Group to Celebrate Century’s Latina Activists

A Latina nonprofit organization will celebrate International Women’s Day on Sunday at Mission College with two lectures on historical Mexicana and Chicana activists.

Comision Feminil San Fernando Valley, an offshoot of the Los Angeles group of the same name, works to promote and recognize Latinas in education.

In that vein, Shirlene Soto, Cal State Northridge history professor, will speak about Mexican activists of this century. Mary Helen Ponce will speak about “Chicanas in the Labor Movement,” focusing on Emma Tenayuca, who led a pecan-sheller strike in San Antonio in 1938.

Ponce, event organizer, said she hopes the lectures will help spark awareness of International Women’s Day, observed annually on March 8.

“We’re trying to revive interest in this occasion, celebrated globally during the ‘70s, during the apex of the women’s movement,” Ponce said.

Sunday’s event begins at 2 p.m. in the North Atrium of Mission College, 13356 Eldridge Ave. in Sylmar. A reception follows the lectures.

For more information, call Ponce at (818) 352-7796.