GOOGLE DOODLES HONOURS MARíA HERNáNDEZ ON HER 122ND BIRTHDAY

Inspiration can be found everywhere, including Google Doodles who honoured civil rights activist and groundbreaking broadcaster, María Rebecca Latigo de Hernández.

Hernandez fought for the rights of her fellow Mexicans living in America. She was born in 1896 in Mexico where she grew up but moved to the US in 1918 to escape the Mexican civil war and raise her family. Although Hernandez and her husband ran a grocery store and a bakery, she remained a vocal activist, fighting against economic bias and educational exclusion that women and children of Mexican descent suffered against.

Hernandez used her incredible speaking skills to mobilise the movement, using the medium of radio, becoming the first Mexican American female radio announcer. She spent most of her working life speaking up against injustice and inequality across both the Mexican and African American communities. Hernandez also stood for workers rights, using this cause to meet with the president of Mexico in 1939 to ask for assistance in negotiating between them and the US while remaining on good terms with the US Mexicans as well as the citizens living in their home country.

Hernandez later created the Orden Caballeros de America )Order of the Knights of America) that aimed to enlighten Mexicans living in the US about their rights and Asociacion Protectora de Madres (Association for the Protection of Mothers) which gave financial aid to mothers.

Henandez became the voice for the Mexican American community, striving to alleviate their struggles and remaining a strong activist. She tragically died after suffering from pneumonia in 1986 at the age of 89.

The Doodle for July 29 shows Hernández holding a microphone to celebrate what would have been her 122nd birthday. According to Google, the image shows her “doing what she did best – using her voice to elevate and benefit her community.”