42 Facts About Adelina Otero-Warren

Maria Adelina Isabel Emilia "Nina" Otero-Warren was an American woman's suffragist, educator, and politician.

Adelina Otero-Warren became one of New Mexico's first female government officials when she served as Santa Fe Superintendent of Instruction from 1917 to 1929.

Adelina Otero-Warren was the first Latina to run for Congress, running unsuccessfully in 1922 as the Republican nominee to represent in the US House of Representatives.

Adelina Otero-Warren's father was a descendant of longtime settlers, who migrated to New Mexico from Spain in 1786.

Adelina Otero-Warren had an older brother, Eduardo, who lived from 1880 to 1932, and a younger brother, Manuel, who lived from 1883 to 1963, and nine half siblings.

In 1886, Adelina Otero-Warren's mother married Alfred Maurice Bergere, an Englishman.

Adelina Otero-Warren was well-connected to the German mercantile and Anglo-American families in the New Mexican territory.

Adelina Otero-Warren's mother raised Adelina within the traditional realm of a Spanish Hacienda in Los Lunas, surrounded by relatives and other well-to-do Hispanic families.

Adelina Otero-Warren was raised, in part, by an Irish governess named Mary Elizabeth Doyle.

Adelina Otero-Warren's mother was an activist for social and educational developments, and in the early 1900s, she became the director of Santa Fe's Board of Education.

Adelina Otero-Warren's mother focused on the importance of education, improving schools locally, and she cared for those who are poor and sick.

From 1892 to 1894, Adelina Otero-Warren attended a private Catholic boarding school in Saint Louis, Missouri.

Two years later, at age twenty-six, Adelina Otero-Warren divorced her husband.

Eloisa bequeathed her first husband's lands to her first two sons, Eduardo and Manuel, and her Luna family landholdings to Adelina Otero-Warren, which followed traditions of Hispanas passing on lands they brought into their marriage to their daughters.

Adelina Otero-Warren's death brought Adelina back from New York City to care for her nine half-siblings.

Adelina Otero-Warren made close ties with Ella St Clair Thompson, the woman who headed the Congressional Union for Women's Suffrage upon her arrival in New Mexico.

In 1914, Adelina Otero-Warren started working with the woman's suffrage campaign in New Mexico with Alice Paul's Congressional Union.

The CU wanted to include Hispanics in its campaign to ensure New Mexico ratified the Nineteenth Amendment, and Adelina Otero-Warren's activism made her an ideal candidate to lead the CU and reach out to the Hispanic population.

Adelina Otero-Warren was the first Mexican-American state leader of the Congressional Union in New Mexico, and her leadership rallied support from both the Spanish- and English-speaking communities.

Adelina Otero-Warren sought support for suffrage though her other political leadership roles as the chair of legislative committees for the Republican Party and the New Mexico Federation of Women's Clubs.

Adelina Otero-Warren lobbied New Mexico congressmen to vote in favor of the Nineteenth Amendment, and she was so influential because of her uncle and other Hispanic relatives who were elected leaders.

Adelina Otero-Warren played such an important role in this activist effort that Alice Paul, the leader of the CU, credited Otero-Warren with ensuring New Mexico ratified the Nineteenth Amendment.

Adelina Otero-Warren believed that she could have an even greater role in advocating for Hispanics, particularly in regards to education, if she held a congressional seat.

Adelina Otero-Warren received the Republican Party nomination to run for the US House of Representatives in 1922, after she defeated incumbent Nestor Montoya.

Adelina Otero-Warren celebrated her Hispanic heritage by speaking Spanish and advocating for the preservation of Hispanic heritage and culture.

Adelina Otero-Warren made several substantial changes in her tenure as superintendent.

Adelina Otero-Warren repaired dilapidated school buildings, and she improved teacher salaries.

Adelina Otero-Warren increased the school year's duration to nine months, and she created county high school and adult education programs.

Adelina Otero-Warren made extensive curriculum changes that emphasized bilingual and bicultural education.

Adelina Otero-Warren was elected to this position due to her work with other groups like the Red Cross and the Women's Auxiliary of the State Council of Defense.

Adelina Otero-Warren briefly served as an inspector of Native American schools in Santa Fe County after her 1923 appointment.

Adelina Otero-Warren advocated against sending Native children to boarding schools off of their reservations, and sought better cooperation between families and schools.

Adelina Otero-Warren was appointed as state director of the federal Civilian Conservation Corps by President Franklin D Roosevelt.

Adelina Otero-Warren was appointed as the Director of the Work Conference for Adult Teachers in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.

Adelina Otero-Warren aimed to merge and create a transcultural bridge to better civic circumstances.

Adelina Otero-Warren created a program at Borinquen Field for sailors, soldiers, Air Force, and marines in the United States to familiarize them with the Spanish language.

In 1931 Adelina Otero-Warren expressed her view on education as well as her cultural awareness in the printed May issue of Survey Graphic.

Adelina Otero-Warren discussed her youth on the ranch, where she formed her self-sufficient and independent character.

Adelina Otero-Warren joined Otero-Warren's campaign in 1922 as a volunteer, and later was hired as Otero-Warren's assistant to help with her work as inspector of Native American schools.

Adelina Otero-Warren remained focused on selling homes and did so until her death at the age of eighty-three.

Adelina Otero-Warren's legacy continued after her death on January 3,1965.

In 2021, the United States Mint announced that Adelina Otero-Warren would be among the first women depicted on the reverse of the quarter as a part of the American Women quarters series.