Veteran Feminists of America
|
ANITA
MARTINEZ THE HONORABLE ANITA MARTINEZ OF DALLAS -- FOUNDER OF THE BALLET
FOLKLORIO, COUNCILWOMAN, COMMUNITY ACTIVIST, NATIONAL PEACE CORPS
ADVISOR FOR PRESIDENT FORD.
High School
Graduation Day El Barrio,
Dallas’ Little Mexico, was my home from birth until I
married. My family lived on Pearl St. which was about a 20 minute
walk from the heart of downtown. Our neighborhood was one big
extended family. A neighbor lady taught us dance and for anyone
interested the lessons
were free. My friends and I would put on shows in our crepe paper
costumes on my front porch. Our routines consisted of fragments of
Ruby Keeler or Ginger Rogers movies that we had seen at the Majestic
or Palace movie houses. We would dance for people passing by. Some
would stop and applaud our attempts.
Their recognition of our efforts made us feel that we
mattered.
My
father worked for himself, using his truck to move
people and things about , and transporting workers to the onion and
cotton fields on the outskirts of town. From the time I was five
years old he would take
me with him and the
pickers when Mamanita would let me. My reward at the end of the day
was a Nehi orange soda -- HEAVEN! Papa and I were
simpatico and his death in 1941 at the age of 45 was almost
unbearable. Our family had lost our protector and
champion. My
mother was a licensed beautician, a business woman, unique for a
married Hispanic woman at the time. Our living room was her beauty
shop, the meeting place for neighborhood women. My sisters and I
were expected to help out on Saturdays. The living room smelled of
coffee and pan dulce, permanent wave solution and
filled with the sounds of women’s conversation and laughter. On
December 8, 1941 the day after President Franklin D.Roosevelt
declared war on Japan I turned sixteen. I still had two years of
high school to complete. To help the war effort I
volunteered at
the old Parkland Hospital on Maple Ave.
On
Sundays I worked as a dietician’s aide behind the kitchen’s steam
table. During that time I got a taste of civic involvement by going
door to door getting signatures to have the street in front of our
house paved. My efforts paid off . Soon our street was paved, and I
realized that the
positive initiative of one person could benefit
others. In
1941, when my father
passed away,
my mother had a stroke that required her to wear a leg brace. My older brother and 2 older
sisters were leaving home to get married, and my mother was urging
me to quit school and get a job to help with finances. It took a lot of pleading and
the intervention of an older sister to impress upon my mother that
finishing high school and going to college would allow me to qualify
for better jobs and would lead to a better life.
Anita
Martinez "not many of them know that once I was where they
are" When
I was 15 I met my
husband, Alfred, who lived on the northern edge of the Barrio. His family owned El Fenix
Café, a very successful
business. During the
war he was a pilot in the Army Air Force and I was a secretary with the
8th Service Command. In 1946, after the war, we
married. I quit my job to begin our
family and had 4
children in 4 years - Al Joseph (named after my only brother, Joe,
who was killed in combat), Steve, Priscilla, and Rene. I was a
volunteer at their different schools and involved in my husband’s
business by way of the Women’s Auxiliary of the Dallas Restaurant
Association (DRA). My involvement with the DRA eventually led to my
candidacy and
election for City Council,
and, in 1969 I was the
first Hispanic on the
Dallas City Council. At
the time I met a number
of influential professional women, including Vivian Castleberry, editor of
the Women’s Section of the Dallas Time Herald. These women were my allies when I
served as President of
the DRA’s Women’s Auxiliary. I
needed to know how to
get more publicity and recognition for the restaurants that were
members of the DRA. Vivian’s suggestion was to create an event that
would have the whole town talking. So I organized “A Taste of Dallas ”. It was
held in a downtown hotel and showcased the restaurants, all owned by
husbands of members of DRA. For an entrance fee of $5 the attendees
could sample the food of two dozen restaurants. It was a sold out
success and has become a yearly event
As Councilwoman Martinez I used my political muscle to help the poor of West Dallas, one of the most underserved areas of the city. I wanted to know from the people who lived there what ten improvements were needed immediately and made sure they were delivered: In a few years the area had better sanitation, a health clinic, street lights, paved streets, a library, a recreation center and other basic city services. Once neglected, these citizens now saw that I could
get things done and began to trust me, and I became more involved in their
community As their
voice at city hall
during my four year tenure I was able to persuade other
Hispanics to serve on boards and commissions. By the time I left
office West Dallas finally had a recreation center which my fellow
councilman voted to name “The Anita N. Martinez Recreation Center”.
To this day, ANMRC, is one of the most used facilities of it’s kind
city-wide
Pat Nixon, President Nixon, The
best I could do for
them was to get them to start standing up for themselves. If they
could learn more about their rich heritage, this would perhaps instill the pride and
confidence they needed to compete. The
DRA’s Women’s Auxiliary provided the seed money for the recreation
center’s first ballet folklorico classes. Enrollment extended
to every child, from age
three to seventeen. Through
dance, music, and performance the youngsters were able to learn
about where they came from,
enable them to enlighten
others, and add to the rich diversity that is a
hallmark of a great city. These dancer/students are goodwill ambassadors
extending the hand of friendship to the citizens of Dallas.
The
Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folklorico (ANMBF) is celebrating its 38 th anniversary. My school continues to strive to elevate Hispanic children
who are here now, and to anticipate the needs of Hispanic children
not yet born. Besides
teaching dance the training helps them to be proud and confident citizens.
The school encourages
them to graduate from
high school and get college degrees -- their ticket to a better
world. Their
performing, which may
look like whirling and stomping
4 Generations of Martinez
Women On
any day you will find me going to meetings, raising money, writing letters, making phone
calls -- prevailing on others to contribute time, money or both to ANMBF.
In 2009 ANMBF
became a resident company of AT&T Center for the Performing
Arts.. Where
I was born, the loving people who raised me, the community that
surrounded me, helped
shaped my destiny. I was able to accomplish because of a shared
vision with others who believe that a city is only as strong as it’s
weakest link. “Truinfar en la vida es hacer truinfar a los de
mas” . To triumph
in life is to help others triumph. This proverb continues to guide
me.
ANITA MARTINEZ 3866 Beutel Court, Dallas, TX 75229 214-352-1472 alnfrank64@hotmail.com
Comments to Jacqui Ceballos jcvfa@aol.com Back to Fabulous Feminists |
