Patricia de los SANTOS
Research Conducted By: Enrique Manon Domingez
Edited By: Alyssa S Park
Beloved Feminist
Local Leader
Advocate for Bilingual Needs
(1933- 2010)
Patricia De Los Santos
Source: Legacy.com
FROM NEW MEXICO TO CALIFORNIA!
Patricia de los Santos was born on September 28, 1933 in New Mexico to Paul and Rafaelita Sedillo. As an adult, she and her parents moved to Visalia, California, where they would spend the rest of their lives.
Distance between New Mexico and Visalia
Source: Google Maps
A Career in Bilingual Activism
After moving to Visalia, Patricia de los Santos passionately dedicated her life to being a Community Relations Manager for the Visalia Unified School District. Her new job was located in a school district with multicultural students who struggled due to the lack of support for non English speakers. Patricia sought to bridge that gap by job training community aides and hosting bilingual workshops for parents. Her work helped increase accessibility to households that otherwise would not have been able to get the valuable help that they needed. Patricia would spend 25 years in this role, aiding generations of students and families in getting the education that they deserved.
To Congress and Beyond
In 1975, Patricia's work of increasing accesibility to non-English speakers in her community led her to participate in a public forum in Fresno, California. In the forum, de los Santos argued in favor of the Bilingual Courts Act. The Bilingual Courts Act– which passed in the following year –made it necessary for judicial districts to provide translation services to individuals who did not speak or understand English. This helped to ensure that fair treatment extended to Americans who do not speak English fluently.
Patricia and other community leaders advocated for billingual accesibility in public forums.
Source: Bilingual Courts Act : Hearings before the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary
National Women's Conference 1977
Patricia joined her fellow delegates to advocate for Chicana rights
Patricia de los Santos had the honor of being 1 of 5 alternate delegates, sent along side the other 96 delegates to Houston. Patricia identified herself as being a Chicana feminist during her time at the conference.
Chicana feminists during the conference were concerned with how their Chicana identity intersected with women's rights issues. Many called for feminism to address both racism and sexism.
During this time period, many Chicana feminists not only worked alongside the Chicano movement for cultural and political empowerment of the Latinx community, but also argued that sexism needed to be addressed by the movement.
"I had the privilege of meeting Pat in my earlier days while attending a Social Studies class at College of the Sequoias. It was our discussions concerning social matters that intrigued me even further to possibly pursue a degree in the Social Sciences."
- Ed Urias, in a comment left on Patricia's obituary in 2011.
A Celebration of Life
December 19, 2010
On December 19, 2010, Patricia de los Santos passed away at the age of 77. She was survived by eight children, three siblings, and seventeen grandchildren. Many mourned her, and the lasting contributions she made in helping education to be more accessible in her community. She was widely mourned and looked fondly upon by her former coworkers, friends, and family.
Sources:
Bilingual Courts Act : Hearings before the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights of
the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Ninety-Fourth Congress, First Session on S. 565, H.R. 2243, H.R. 2255, H.R. 4096, and H.R. 8314, Bilingual Courts Act, October 23, December 3 and 4, 1975. Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1976.
California Women: Bulletin, August 1977. Sacramento, CA: California. Commission on the
Status of Women, 1977. https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C2524793.
Cortera, Martha P., Mujeres Bravas: How Chicanas Shaped the Feminist Agenda at the National
IWY Conference in Houston, 1977.”
“Patricia Pacheco De Los Santos Obituary (2011) Tulare County.” Legacy.com. Legacy, January
7, 2011. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/visaliatimesdelta/name/patricia-santos-obituary?id=21067991.