Journalist and activist Jovita Idar (1885-1946) lived and worked in Laredo, Texas, along the Mexican border. She is the equal of social activists and reporters like Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochran) and Ida B. Wells. She deserves for more people to know her story.
In the early 1900s, Mexicans and Mexican Americans moved freely between the U.S. and Mexico, but as more Anglos moved into the region the fluid lifestyle became problematic. White families wanted possession of the towns and the countryside, and Texas Rangers were there to help reduce the presence of the Mexican Americans.
Jovita Idar’s father published a Spanish-language newspaper that stood up for the rights of the Mexican Americans who lived in the region. In her mid 20s, Jovita Idar joined the paper and wrote about the injustices she saw. She brought attention to the unequal education delivered to Mexican American children because of segregation, and frequently had to write about lynchings of Mexicans. They occurred often—many times carried out by Texas Rangers.
Recognition of Idar arrived long after her death in 1946. In 2023, Jovita Idar’s face appeared on a newly minted quarter as part of the American Women Quarters Program.
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Correcting the Record
Most biographies of Jovita Idar tell a story of her standing down violence at a newspaper office. The story goes that the Texas Rangers were sent to destroy the presses of the newspaper where she worked. Jovita was said to have held them off by standing in the doorway. In 2025, historian and researcher Daniel Buck provided LMTOnline (an online Laredo news site) with his research findings. After combing through many stories published in newspapers of the era, he found no documentation of the incident. He determined that the story was apocryphal.
However, there was definitely violence against Mexican American newspapers. In 1916, the district attorney of Webb County directed the Texas Rangers to arrest the editor of El Progreso where Jovita worked. The D.A. was incensed because the newspaper published editorials supporting the revolutionaries in Mexico.
After his arrest, the editor was released on bail but that was not the end of it. A month later, a vigilante group kidnapped him and sent him over the border. Shortly after that, the vigilantes returned and destroyed the printing presses. Though there was plenty of violence in Laredo during those years, Jovita Idar’s story does not hold up after Daniel Buck’s research.
Early Life
Jovita Idar (1885-1946) was born in Laredo, Texas, the second of eight children. Her parents were of Mexican descent. Her father owned and published a Spanish language newspaper, called La Crónica.
The newspaper ownership gave the family status and knowledge. Her father was a strong advocate for civil rights and social justice. The Idar children knew that getting an education was a privilege not open to all people in Laredo. At home, they heard of many of the issues affecting Mexican Americans of Laredo, and many of them took it to heart.
The children attended Methodist schools. Jovita did well. At the age of 18, she graduated with a teaching certificate from the Laredo Seminary (also called the Holding Institute). She saw teaching as a logical way to improve the lives of those in her community.
In that era, schools in many parts of the country were segregated by race. The better-funded community school was for white children. Two other schools were designated for “other.” One building was for Black students; another was for Chicana (Mexican) children. Idar was hired to work with the Mexican students in Los Ojuelos, Texas, not far from Laredo.
When Jovita Idar arrived at her school, she found that the simplest needs—paper and pencils as well as books and desks—were not available for her students. What’s more, all classes were to be conducted in English. She saw a need—and the importance of—communicating in Spanish as well.
She remained at the school for a time, but she cast about for ways she could do more to help Mexican Americans.
Worried About Culture
In southwest Texas in the early part of the twentieth century, the era was sometimes called Juan Crow (like Jim Crow in the South). Signs at restaurants and bus stations often specified, “No Negroes, Mexicans or dogs allowed.” Law enforcement officers saw nothing wrong with intimidating Mexican Americans.
While all the discriminatory issues were important, Jovita Idar was particularly passionate about matters concerning children, gender equity (including suffrage for women), and the loss of the area’s cultural identify.
Her experience in the school caused her to worry about how the children would learn about the history and culture of Mexican Americans. The few books she was given for the classroom taught about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. She knew that to Tejanos (Mexicans who lived along the border before the modern border was established in 1840), there were people of Hispanic heritage who mattered, too. Her class needed role models from their own background.
Among the heroes she shared with her classes were Miguel Hidalgo (1753-1811) and Benito Juarez (1806-1872). Hidalgo was a Catholic priest who is considered a founding father of Mexico. Juarez was the first democratically elected president (1858) and the first indigenous president to govern Mexico.
Tensions
As more Anglos moved to Laredo, they wanted to take over more land. Tejanos had long lived in the area, but protests were met with force. Lynchings were common. Between 1914-1919, Texas Rangers were responsible for at least 5000 deaths of Tejanos—many of them by lynching. It wasn’t just a Southern thing.
Needed New Path
She finally decided that returning to the family newspaper, La Crónica, made the most sense.Perhaps if she wrote about the issues affecting Mexican Americans, she could help bring about change.
Often writing under a pseudonym, Jovita Idar wrote about everything from the poor living condition of Mexican American workers to discrimination in schools and society in general. She often had to document stories about lynchings of Mexicans along the border.
Organized for Fair Treatment
In 1911, Jovita and her family organized El Primer Congreso Mexicanista (the First Mexican Congress). The intent was to pull together men and woman who advocated for fair and equal treatment for people of Mexican heritage. Those who attended were government leaders, activists, and journalists from the area.
She also advocated for women and the vote. This was a cause her father also supported, and as time went on, Jovita was able to form an organization to push for the cause.
As a result of this first Congress, Jovita Idar pulled together a logical outgrowth that helped put forward women’s causes: La Liga Femenil Mexicanista (League of Mexican Women). She became the first president. Most of the members were working-class women. Because people from both sides of the border continued to freely interact, the League worked to serve populations in both Laredo and its sister city, Nuevo Laredo.
The league fought for the rights of all Mexican Americans but with a particular emphasis on issues pertaining women and girls. They did everything from run clothing drives to help the community to hosting cultural events to celebrate Mexican heritage. When they could, they established free education for Mexican children. Idar was quoted as saying, “When you educate a woman, you educate a family,”
When you educate a woman, you educate a family.
Jovita Idar
The Mexican Revolution
In 1910, the Mexican Revolution to overthrow the government of President Porfirio Diaz started.
Economic inequality and political repression were ongoing in Mexico, but when Diaz imprisoned his main opponent so that Diaz could declare himself the winner of the latest election, outright rebellion ensued. Many residents of Nueva Laredo (in Mexico) moved to Laredo (U.S.) and citizens of the area couldn’t help but be involved.
Some of Jovita Idar’s friends began crossing the Southern border to help care for the wounded. They declared themselves La Cruz Blanca (the White Cross). Jovita Idar left the newspaper and joined the group. She helped with recruitment of more people, but she also stepped in to help care for the injured.
In 1914, Jovita returned to Laredo and accepted a job writing for El Progreso. The newspaper took a strong stand in favor of the revolutionaries in Mexico. It was here that the editor was kidnapped and the printing presses were destroyed.
In November 1916, Jovita Idar founded a weekly newspaper, Evolución, which operated until 1920.
Marriage
In 1917, Jovita married Bartolo Juárez, a plumber and tinsmith. They moved to San Antonio in 1921. Her activism continued there. The married couple founded a Democratic Club and became political leaders. She also helped establish a free kindergarten and volunteered as a Spanish translator at the county hospital. Much of her work involved helping new immigrants become naturalized citizens.
By the 1940s, Jovita Idar was sick with advanced tuberculosis—a disease for which there was no cure. In 1946, she died of a pulmonary hemorrhage.