Luz Alvarez Martinez

Luz Alvarez Martinez (born 1943) is an American reproductive justice activist. She co-founded the first national feminist health organization for Latinas in the US in 1986. The National Latina Health Organization. Martinez was a supporter of the United Farm Workers, a feminist and an advocate of the environment.

Early life

Luz Alvarez Martinez's parents were born in Guanajuato, Mexico and immigrated to the United States in the early 1920s, settling in El Rio, California. Luz Alvarez Martinez grew up in California, where her Catholic farmworker family owned a home in San Leandro and worked the fields in Fremont, Gilroy and Santa Rosa. She was one of 12 children and completed high school in Oakland at St. Elizabeth's High School, graduating in 1960.

Following her graduation from high school, Alvarez Martinez began working as a secretary for the Alameda County Probation Department. Alvarez Martinez enrolled at Merritt College for the fall 1964.

Activism

In the 1960s, Alvarez Martinez became more aware of social issues after learning about the Black Panthers and the protests against the Vietnam War. She also began to question the Catholic Church’s teachings when she was told she couldn’t use birth control to plan her family. Despite this, she chose to use birth control anyway.

In 1986, she co-founded the National Latina Health Organization in Oakland, CA, along with health educators Alicia Bejarano and Paulita Ortiz, and community activist Elisabeth Gastelumendi.

Their group, the first national feminist health organization for Latinas in the United States, used tools from the women’s health movement to encourage women to share their own stories and take charge of their healing. Latinas often face neglect and mistreatment in the medical system, so the group worked to raise awareness about discrimination and barriers to care. Alvarez Martinez served as the organization’s executive director until she retired in 2005. Shortly after, the organization closed.

In April 1992, Alvarez Martinez organized a protest against a reproductive rights march held by NOW in Washington, D.C., because she felt that NOW had not done enough to include women of color in the march.

In 1997, Alvarez Martinez co-founded SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective. She played a key role in the reproductive justice movement led by women of color in the U.S. and often spoke about Latina perspectives on reproductive rights at national conferences and in advocacy groups, such as NARAL (National Abortion Rights and Access League), where she served on the board. Working alongside leaders like Loretta Ross, she challenged the white-centered focus of mainstream feminist organizations like the National Organization for Women (NOW). Alvarez Martinez also served on the Minority Women's Health Panel of Experts for the National Office of Women’s Health (1997–2005) and on the Women’s Health Council for California’s Office of Women’s Health.

Publications

• Homenaje a Nuestras Curanderas/ Honoring Our Healers (1996, Latina Press)

Personal life

Alvarez Martinez has four sons and three grandchildren. Since 1993 she has been an Aztec ceremonial dancer.

See also

• National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice
• Latina Roundtable on Health and Reproductive Rights
• SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective
• Loretta Ross
• Reproductive Justice

Bibliography

• Ross, Loretta, Elena Gutiérrez, Marlene Gerber, and Jael Silliman. "13: The National Latina Health Organization," in Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organizing for Reproductive Justice. Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2016. pp. 247–273.
• "Luz Alvarez Martinez," Notable Hispanic American Women. Gale In Context: Biography. 1993.
• Lara, Irene. “Latina Health Activist-Healers Bridging Body and Spirit.” Women & Therapy 31, no. 1 (2008): 21–40. https://doi.org/10.1300/02703140802145169
• Levenstein, Lisa. They Didn’t See Us Coming: The Hidden History of Feminism in the Nineties. New York: Basic Books, 2020. ISBN 9780465095285.
• Norsigian J. "Our Bodies Ourselves and the Women's Health Movement in the United States: Some Reflections." Am J Public Health. 2019 Jun;109(6):844-846. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2019.305059.