Judy Chicago

 

Judy Chicago was born in Chicago, Illinois on July 20, 1939 as Judy Sylvia Cohen. In her early life she lost her father to stomach ulcers and was left to help fend for her household after he died. Her mother refused to talk about his passing with her or her brother. Her mother, May, was fascinated with arts and at the young age of three Judy was sent to her first art school. From there she continued on growing with a passion for the arts. She later went to UCLA on a scholarship where she began her early career. She attended many schools and created many women's centers and founded many feminist women's clubs. Her friends and classmates and mother influenced her art and her passion for explaining the differences women had. 

Chicago is most famous for her Dinner Party and the Birth Project. The dinner party was a well thought out way to show women their history though a visual, which gives a women a view of not only other women, but goddesses, artists, and other activists. Judy's birth project was significant because she celebrates women's role of childbirth and she shows how women experience childbirth in different cultures.

 

Judy taught at Fresno State in her later years. She designed and taught the first ever feminist art class that was fundamental to the emerging women's movement. Throughout all of her work Chicago worked to allow women to have an artistic freedom. Her overall goal was to let women feel free and use art as an outlet. Over the years she also founded and co-founded feminist groups and women's buildings where all women were welcomed openly. As time went on she shifted her goal from art to how women were underrepresented in movies, to her personal identity as a Jewish woman. In each of these things to which she shifted her attention she put just as much energy and thought into as she did the last, making sure that all she did promoted women’s equality. Judy is considered a radical feminist for promoting the principles of feminism through her art.

 

Today, Chicago is still working and teaching and inspiring young feminists to pursue and to never lose hope in gaining the equality we so rightly deserve. Her courage and dedication are to be credited for the artistic freedom that so many women artists enjoy today. 

 

 

Mary Carolyn Dobbs

 

Mary Carolyn Dobbs was born on May 25, 1911; she was a native from New York who moved to California for health reasons. She attended high school at night so she could work during the day. After high school, Dobbs enrolled at Fresno State, which is now California State University, Fresno. Dobbs received her Bachelor of Arts degree and a General Education Teaching Credential. After receiving her bachelor’s degree at Fresno State she attended San Francisco State University where she received a Master of Arts degree and Secondary and Special Education Certificates in 1953.

Mary Carolyn Dobbs faced many challenges in her career as a special education advocate and teacher. She explains, “My career was fraught with vast, intense challenges because of all of the oppositions in my work; Handicapped people were looked upon with disdain and scorn, and we had to put forth our best efforts to change that on a global scale. We had much to overcome.” The lack of attention to students with special needs resulted in their treatment as second-class citizens.

 

The major contribution that Mary Carolyn Dobbs did was she established the academic journal The Pointer in 1952, which became nationally well known and was recognized all over country. The Pointer was seen as a platform for parents and teachers of special needs children. Dobbs also provided consulting services to other countries such as India, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, West Indies, South Africa, and Uganda, and sat on the most authoritative committees on special education.

 

What made Mary Carolyn Dobbs a radical woman is that she fought for the education of the most marginalized students during a time when they were stigmatized. She lived an incredible life of virtue and success. Her accomplishments were recognized in 2004 when Fresno State conferred on her an honorary doctorate.

 

 

Lillian Faderman

 

Lillian Faderman was born the daughter of an immigrant worker in 1940. Her family was originally from Latvia but her mother and aunt journeyed to New York in hopes of marrying rich men before Faderman was born. Around the time Faderman was born, Hitler’s army had killed much of the Jewish population, including the entire village that her mother was from. Growing up as a working class kid and coping with the huge loss of her family, Faderman knew that she needed to be realistic and obtain an education in order to achieve the American Dream.

 

In college, Faderman was a successful student.  She attended UC Berkeley on a scholarship and later studied at UCLA. In order to support herself through college, she danced at the President Follies in San Francisco doing burlesque shows. She was committed to school and maintained an honor roll status even while working. Faderman graduated with a Ph. D. from Berkeley at the young age of 26.

 

Faderman is an out lesbian scholar who has won many awards for her literary work.  She has published eleven books that tackle the concepts of ethnic studies and gay and lesbian history. Many view her as the innovator of gay and lesbian studies. She became the first and only female faculty in the English department at Fresno State in 1967, and taught until 2007. Importantly, in 1970, Faderman helped develop and co-found the Women’s Studies Department at Fresno State.

 

As a child of a single, immigrant parent, with no extended family, it is understandable that Faderman faced the personal struggle of a missing history. During her college years in the McCarthy era, being outed as gay or lesbian was a constant threat. Lesbian bars were raided, police harassment was abundant, and many feared living openly. As a gay woman, it is clear that living comfortably within this social climate was difficult.

 

Faderman’s major contributions were to lesbian feminist literature. She wrote a number of books describing gay and lesbian histories, including the first full-length lesbian history, titled “Surpassing the Love of Man”. Her work is highly regarded within the LGBTQ community, as many of her books offer in-depth historical accounts of gay and lesbian life. In addition, she has won a number of awards and helped spark important conversations about LGBTQ life among people across all types of communities.

 

It is Faderman’s books and activism that made her radical. Her ability to write about these subjects and her courage to do so brought people together and offered a perspective into a world otherwise unknown.  By speaking for and about a group whose voice was unheard, her work helped to change the social narrative. Faderman is radical because she uses her skills as a writer to provide insight, challenge heterosexism, and create a counter-hegemonic dialogue.

 

 

 

Dr. Joy Goto

 

Dr. Joy J. Goto is third generation Japanese, and was born and raised in the Central Valley. Although education was always valued among her family, she was driven to further pursue her passion for knowledge, rather than experience it as something forced. She emphasizes, her passion was due to having the privilege to being surrounded with great mentors throughout her life. From an early age she attended GATE schools, Computech Middle School, and Edison High school, obtaining a rigorous educational determination, in hopes of becoming a Veterinarian. She was introduced to a variety of sciences courses, where she quickly grew interested. Yet little did she know, her proficiency in science would pave the way for countless career opportunities in a male-dominated field.

 

Her journey led her to UC Davis where she began a new love for science and earned a B.S in Chemistry. Shortly after earning her B.S, Goto continued to challenge herself and sought to further her education. Joy Goto sustained her career ambitions and received her Ph.D. in chemistry from The University of California, Los Angeles, and was a recipient of the UCLA Alumni Association distinguished dissertation and the Collegium of University Teaching Fellowship. Dr. Goto was a John Douglas French Alzheimer’s Foundation research partner in the genetics and aging research unit at the center for Aging, Genetics and, Neurodegeneration at Harvard Medical School.  Prior to joining CSUF, she exemplified her education and received a Beckman Senior Research fellowship in the Neurosciences Division at the City of Hope Beckman Research Institute in Duarte, California. She was a visiting Assistant Professor of chemistry in the joint science department of Scripps, Claremont McKenna and Pitzer colleges.

 

Her field of study, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), significantly under represents women, but Dr. Goto challenges these notions in hopes to influence all who have a passion in science. STEM remains a very highly controversial area of study due to the fact that among science and engineering graduates, “Men are employed in a STEM occupation at twice the rate of women: 31 percent compared with 15 percent. Nearly 1 in 5 female science and engineering graduates are out of the labor force, compared with less than 1 in 10 male science and engineering graduates.” Women are often discouraged or taught to be apprehensive among entering these fields of study due to dominance of white males leading STEM. Sadly, not only is gender or race a defining issue in science, math, engineering, and mathematics, but STEM is now facing an overall decrease of students focusing in this area of study due to lack of preparedness, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

 

Dr. Joy J. Goto expresses that “If it were not for my memorable and influential mentors, i would not have the love for my field as I do today.” Dr. Goto has remained a resilient leader and continuously sets positive examples for those entering STEM, most notably through her groundbreaking research in Neurochemistry, particularly on the degenerative process, and Neuromuscular Electrophysiology, in which she studies the nerves that are tethered to the muscle to perform body movement.

 

Dr. Goto’s shares one of her projects on Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-Parkinsonism dementia complex (ALS-PDC).  This form of disorder is characterized as a “slow progressive degenerative disease with a spectrum of clinical presentation that can include features of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinsonism, and dementia.” She incorporates the use of unnatural amino acids, which can either be naturally or chemically synthesized. Through the use of Fruit Flies she observes the specimens through each trial of the experiment, recording data to measure the success of her study.  Her research is promising to potentially aiding in the slowing of chronic ailments such as ALC-PDC, Alzheimer’s and Dementia.

 

Dr. Goto mentors a wide array of undergraduate and graduate students from diverse fields. Further, she is a co-advisor for the Fresno State Chemistry Club and advisor for the American Medical Student Association (AMSA), as well as the pre-pharmacy advisor for the Chemistry Department. She is also an active member of the Asian \ Faculty and Staff Association and the President’s Commission on Human Relations and Equity.

 

 

Gloria Hernandez

 

Since the age of 14, Gloria Hernandez has been involved with making positive changes in our communities. She has done this by being part of over a dozen political and social issues throughout our community and the central valley.  Gloria has become a civic activist well known and connected throughout the community. Currently Gloria is working for Fresno County as a County Mental Health Patient Rights Advocate.

 

In her early childhood Gloria lived in Texas. In 1959 Gloria along with her seven sisters, four brothers, mother and father migrated to California and settled in  “La Colonia” (east Parlier). Although they went through hard times her family always made sure there was food on the table.

 

Gloria’s educational journey started in Del Rey where she attended Kindergarten. Later attending first grade through high school out in Parlier. Throughout her schooling the faculty did not leave a good impression on her. In Gloria’s eyes they lacked a sense of commitment to her and the rest of the kids in the community. As soon as the bell rang at the end of the day the teachers just left and did not seem to care. 

 

The stepping stone to her involvement with the community started at 14. At this time she was appointed to the Fresno EOC leadership counsel in representing rural county areas. During her high school years at Parlier High School was hosting International day. Students from different ethnic groups were having representatives from their ethnic group to speak in front of the school. Due to all of the representatives who had agreed to come had cancelled with the exception of Gloria’s group the school wanted to cancel the event. Gloria and her peers were so angry what the school wanted to do that they just walked off the campus grounds. The parents argued in support of the students in front of the school board, but the board did not agree with the parents and the changes that they wanted to see done. Thus, the parents and the students walked out of the board meeting together. The students did not go to school for several weeks and to make a point and stand for what they believe in.

 

At 19 she was arrested for civil disobedience with the members of the United Farm Workers. During this time Gloria was a captain for the boycott.  Local police had started to arrest the men because they were ordered to break up the picket line. They started to arrest the men but not the women. Gloria saw what was happening so she rallied the farm-working women and got them to go on the bus too. The way Gloria saw it was, if they were going to take the men they were going to take the women as well. They all stood for the same purpose if one went they all went. In the end the women ended up voluntarily arresting themselves but to them it was worth it. At that point they proved that women could be radicals and outspoken and most importantly women were heard.

 

While still in high school Gloria recalls being told by a counselor she should attend Reedley College so she could keep working in agricultural related work between semesters. Although the counselor probably meant well she did not take their advice for her college choice. Instead she decided to attend California State University of Fresno. She was awarded grants for community leadership and took out some student loans to help pay for her tuition at CSU Fresno for, four years. During this time she became pregnant with her daughter continued to work in the fields and was focused on her education. Even though she had continued the field work while in college she did not let her life experiences of becoming pregnant and doing hard labor detour her from her education.

 

She later transitioned her line of work from active worker in the field to being a representation for California Rural Legal Assistance. While employed with CLRA Gloria was faced with some challenges. When she first started she was denied the right to transfer to the migrant unit to work with farmworkers. She was denied this opportunity because she was a woman. After self-representation and grievance she was given the position. She stayed at that position for 15 years until she decided to take her life in a different. She has since left CRLA and is now working for Fresno County where she advocates for the rights of patients who have mental health problems.

 

The political and social issues that she takes interest in are issues that involve the right to birth control, prenatal care, having access to health care and equal wages and treatment in the work place. Notably, Rivera vs. NIPCO is a case Gloria assisted on for 12 years. Her role was to help women of color who had been terminated form their positions for not speaking and being able to write in English after being employed by the company for years. In Marquez et al. versus Gerawan Ranches she represented farmworkers against the largest stone fruit grower in the world. During this case she faced sexism once again.  She was insulted as a woman and as a Mexican by the patriarch of the company. This did not discourage her in turn it kept her drive going for seven years. A case from 1994 truly affected Gloria. The case involved a 12-year-old boy named Julio Cano and proposition 187.  Prop 187 was a ballot California tried to pass in 1994. The ballot was trying to enforce a state ran citizen screening system that would not give aid to illegal immigrants. The prop 187 would exclude illegal immigrants from using the health care system, public education and other services that are available in the United States. During the time the ballot had been proposed Julio became ill. His parents had not taken him to receive medical care immediately because they did not want their immigration status to be questioned. Unfortunately they young boy died the day after the family was able to afford a doctors visit.  This case angered Gloria deeply and caused her to have deep depression.  

 

Since then Gloria is currently active with the Chicano History Revisited: Fresno County. This program attempts to educate Chicano youth about all the great contributions many Chicanos have made to Fresno County. They are working towards establishing Chicano archives here in the Fresno County. She is also involved with Mothers Helping Mothers, which provides personal needs items and other donations to women and young girls who live out in rural areas that are affected by the drought, and Fresno Stolen Lives, which recognizes victims who have had their life ended by police abuse.

 

When interviewed, she was asked “Why did you choose those/these issues to take on and advocate for?” She responded: “I speak out because it hurts not to. My mother also told me to help those because I had the ability to do so. When one is grieving the loss of their child to police abuse one is unable to stand strong and fight back. I can because I am not personally affected by it. I am blessed to have much more then those I have helped over the years.” For a woman of color to stand up for those who’s voice cannot be heard by giving them hers makes Gloria Hernandez a radical and inspirational woman.

 

Dr. Phyllis Irwin

 

Dr. Phyllis Irwin grew up in Manhattan but moved all over during her childhood due to her father’s job. She attended college in Houston, where she received a graduate degree. She had no interest in becoming a housewife or being married; instead she wanted to become a musician. Her parents were very supportive of her decisions and aspirations.

 

Dr. Irwin came to Fresno State in 1963 and became a professor of Music. In the spring of 1971, there was a flyer sent out for a meeting regarding an opening for a position in academic affairs. One of her friends encouraged her to apply for the position. Irwin asked for a recommendation from her professor and was turned down because the professor did not think she was fit for the job. Despite this, she continued with the application anyway. She said in her interview, “One time, I was applying for a job and one of the people that worked there said, ‘this is a man’s world,’ I laughed and told him, ‘that’s crazy’.’

 

In her personal opinion, she does not consider herself a “radical.” All she wanted was equal rights for everyone because throughout her life she had experienced hardships on account of her gender. The long-term effect that Phyllis Irwin achieved was helping create a strong women studies department. “It was the most important thing I did as a whole,” Irwin stated. Importantly, she also co-drafted the University’s Affirmative Action policy.

 

Upon retirement, Dr. Irwin taught classes for the FLARE program for seniors called Kitchen to the Concert Hall, which sought to change the position of women through classical music, concerts and composing.

 

Robin McGehee

 

Robin McGehee was born in Jackson, Mississippi, to hard working parents. She was one of two children and her father was a laborer who worked for General Motors. Growing up in the South, she was exposed to a lot of visual imagery and stories about the Civil Rights Movement that happened before she was born. These experiences aided her towards becoming involved in student government in junior high, high school and college.

 

As so, McGehee became the Student Body President of her high school and at the same time fought to have the Rebel Flag removed from her school. After high school, she was awarded a scholarship to go to William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where she continued her student body activism by becoming Student Government President. Although she was very active wherever she went, she was closeted about her lesbian sexual orientation. Nonetheless, she focused her energy towards working on social changes such as race relation and socioeconomic justice. Since McGehee was active in student government throughout her life, she was drawn to the Communication major and decided to attend Fresno State to pursue her Master's degree which she received in 1998.

 

An experience that influenced McGehee to become a Civil Rights activist was when she was kicked out of her five-year-old son’s school PTA for being involved in not supporting Proposition 8. This made her determined to fight for the equality and dignity of lesbian women, and of course for all people and their sexual orientation. Thus, she created organizations and marches to fight for the rights of the LGBTQ community.

Said to be today's modern Harvey Milk, McGehee has pushed the envelope on the movement to end oppression towards not only gay marriage but equality/ acceptance for all aspects of the LGBTQ community. She has set herself in the midst of protests and sacrificed her safety in order to let her voice be heard—a voice that speaks for those who have been subjected to oppression. Rather than going about it passively, McGehee has instrumentally coerced a movement by setting herself as a catalyst to set history in motion.  Her involvement in many gay rights protest such as: “Meet in the Middle,” a rally for same sex marriage, and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” resulted in full social and legal equality. Through her direction in her program GetEqual she has successfully raised awareness and pushed for the White House to stand with her community. In a speech at Meet in the Middle 4 Equality, a rally held in Fresno on Saturday, May 2009 she dared Obama by stating, “Show me you have the courage, show me you have the courage to produce change that I’ve believed in, that I’ve lobbied for. I’ve believed in you, and I’m asking you to prove it.”

 

McGehee’s event, “Meet in the Middle,” in May of 2009, was an event that protested the passing of Proposition 8, which denied same sex couples the right to get married. Fresno specifically, a conservative community, had many supporters of Proposition 8. Therefore, McGehee and about 3,000 other attendees marched fourteen and a half miles to Fresno City Hall in protest. Those in attendance worked towards swaying people of the Fresno community who were in favor of Proposition 8.

 

McGehee was also a co-director of the National Equality March. The march was held on October 10th and 11th of 2009 in Washington D.C. More than 200,000 supporters were in attendance. The march was organized to fight for and to protect LGBT individuals all across the country. One issue that the group fought was the repealing of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Prior to this march, President Obama had been reiterating his promise to repeal the act that forced LGBT members of the military into secrecy. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was not repealed until September 20, 2011. Another outcome that came from the National Equality March was the passing of the Matthew Shepard Act. This act, which was signed by President Barack Obama on October 28, 2009, expanded the hate crime law. The Matthew Shepard Act expanded the definition of violent hate crimes to include crimes committed based on a victim’s sexual orientation.

 

On March 11, 2010 McGehee co-founded GetEQUAL, an activist group that fights for the legal protection of the LGBT community. The group works towards repealing acts like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and they also fight for the rights of undocumented LGBT immigrants and those who have been incarcerated for being a member of the LGBT community. GetEQUAL hopes to provide the LGBT community with the strength that they need to fight the homophobic and transphobic society around us.

 

Due to McGehee’s radical activism, she has been able to help many people come safely and proudly out of the closet. Thanks to McGehee’s work, women don’t have to worry about “finding the right man,” but about “finding the right partner.” McGehee has further helped create an environment where people have become more accepting of the LGBTQ community by never giving up on her ideals, even when the law enforcement tries to stop her. This illustrates how strong headed and determined she is as a person to work so hard to enact change for social and economic equality. McGehee is a selfless person who has formed more opportunities for those in the LGBTQ community, allowing them to do the things that heterosexual people had been doing for ages. She has lessened the stigma that is portrayed upon the LGBTQ community and has given strength, courage, and pride to the people who are either in that community or support it.

 

Diana Meehan

 

Diana Meehan was born in 1944. Her grandmother moved Diana's mother and the rest of her family from Ireland to the United States where Diana was born in order to have a better life. She believed social revolution comes from growing up in the middle class and that they are people who strived and valued education. She stated, "Revolutions are started by people who have enough to eat and have values that suggest they can make a difference." Diana attended an all-girls school as a young girl. She graduated from Fresno State in 1966 with a B.A. in English literature. She then went on to graduate school and got her Masters in Mass Communication from San Diego State, and later got her Ph.D. in Communications from USC.

Meehan met her husband in 1966 in New York where he was a waiter and she as a flight attendant. They traveled the world and lived a hippie lifestyle. They finally settled down in Northern California where they opened up a day care center and started a family. They moved to Southern California later with their two daughters. When her daughter was about middle school age she noticed that there were no academically rigorous schools for girls in their area. Girls needed to be in a school that accommodated them and their type of learning, so she and her husband decided to open up a school with the help of two other women. They named it the Archer School for Girls in Los Angeles.

 

Diana Meehan co-founded the Archer school for girls in Los Angeles based on personal experiences. The Archer School is for sixth through 12th-grade girls and its approaches are based on social science research. The primary advantage is that girls in the school play all the roles, including the male roles. “They’re the class clowns, the class presidents, they’re the editors, the chemists and the varsity,” Meehan said. Meehan disagreed with the assumption of men having roles as class clowns indicating spontaneous behavior. On the other hand, the assumption of girls was that they were quieter and needed to keep to themselves because they had to be more courteous.  She was concerned that her daughters would not get the development of personal growth with situations like those. Meehan said, “I was unconsciously seeing what really good education for girls looked like”.

Her major contribution was in education. Education was not her only contribution to advancing girls and women; Meehan also contributed to discussions of gender issues and leadership development.

 

Meehan is radical because she sought changes to the educational system. She helped found the school for girls to attend and learn. She challenged patriarchy and other issues in a way that women became part of the society and important to many of the social intuitions through education. She also sought justice for women and equal equality. Many of the girls who graduated from Archer School for Girls went on to amazing things with their lives. Since the Archer School for Girls opened, nearly 40 more girls’ schools have opened across the country that model themselves after Meehan’s school.

 

Dr. Francine Oputa

 

For a number of years, Dr. Francine Oputa has been an active member in the community of Fresno, more specifically, Fresno State. She the first director of the Women’s Resource Center and the Central Valley Cultural heritage Institute, both of which are now under the Cross Cultural and Gender Center (CCGC) at California State University, Fresno, which she now directs.

 

Dr. Oputa grew up in Pacoima, California as the 11th child in her family. Her father was a pastor and both of her parents were activists in the 1960s. Raised in a family that was dedicated to community involvement, Dr. Oputa has continued on her family’s commitment to activism, community building, and helping others.

 

Dr. Oputa holds a B.A. in Speech Communication, a M.A. in Mass Communication, and an Ed.D in Educational Leadership. She is committed to working with her community in Fresno to aid it in acknowledging the cultural diversity that is present. The center she directs, the Cross-Cultural and Gender Center, is devoted to promoting diversity on the Fresno State campus, providing a safe space for different cultural and identity groups to hold meeting and events.

 

Dedicating her life to women’s issues, Dr. Oputa has shaped histories and institutions by utilizing her platform to speak issues regarding racism, classism, agism, heterosexism. Because she has been dedicated to speaking to all the -isms that feminism is devoted to, Dr. Oputa is considered a radical feminist.

 

Starting her career off in the social services, Dr. Oputa transitioned her focus into the realms of education and women's issues, while seeking involvement in her respective roles as director, leader, counselor, and friend in various areas including the National Coalition Building Institute, the Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Workgroup, and the Central Valley Cultural Heritage Institute. Today, continuing her services in these roles, Dr. Oputa works to advise and direct support groups, peer crisis counseling, and events related to women's diversities and issues. She is interested in issues relating to and involving diversity, culture, and intersections of identities such as ethnicity and gender.

 

Since her younger years, Dr. Oputa has pointed to a Bible verse for letting her gain an understanding that “to whom much is given, much is required.” In grasping the knowledge learned from the verse, Dr. Oputa grew to develop a strong sense of need to dedicate herself and her career to giving help to women and minorities. This is an example of how important her faith is to her work. While some feminists distance themselves from Christianity, Dr. Oputa’s feminism comes from her faith. When Fresno State’s University Journal asked her what motivates her, Dr. Oputa replied, “I have faith and hope in people, yet I recognize that many people have been hurt and injustice is a way of life for many. I believe it’s my responsibility to reach out and lift others up.”

 

Dr. Francine Oputa and her husband of 38 years, Rev. Henry I. Oputa, Ed.D. have developed an urban ministry that works with children, youth, and their families in Downtown and West Fresno.
 

She also has 3 daughters: Chunyendu, Ife-Chudeni, Nwachukwu.

 

 

Jennifer Ruiz

 

Jennifer Ruiz (Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians of Coarsegold, California) has over ten years progressive experience working in Indian Health and nonprofit programs. Ruiz was born into a large family in Fresno/Clovis California. Her mother was part Caucasian and Filipino and her father was Chukchansi. Her grandfather who was also Chukchansi was a well-known man within the tribe community and even opened up the first non-profit organization for the Natives back in the days when there were no casinos and when the reservations were struggling with health care and education.

 

Ruiz attended Clovis High when she was younger and knew she wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. After she graduated from Clovis High and unsure of what route to take, Ruiz attended Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz where she received her General Education. She then decided that she wanted to major in history because she was fascinated by historical events. She soon came back to Fresno and after a year of moving back she decided to permanently reside in order to stay close her family and her tribe. Ruiz started becoming more and more involved in her tribe and even planned community activities. She then attended Fresno State and earned her Bachelor's in cultural Anthropology and History. She realized that learning about History was about learning the past while Anthropology was about learning about the present.

 

Still attending Fresno State, Ruiz also earned her Masters in Business Administration and soon began working as a receptionist at a for profit Indian Health Care Center for six month, but this is not what Ruiz wanted. In her eyes it wasn’t about making money, she wanted to impact the lives of others. She had heard of an organization in LA that was running a Fresno project for Native Americans, and in 2011 Jennifer Ruiz became the Executive Director for the Fresno American Indian Health Project, which, according to their website, “is a culturally sensitive health access and advocacy program designed to enhance the health and well being of the American Indian community in the City of Fresno, CA,” particularly through “public health services and access to free and low cost quality health care.” The FAIHP provides services for one of the most vulnerable populations while recognizing and respecting cultural particularities in order to promote wellness for individuals and, ultimately, their cultural communities.

 

Sherley Anne Williams

 

Sherley Anne Williams is best known for having been a novelist, poet and scholar. Williams was born on August 25, 1944, in Bakersfield, California, but was raised in Fresno. Both her mother and father died when Sherley was young. She grew up with three sisters; one of her older sisters became Sherley’s mentor and influenced her in place of her mother. Her family and herself were very poor; they lived in housing projects in Fresno. Their only source of income was by picking cotton, working in department stores seasonally, and cutting grapes. Despite the difficulties she faced as an African American teenager during the 1960’s, she attended high school where her love for literature grew. Her mother when she was still around often discouraged her from reading because she believed that books would only give Sherley false hope for her future.  

 

As time went on Sherley still was fascinated by reading, she loved history and biographies. She graduated from Edison high school in 1962; she then went on to Fresno State University where she earned her B.A degree in English in 1966. She eventually completed an American Literature M. A. in Brown University. Soon after, she became a literature professor at UC San Diego, the first African American women hired in the literature department at that institution. As Sherley once said “To help students see relationships and make connections between some of what has gone before and what is going on now and what may come later.” Her love to teach was greatly rewarded and was proven later on in her work.

 

The experienced that she faced in her life was a huge influence in William’s literary work. She was also influenced by Langston Hughes and Sterling Brown that were poets of the Harlem Renaissance decade of the 1920’s. The literary work of Williams is found in a variety of genres. One of her best known works is the Peacock Poems, where she addresses the issues single mothers go through as well as the life of African American women, for which she was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. Another book that gained her national attention was Someone Sweet Angle Chile. Both literary works embrace the importance of folklore in the shaping of African American identity through the use of black dialects and musical forms such as the blues. Her novel Dessa Rose that was about a Charleston bride and her young pregnant slave, that was condemn to die after she was to give birth. This was known as being a brilliant and unforgettable piece. Her children’s book Working Cotton was awarded the prestigious Coretta Scott Book Award. She also wrote another children book Girls Together, this was the last work she did as she was near her death from cancer, she died on July 9th1999.         

 

Sherley is a radical woman because she did not come from a place where education was the main priority—rather, work was. She did not let that get to her: she continued to prove and challenge the existing norms of what is made out for her to be. She came a long way and is considered to be a very brilliant writer on African American life. Sherley till this day is still being recognized by her books and poetry. She disrupted the negative connotation of African American women by reconstructing the idea that black women can write and reshape African American identity. She prospered in her writing and has gained the respect to be recognized as a black radical feminist.

 

 

See Xiong

 

See Xiong was born in a Hmong refugee camp in Phayao Province, Thailand. She is the third born out of eight children. At the age of five, her family relocated to Fresno, California. Thus, Xiong is a generation 1.5 immigrant, which is someone who has immigrated to the United States as a child or adolescent.  

 

Xiong began her academic journey by attending Mayfair, an elementary school; afterwards she attended the middle school Computech, and then she attended three different high schools and graduated from Duchesne high school. Xiong then pursued higher education at Fresno State, where she graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Criminology in 2012.  

 

The experience of coming to America at the age of five has led Xiong to having been involved in the founding of the local group HERO (Hmong Empowerment Resource and Outreach), which works to bring a sense of community to newer immigrants. Xiong's community work also includes her involvement with becoming a fellow at Pan Valley Institute through their Tamejavi Cultural Organizing Fellowship.  

 

Drawing heavily upon her experiences as a Hmong refugee woman, Xiong has unveiled the experiences of a marginalized people through her activism and through her community work. Her writings have been published in A-List Magazine, Txhawb Magazine, and in the Hmong Tribune. Her forums, Chelsey See and Junehli, have presented the intersections of what it is like to be a woman, of what it is like to be a first or second generation Hmong in the United States.

 

Collectively, her work has challenged cultural assimilation and sexism as a means of resistance and of how adopting new customs is not a means of losing an identity, but as a means of connecting new crossroads and of structuring an identity with various intersections. See has defied her family’s and culture’s expectation of what it means to be a woman, for Xiong solely works to be an expression of herself.  

 

As a radical Hmong woman, Xiong declares: “Life is full of choices, when a woman knows that she has a choice, she will be empowered to do what she deems fit for her.” See Xiong has presented herself as a radical feminist for she has overcome being an outsider in a place where she looked for refuge. In which, Xiong has created a sanctuary and a community for women, for Hmong people, for Hmong immigrants, and for those whose identities are under progress.  

 

See Xiong’s use of storytelling as a tool for advocacy will continue to open platforms for the Hmong youth to voice their experiences and to build their own identities as they continue to relate to their cultural heritage as a form of resisting cultural assimilation.