An educator who valued Mexican culture and nationalism, Carolina Malpica de Munguía was born into a wealthy landowning family in Puebla, Mexico. As a young married mother of seven children, Munguía took the family into exile during the Mexican Revolution. In San Antonio, Texas, she worked in the home shelling and washing pecans, and helped her husband operate a print shop. Issues of poverty and racism, particularly as they affected the Mexican community, brought her into community service in a myriad of activities. She created a Spanish language radio program on KONO, worked with the PTA, assisted the Mexican Consulate in the Asociación de la Biblioteca Mexicana, and founded the Círculo Social Femenino de Mexico, later renamed Círculo Cultural Isabel la Católica as a vehicle for cultural maintanence and female benevolence. Munguía’s community involvement reflected a Trans- nationalist perspective where borders were respected as political entities, but culture transcended national boundaries. Her desire was to preserve the Mexican cultural heritage while helping Mexicans adapt to an American lifestyle. In later life, she worked with a group to found a branch of the Universidad Autónoma de México in San Antonio.

LINKS
Images