Elizabeth Martínez

Elizabeth "Betita" Martínez (December 12, 1925 – June 29, 2021) was an American Chicana feminist and a long-time community organizer, activist, author, and educator. She wrote numerous books and articles on different topics relating to social movements in the Americas. Her best-known work is the bilingual 500 years of Chicano History in Pictures, which later formed the basis for the educational video ¡Viva la Causa! 500 Years of Chicano History. Her work was hailed by Angela Y. Davis as comprising "one of the most important living histories of progressive activism in the contemporary era ... [Martínez is] inimitable ... irrepressible ... indefatigable."

Life

Martínez was the daughter of Manuel Guillermo Martinez and Ruth Philips Martínez. Her parents nicknamed her "Betita" for short. She grew up in a middle class predominately white neighborhood in Washington, D.C. because her father worked as a secretary in the Mexican Embassy. Her mother, Ruth Philips Martínez, received a master's degree from George Washington and taught advanced high school Spanish.

Activism Martínez began her political work in the early 1950s. She worked in New York for the United Nations Secretariat as a researcher on colonialism and decolonization in Africa. Martinez was an activist who advocated for all different areas of life whether it be racism, poverty, or issues in military. During the 1960s, Martínez served full-time in the Civil Rights Movement with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the South and as a coordinator of its New York office. Martínez edited the photo history book, The Movement, that raised funds for the SNCC. In 1968, she moved to New Mexico to start a newspaper to support the Alianza Federal de Mercedes. Martínez edited the bilingual pictorial volume 500 Years of Chicano History that influenced her video Viva La Causa! that has been shown at film festivals and in classrooms across the country. Martínez ran for Governor of California on the Peace & Freedom Party ticket in 1982 and received many awards from student, community, and academic organizations, In 2004, she served on the advisory board for the group 2004 Racism Watch. She was also an adviser to the Catalyst Project, an anti-racist political education organization that focuses on white communities. She was also at one point affiliated with the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. Martínez died on June 29, 2021, at the age of 95.

Selected publications 500 years of Chicana women's history = 500 años de historia de la mujer Chicanas (2008) De Colores Means All of Us: Latina Views for a Multi-Colored Century (1998) 500 years of Chicano History in Pictures (1976) The Youngest Revolution: A Personal Report on Cuba (1969) Letters from Mississippi (1964)