California's women are no strangers to activism. Here are just a few of the many women who have advocated for and striven to make social chances that better people's lives.
Dolores Huerta
Contribution: Dolores Huerta is perhaps one of the most influential social activists to come out of California in the Twentieth Century. She co-founded the United Farm Works Association and was a labor activist in the Chicano civil rights movement, but more than that, she has inspired a generations to fight for equality.
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Yuri Kochiyama
Contribution: Yuri Kochiyama was known for her advocacy of civil rights and human rights. Having been sent to an internment camp in Jerome, Arkansas during World War II at an early age had a profound effect on Kochiyama, and this experience became the impetus for her life's work. She fought for and helped win reparations for those sent to the internment camps.
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Candace (Candy) Lightner
Contribution: After the death of her daughter at the hands of a drunk driver, Candace Lightner founded Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (later changed to Driving) (MAAD), which has grown to become one of the largest activist organizations in the United States. She also founded We Save Lives, another organization devoted to sober and distraction free driving.
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Sophia Mendoza
Contribution: Sophia Mendoza is most noted for her activism in San Jose, California. She co-founded the United People Arriba organization and the Community Alert Patrol (CAP). She fought tirelessly for equality in education, housing, and healthcare in East San Jose, and she also protested against police brutality.
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Clara Shortridge Foltz
Contribution: Clara Shortridge Foltz was the first woman lawyer on the Pacific Coast, California’s first female Los Angeles deputy district attorney, creator of state's prisoner parole and public defender systems, and founder of The San Diego Bee.. She sued for entrance into California’s only law school, tried cases in courts where women were not even allowed to serve on juries, and fought for women's suffrage. In 1930, at the age of 81, she ran in gubernatorial primary for the Republican ticket, reportedly garnering 8,000 votes, but she ultimately lost her bid. There are several awards name after her.
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Toypurina
Contribution: Toypurina was a Tongva medicine woman from the village of Japchivit who gathered support from eight villages for a revolt against Spanish colonial rule in 1785. An informant gave away the plans, and the group fell into a trap. During her trial, she admitted her part in the planned revolt and then outwitted the courts by agreeing to convert to Catholicism, thereby making it impossible for the courts to sentence her to death. She took the name Regina Josefa, married a former soldier, and had three children with him. Her descendants still live in Alta California
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