Photographs of Josefina Fierro, a leader in the Mexican American
community. Born in the border town of Mexicali, Baja California
during the tumultuous years of the Mexican Revolution, Josefina
Fierro was raised in a familial heritage of revolutionary
activism. Her father was an officer in General Francisco
"Pancho" Villa's northern revolutionary army, a fact that made
him largely absent from her life. Raised by her mother, who
separated from her husband and immigrated to the U.S. when
Josefina was a baby, the language of revolution and social
justice was a constant in her young life. Her mother's family
was followers of Ricardo Flores Magon, a Mexican anarchist
banished from Mexico for promoting radical reforms as part of
his Partido Liberal Mexicano, a movement he continued while in
exile on the U.S. side of the border. As a "Magonista,"
Josefina's mother taught her daughter to stand up for the
underdog, to speak out against injustice, and to treat others
with dignity and respect. It was no surprise that Jos