Women | US-NM | New Mexico

1810s

Maria Teresa [Teresita] Sandoval Suazo (29 nov 1811 – 1894 | Taos NM – Pueblo CO) pioneer, co-founder of El Pueblo CO, one of first European women to live in Arkansas Valley, managed Doyle Settlement ranch


1880s

María Montoya Martínez (05 apr 1881 [or 1887] – 20 jul 1980 | San Ildefonso NM – San Ildefonso NM) ceramic artist, cultural icon, self-taught Tewa potter, aka Po-Ve-Ka [Pond Lily]

Margretta Stewart Shaw Dietrich (23 nov 1881 – 13 jan 1961 | Philadelphia PA – Santa Fe NM) author, activist, feminist, suffragist, cultural conservationist


1890s

Quah Ah [Tonita] Vigil Peña (10 may 1893 – 09 sep 1949 | San Ildefonso NM – Santo Domingo Pueblo NM) muralist, women’s rights advocate, pen-and-ink / watercolor artist, aka María Antonia Tonita Peña

Georgia Lee Lusk (12 may 1893 – 05 jan 1971 | Carlsbad NM – Albuquerque NM) educator, public servant, first woman NM State Representative

Fabiola Cabeza de Baca (16 may 1894 – 14 oct 1991 | Las Vegas NM – Albuquerque NM) activist, author, educator, nutritionist, multi-linguist, cookbook writer, invented U-shaped fried taco shell

Ann Nolan Clark (05 dec 1896 – 13 dec 1995 | Las Vegas NM – Tucson AZ) author, educator, focus on Native American life, born Anna Marie Nolan, published by US Bureau of Indian Affairs, ambassador for Institute of Inter-American Affairs


1900s

Maria Margarita [Margaret] Tafoya (13 aug 1904 – 25 feb 2001 | Santa Clara Pueblo NM – Santa Clara Pueblo NM) aka Corn Blossom, Santa Clara Pueblo potter, Native American matriarch


1910s

Helen Cordero (15 jun 1915 – 24 jul 1994 | Cochiti Pueblo NM – Cochiti Pueblo NM) potter, storyteller pottery figurines inventor / innovator

Nina Leopold Bradley (04 aug 1917 – 25 may 2011 | Albuquerque NM – Barbaboo WI) author, researcher, conservationist

Pablita Velarde (19 sep 1918 – 12 jan 2006 | Santa Clara Pueblo NM – Albuquerque NM) Pueblo artist, painter, watercolorist, aka Tse Tsan [Tewa for Golden Dawn], one of first women accepted to Dorothy Dunn’s Santa Fe Studio Art School, commissioned by National Park’s WPA Grant to paint works for Bandelier National Monument


1920s

Antonia Apodaca (01 nov 1923 – 25 jan 2020 | Rociada NM – Albuquerque NM) guitarist, musician, songwriter, accordianist, New Mexico music specialist

Louise Abeita Chewiwi (09 sep 1926 – 21 jul 2014 | Isleta Pueblo NM – Albuquerque NM) poet, writer, educator, aka E-Yeh-Shure or Blue Corn, Isleta Pueblo-American

Mari-Luci Jaramillo (19 jun 1928 – 20 nov 2019 | Las Vegas NM – Albuquerque NM) author, memoirist, schoolteacher, academic administrator, US Ambassador to Honduras

Carolyn Jean Spellman Shoemaker (24 jun 1929 – Gallup NM) astronomer, comet hunter, record-breaking comet discoverer


1930s

Dolores Fernandez Huerta (10 apr 1930 – Dawson NM) author, speaker, labor leader, social justice activist

Nancy Valverde (06 mar 1932 – Deming NM) barber, former laborer, Chicana butch lesbian icon of Los Angeles CA, subject of books / plays / documentaries

Estela Ruiz (08 apr 1936 – Lordsburg NM) author, alleged Marian visionary

Anita Louise Suazo (13 may 1937 – Santa Clara Pueblo NM) Native American, Pueblo potter

Paula Gunn Allen (24 oct 1939 – 29 may 2008 | Albuquerque NM – Fort Bragg CA) Native American poet, novelist, literary critic, lesbian activist

Jereldine [Jeri] Redcorn (23 nov 1939 – Albuquerque NM) artist, potter, Caddo / Potawatomi Native American, credited with reviving traditional Caddo pottery


1940s

Maxine Baca Zinn (11 jun 1942 – Santa Fe NM) author, sociologist, professor, researcher

Linda Cozby Wertheimer (19 mar 1943 – Carlsbad NM) author, National Public Radio journalist

Nancy Kozikowski (31 mar 1943 – Albuquerque NM) painter, weaver, tapestry specialist, carpet designer / maker, silk embroidery designer, public installation artist

Vera Chino Ely (27 jun 1943 – Acoma Pueblo NM) Native American Pueblo potter

Sara Jane Misquez (06 sep 1945 – 09 jan 2008 | Mescalero NM – near Tularosa NM) American Mescalero Apache Native American leader, president of Mescalero Apache of southern New Mexico

LaVonne Salleé (18 jan 1946 – Roswell NM) found / recycled / conceptual artist

Judy Zebra [J. Z.] Knight (16 mar 1946 – Roswell NM) mystic, author, self-professed spiritual channel, born Judith Darlene Hampton

Leslie Marmon Silko (05 mar 1948 – Albuquerque NM) poet, novelist, filmmaker, short fiction writer

Denise Chavez (15 aug 1948 – Las Cruces NM) author, editor, playwright, stage director

Rosa Maria Calles (15 oct 1949 – Tome NM) Hispanic-American artist, playwright, stage and film writer, producer, director


1950s

Lucy Tapahonso (08 nov 1953 – Shiprock NM) poet, Navajo-English translator, lecturer in Native American Studies, first Poet Laureate of the Navajo Nation

Darcy Pattison (28 jun 1954 – Albuquerque NM) blogger, indie publisher, writing teacher, children’s fiction / nonfiction author

Pamela Burford (09 aug 1954 – Las Cruces NM) twin, romance / romantic suspense novelist

Patricia Burford Ryan (09 aug 1954 – Las Cruces NM) twin, romance novelist, mystery novelist as P. B. Ryan

Gloria La Riva (13 aug 1954 – Albuquerque NM) author, translator, political activist, documentary filmmaker, US Party for Socialism and Liberation presidential candidate [2008 and 2016]

Rebecca Vigil-Giron (04 sep 1954 – Taos NM) author, politician, longest-serving New Mexico Secretary of State

Pamela Porter (14 jul 1956 – Albuquerque NM) American-born Canadian poet, novelist

Elizabeth Toya Medina (30 nov 1956 – Jemez Pueblo NM) artist, Pueblo potter