminil Mexicaista. The organization did a lot of work for local communities, including hosting study sessions for women and donating food and supplies to needy people.
Inspired by the importance of being bilingual, Jovita founded El Etudiante, a bilingual and educational newspaper that provided methods of teaching students how to become bilingual in order not to lose touch with their heritage.
When the Mexican Revolution occurred when she was 28-years-old in 1913, Jovita crossed the border and volunteered as a nurse for La Cruz Blanca (the White Cross) to help injured people in Nuevo Laredo. She returned to the United States the following year and joined the staff of the El Progreso newspaper.
At El Progreso, Jovita published an opinion piece criticizing President Woodrow Wilson’s decision to send U.S. troops to the border. Texas Rangers came to the newspaper offices to shut it down, but she stood in front of the presses and powerfully argued that it was her first amendment right to publish that piece.
The Texas Rangers left but returned the next day and tragically destroyed the newspaper’s presses while she wasn’t there. But did that stop Jovita? No. She went right back to writing for other papers. After her father died in 1914, she and her brothers took over La Crónicaand continued to write about activism.
In 1917, Jovita married her husband, Bartolo Juárez, and they moved to San Antonio, Texas. There, they formed a Democratic Club and became popular political leaders and voices in their community.
Jovita worked at a publication called El Herald Christiano and continued to do charity work on the side, providing free schooling to kids and volunteering as a translator at a local hospital. In 1946, Jovita passed away at 60 due to a pulmonary hemorrhage brought on by advanced tuberculosis. She was truly a remarkable woman who helped others realize the power of words and education.
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