Nina Otero-Warren's Legacy - PDF

# 18 Adelina Otero-Warren ## October 23, 1881-January 23, 1965 ### We Will Win. Maria Adelina Isabel Emilia Otero - Nina, for short - was born into an Hispano family that enjoyed wealth and status in the sprawling territory of New Mexico. Nina's father, Manuel Otero, came from a noble Spanish fa...

# 18 Adelina Otero-Warren ## October 23, 1881-January 23, 1965 ### We Will Win. Maria Adelina Isabel Emilia Otero - Nina, for short - was born into an Hispano family that enjoyed wealth and status in the sprawling territory of New Mexico. Nina's father, Manuel Otero, came from a noble Spanish family. Her mother, Eloisa Luna, was descended from people who came to the New World with Spanish conquistadors like Cortés and Coronado - one of her ancestors was even a pope of the Catholic Church in the 1300s. Nina was born into a world of social standing and political power. The Oteros held vast acres of land south of Albuquerque, on which they raised sheep and grew crops. They made a fortune in the California gold rush, when they drove twenty-five thousand head of sheep from their ranch to the booming state and sold them at top dollar. Nina was a bold girl. She rode horses with her brothers, overseeing the ranch and its workers. She insisted they teach her how to shoot a pistol. But her family saw to it that she also got a fine education, attending a Catholic boarding school in Kansas City until the age of thirteen. Returning to New Mexico, she was tasked with teaching her nine younger siblings. Nina's father had died when she was a baby, gunned down in a dispute with two white men over land, and her mother's remarriage had created a large, blended family. Nina enjoyed her role as a teacher. The family moved to Santa Fe in 1897, when a cousin was appointed governor of the territory. Nina thrived in her new surroundings. She had a mane of thick red hair and hazel eyes that flashed with intelligence and humor. She was admired for her charm and wit, and friends called her "high spirited and independent." Her family moved in the powerful political circles of the boomtown. In the culture of the western United States, women often had more rights and opportunities than their eastern sisters, even in traditionally male-dominated Hispanic communities. Nina's mother brought land and money into her marriage, and she passed it on to her daughters at her death. She was also the first female member of the Santa Fe school board. Nina always assumed she would live a life of influence. But when New Mexico became a state in 1912, its constitution denied women the right to vote. Angered, Nina took up suffrage in earnest. In her state, there was no organized support for the cause until Alice Paul, cofounder of the National Woman's Party, tapped Nina to head the state's suffrage campaign. "I am with you now and always!" Nina wrote to Alice. Nina came up against the same male scorn that plagued her eastern colleagues. Women who wanted the vote were willing to "trade their good looks for a cheap fame," scoffed one of Nina's brothers-in-law. Although Hispanic culture granted women some respect, at its heart it was still a man's world. Nina and the New Mexico suffragists suffered setback after setback, until February 1920, when the state finally voted on the Nineteenth Amendment. "Situation in Senate favorable ... Fight on in House ... But we will win," she wrote in a telegram to Alice Paul. And thanks to Nina's leadership and political clout, New Mexico became the thirty-second state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment. Nina moved easily between different worlds - Hispanic and Anglo, male and female. She was from an upper-class family, yet she worked for the welfare of people from all stations in life. She was single and childless, yet made a career in the education of children. In 1917, she was elected by an all-male board as superintendent of public schools in Santa Fe. She served as an officer of the Red Cross, a member of Santa Fe's board of health and public safety, and was chair of the women's division of the state Republican party. Nina was afraid that Hispanic culture, with its unique arts, crafts, language, and traditions, would be crushed by Anglo culture. She worked tirelessly within schools and cultural institutions to make sure that didn't happen. Her book, Old Spain in Our Southwest, contains stories of the daily life, history, songs, and myths of this culture. Despite her many successes, Nina was denied the groundbreaking role she sought after women gained the vote. In 1922, Nina won her state's Republican nomination for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. She was the first Hispanic woman to run for national office. She was defeated when a male relative revealed that Nina had divorced her husband but passed herself off as a widow. Nina lost the election and never again ran for public office. But through her activism, she emboldened the women of New Mexico to claim a place in the political realm. *image of Nina Otero Warren with books*