Abigail Mejia

Ana Emilia Abigaíl Mejia Soliere (April 15, 1895 – March 15, 1941) was a feminist activist, nationalist, literary critic and educator from the Dominican Republic. She completed her primary education at the Salome Ureña de Henríquez School for Girls and Liceo Dominicano. In 1912, she became a teacher in Barcelona where she resided with her family. She returned to the Dominican Republic in 1925 and became a professor of Literature, Pedagogy and History at the Superior Normal School of Santo Domingo. She is one of the leading figures of feminism in the Dominican Republic, founding the Club Nosotras in 1927 and Acción Feminista Dominicana.

Early life Abigaíl Mejía was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on April 15, 1895. She was born into a family of intellectuals who influenced and nurtured her own future as an intellectual. Mejía completed primary school at the all-women's academy, Salomé Ureña de Henríquez, and at the Liceo Dominicano. She returned to Santo Domingo for a brief period of time that same year and then moved back to Barcelona in 1921.

Career Feminist activism Mejía is considered a pioneer of feminism and the feminist movement in the Dominican Republic. She and her contemporaries Delia Weber and Livia Veloz co-founded Club Nosotras (literally 'our club'), a literary and cultural society for Dominican women. Club Nosotras was reorganized in 1931 with more explicitly political goals under the name Acción Feminista Dominicana (AFD). The AFD mobilized to "fight for the vindication of women's rights," particularly women's suffrage, but they likewise focused on penal facility reform, alcoholism, prostitution, illegal drugs, and other social welfare concerns. The AFD thus began to openly support Trujillo and Mejía even referred to him as "el presidente feminista" or "the feminist president" in a 1932 speech.

Arts and culture In 1926, Mejía published the "Plan on the Establishment of a National Museum in Santo Domingo" in Francisco A. Palau's journal, Black and White, which included reflections on experiences and observations from visiting the Prado, the Louvre, and the Pinacoteca in the Vatican.

Apart from her contributions to arts and culture via the Museo Nacional, Mejía is also known as the pioneer of a female gaze in photography in the Dominican Republic. Mejía presented various speeches and conferences. Her public entrance into the Dominican feminist movement was the presentation of her speech, "Feminismo," in Santo Domingo in 1926. She also wrote the first history of Dominican literature in 1937 which was later published in 1939.

Death and legacy Mejía worked as a writer and director of the Museo Nacional until her death on March 15, 1941. She produced various texts and held different positions of power throughout her life, but did not live to see the legal reforms for full civil and political rights for women in the Dominican Republic.

Selected works Sueña Pilarín (1925) "El idilio del pichoncito" (Fémina 94, 15 November 1926)