María Libertad Gómez Garriga

María Libertad Gómez Garriga [note 1] (July 18, 1889 – July 7, 1961) was a Puerto Rican educator, community leader, and politician. She is one of the twelve women honored with a plaque in "La Plaza en Honor a la Mujer Puertorriqueña" (Plaza in Honor of Puerto Rican Women), in San Juan.

María Libertad Gómez Garriga
15th Speaker of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives
In office
1945–1945
Speaker pro tempore of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico
In office
1953–1956
Personal details
BornJuly 18, 1889
Utuado, Puerto Rico
DiedJuly 7, 1961
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Political partyLiberal Party
OccupationEducator, civic leader and politician
Known forShe was the only woman in the Constitutional Convention of Puerto Rico, formed in 1951, and the only woman to sign the 1952 Constitution of Puerto Rico.

Early life

María Libertad Gómez Garriga was born in Arenas barrio of mountainous Utuado, the daughter of Francisco Esteban Gómez and Maria Jesusa Garriga. Francisco Esteban Gómez's grandfather Germán and great-grandmother Gregoria were born in slavery. She completed teacher training at the University of Puerto Rico in 1909.[1][2]

Career

Gómez Garriga taught elementary school for several years; she was also trained as an accountant and active in rural labor organizations.[3] She was director of a tobacco cooperative; in 1929, she and other activists founded a bank for women. In 1932, she was elected to a leadership position on the Puerto Rican Liberal Party, but soon her wing of the party split off to become the Popular Democratic Party (PPD). After several years working in politics, she was elected to the Puerto Rican House of Representatives in 1940, representing the district of Utuado. She worked particularly on education issues and civil rights, and was pro-independence. For one month in 1945, during a time of transition, she was President of the House, the first woman to hold that position.[4] She was re-elected to her seat three times, and won her last election to the House of Representatives in 1952. She was the only woman in the Constitutional Convention of Puerto Rico, formed in 1951, and the only woman to sign the 1952 Constitution.[5]

She ran unsuccessfully for the Senate of Puerto Rico in 1956, and resigned her positions in the Popular Democratic party after that.[6]

Personal life and legacy

Gómez died in 1961, aged 72 years. She is one of the twelve women honored with a plaque in the "Plaza en Honor a la Mujer Puertorriqueña" (Plaza in Honor of Puerto Rican Women) in San Juan.[7] There is a public upper elementary school named for María Libertad Gómez Garriga in Utuado.[8] There is also a middle school named for Gómez, in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico.[9]

See also

Notes
  1. In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Gómez and the second or maternal family name is Garriga.

References
  1. Yolanda Martínez Viruet, María Libertad Gómez Garriga y el proceso de la Asamblea Constituyente del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico (PhD diss., Universidad del Pais Vasco 2016).
  2. Glorimar Rodríguez González, "María Libertad Gómez Garriga: una transgresora en la política puertorriqueña" Mujeres con Visión (December 1, 2016).
  3. Gabriel Villaronga, Toward a Discourse of Consent: Mass Mobilization and Colonial Politics in Puerto Rico, 1932-1948 (Greenwood Publishing Group 2004): 65. ISBN 9780313324239
  4. Female Presidents of Parliaments and Parliamentary Bodies, 1920-1990, Guide2WomenLeaders.com.
  5. Serafín Méndez-Méndez, Ronald Fernandez, eds., Puerto Rico Past and Present: An Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition (ABC-CLIO 2015): 158. ISBN 9781440828324
  6. Aixa Merino Falú, María Libertad Gómez Garriga : una mujer con voluntad de acero (Oficina de la Procuradora de las Mujeres, 2004). ISBN 9781881730163
  7. "Asamblea Legislativa homenajea a 12 mujeres ilustres" El Nuevo Dia (March 6, 2014).
  8. Escuela María Libertad Gómez, Puerto Rico Department of Education.
  9. Maria Libertad Gomez Middle School, Toa Baja PR.
House of Representatives of Puerto Rico
Preceded by
Benjamín Ortiz Ortiz		 Speaker pro tempore of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives
1953–1956		 Succeeded by
Jorge Font Saldaña
Political offices
Preceded by
Rafael Rodríguez Pacheco		 Speaker of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives
1945–1945		 Succeeded by
Francisco M. Susoni Abreu
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