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You’ve probably never heard of this woman. But you’re living her legacy.
Happy Women’s History Month! Today I’d like to share with you the story of one woman who was challenging norms around race, gender, and class before it got cool.
Juana Briones was one of the first woman pioneers here on the Best West Coast of the United States. She lived throughout the Bay Area and her experiences as a woman of color living in California speak deeply to many of the movements for change happening today. Hers is a history that needs to be taught in schools and to our politicians. Maybe then Arizona would not be able to ban Mexican-American Studies, or Texas would support Mexican-American Studies as an option for schools. Maybe then, our politicians would understand what immigrants mean when they say “We didn’t cross the Border. The Border crossed US.”
As children growing up in California, we learn a lot about the Gold Rush, and the men who “discovered” or “founded” our state. (Obviously, “discovery” is a totally false term to represent the encounter that happened between indigenous groups who had been here for centuries and the colonizers.) But we know that there were plenty of women who played crucial roles in making California what it is today, and our history is incomplete without them.
Juana was born in Santa Cruz, California in 1802, to Ysidora and Marcos Briones, who were both registered as mulattos in the 1790 census. In 1820, Juana married Apolinario Miranda, and had 11 biological children between 1821 and 1841. During this time, Juana began the first of many business ventures, building an adobe house in what is now San Francisco’s North Beach district, and establishing a successful dairy and produce farm which catered to local merchants and sailors. She soon developed a large and diverse social network who would help her in challenging the patriarchal and unjust society she worked within.
In 1844, Juana left her husband after six years of appealing to religious and secular institutions for a divorce. Apolinario was physically, sexually, and verbally abusive, and though Juana never acquired a legal divorce, she successfully left him, dropped his name, and moved her children to their home in North Beach. Juana’s was reportedly the second non-native family to settle in Yerba Buena, what we now call San Francisco. However, once there, she worked closely with the indigenous population, buying land from them, formally adopting two indigenous children, and learning from their medicinal practices as an established curandera and midwife.
Juana Briones was one of the first woman pioneers here on the Best West Coast of the United States. She lived throughout the Bay Area and her experiences as a woman of color living in California speak deeply to many of the movements for change happening today. Hers is a history that needs to be taught in schools and to our politicians. Maybe then Arizona would not be able to ban Mexican-American Studies, or Texas would support Mexican-American Studies as an option for schools. Maybe then, our politicians would understand what immigrants mean when they say “We didn’t cross the Border. The Border crossed US.”
As children growing up in California, we learn a lot about the Gold Rush, and the men who “discovered” or “founded” our state. (Obviously, “discovery” is a totally false term to represent the encounter that happened between indigenous groups who had been here for centuries and the colonizers.) But we know that there were plenty of women who played crucial roles in making California what it is today, and our history is incomplete without them.
Juana was born in Santa Cruz, California in 1802, to Ysidora and Marcos Briones, who were both registered as mulattos in the 1790 census. In 1820, Juana married Apolinario Miranda, and had 11 biological children between 1821 and 1841. During this time, Juana began the first of many business ventures, building an adobe house in what is now San Francisco’s North Beach district, and establishing a successful dairy and produce farm which catered to local merchants and sailors. She soon developed a large and diverse social network who would help her in challenging the patriarchal and unjust society she worked within.
In 1844, Juana left her husband after six years of appealing to religious and secular institutions for a divorce. Apolinario was physically, sexually, and verbally abusive, and though Juana never acquired a legal divorce, she successfully left him, dropped his name, and moved her children to their home in North Beach. Juana’s was reportedly the second non-native family to settle in Yerba Buena, what we now call San Francisco. However, once there, she worked closely with the indigenous population, buying land from them, formally adopting two indigenous children, and learning from their medicinal practices as an established curandera and midwife.
http://feministing.com/2014/03/19/youve-probably-never-heard-of-this-woman-but-youre-living-her-legacy/
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