Unveiling Statue in Honor of Leonor Villegas de Magnón
Unveiling of the statue in honor of Leonor Villegas de Magnón (La rebelde)
Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas
June 12, 2010
The initiative was promoted by the city of Nuevo Laredo and the well known Mexican writer, Mónica Lavín, acted as the keynote speaker.
Leonor Villegas the Magnón (1876-1955) was raised in the United States and attended school in San Antonio, Austin and New York. During the time of the Mexican Revolution Magnón fought on Venustiano Carranza’s side and founded the Constitutionalist White Cross (Cruz Blanca Constitucional) to care for the soldiers. Villegas de Magnón grouped Mexican, Mexican-American and Anglo women and spent all her family’s fortune in this endeavor. By the end of the revolution Villegas de Magnón realized that women’s role during this period was left unacknowledged and decided to write her memoirs in English and Spanish. Her memoirs were re-discovered by scholar Clara Lomas and published for the first time by Arte Público Press in 1994. Her private papers, including manuscripts, correspondence with the most renowned generals of the revolution and photographs are now housed at the Special Collections at the University of Houston M. D. Anderson Library.
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