Four Hispanic Women to Celebrate this Hispanic Heritage Month

Sonia Sotomayor was born in the Bronx in 1954 to two native Puerto Ricans, where she grew up and graduated high school as the valedictorian of her class. Her success in high school earned her a scholarship to Princeton University studying history. She went on to attend Yale Law School and following her graduation, she took up a position under a Manhattan attorney as an assistant district attorney. Sotomayor moved on into a private practice where she focused on business and corporate law. 

During the George H. W. Bush administration, Sotomayor was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1991. Following this position, she was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in June of 1997. During her time in the Court of Appeals, Sotomayor would hear nearly 3,000 cases. 

However, in 2009, Sonia Sotomayor was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Supreme Court to fill the fifth seat, thus becoming the first Hispanic and Latina on the court as well as the third woman to serve.

Sotomayor still serves on the United States Supreme Court and has played a part in the decisions that have legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states and upheld the Affordable Care Act. She is known for her strength and empathy while on the bench and her trust in the judicial process.

“This wealth of experiences, personal and professional, have helped me appreciate the variety of perspectives that present themselves in every case that I hear,” Sotomayor said.

Ellen Ochoa: Astronaut and NASA Administrator

Ellen Ochoa was born in Los Angeles, California in 1958 and went on to study electrical engineering at Stanford University, where she also received her Master’s and Doctorate degrees. 

After her education, she worked as a research engineer at NASA before she was selected to participate in its astronaut program in 1990. Here, Ochoa completed her training and thus became the first Hispanic-American woman to be an astronaut. In April of 1993, she went aboard the Discovery Space Shuttle in its mission to conduct experiments to learn more about the sun’s interaction with earth’s atmosphere, where she became the first Latina to be launched into space. 

“What everyone in the astronaut corps shares in common is not gender or ethnic background, but motivation, perseverance, and desire - the desire to participate in a voyage of discovery,” Ochoa said.

Since then, Ochoa has worked as the Assistant for Space Station to the Chief of the Astronaut Office, lead spacecraft communicator in Mission Control and Acting Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office. Now, she serves as the Director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas and has been inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. 

Joan Baez: Musician and Political Activist

Joan Baez was born in 1941 on Staten Island, New York. She is the daughter of a Mexican physicist, so she spent her childhood traveling for their numerous research opportunities. During this time she picked up music, with the ukulele being her first instrument. However, she never acquired any formal training and instead taught herself how to play guitar to accompany her voice. 

She released her first self-titled album at the age of 19 and she was quickly thrust to the front of the 1960s folk-music movement. Baez played at numerous concerts and festivals, including Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam War rallies. She was jailed twice for refusing to pay federal taxes to benefit the Vietnam War. 

Through her career Baez has continued to be involved in political and social activism and these themes are reflected in much of her music. One of her most notable songs includes a 23 minute spoken piece that was inspired by a time Baez was caught in an intense bombing during her visit to Vietnam to deliver Christmas presents to American prisoners of war. It is called Where Are You Now, My Son? and includes recordings of Baez speaking during the bombing. 

Baez was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017. She wrote both an autobiography and memoir and continues to record music.  

“I think music has the power to transform people, and in doing so, it has the power to transform situations - some large and some small,” Baez said.

Maria Elena Salinas: Broadcast Journalist and Philanthropist