Born: 8 February 1894, United States
Died: 1963
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Aurora Lucero, Aurora Lucero-White
This entry is reprinted in full with permission from the National Women’s History Museum (United States of America). All rights reserved.
On October 21st, 1915, one hundred and fifty Anglo and Hispanic suffragists joined together on the streets of Santa Fe to make a statement in support of women’s suffrage. The march spanned the political geography of New Mexico’s capital city and drew out hundreds of people. The parade coincided with a visit from Mrs. Ella St. Clair Thompson, an organizer from the National Woman’s Party (NWP, known until 1916 as the Congressional Union). The National Women’s Party had been founded by Alice Paul and focused on securing an amendment that prohibited voting discrimination based on sex, whereas the National Women’s American Suffrage Association was led by Carrie Chapman Catt and focused on state ratification.
Recognizing the importance of working with Spanish-speaking women whose communities held a great deal of political power and influence, Paul and the Congressional Union first sent organizers and resources to New Mexico in 1914. They listened to leaders like Aurora Lucero-White Lea and Nina Otero-Warren who stressed to them the importance of addressing Spanish-speaking women.
The march concluded at the house of notorious anti-suffragist U.S. Senator Thomas Catron (R-NM). Four women – two Anglos and two Hispanic women – were designated to give speeches formally asking the Senator to support the federal amendment when he returned to Washington.
Aurora Lucero-White Lea, the daughter of the first New Mexico Secretary of State and one of the two Hispanic women chosen to give a speech, was a bi-lingual educator from Las Vegas, New Mexico. Like Otero-Warren, she was politically well-connected and recognized the need to appeal to Spanish-speaking women, who made up at least fifty percent of the female population in New Mexico. Speaking in Spanish, she pushed women to join the campaign and worked to distribute Spanish language promotional fliers. While Senator Catron declined the suffragist’s request, their cause gained great visibility in the capital and in the press coverage.