Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Past Perfect: Local educator Chris Hawkins and her women's history project will soon share stories of local women.

Local group pioneers effort to uncover historic contributions of valley women

Chris Hawkins and her crew uncover legacy of remarkable women from San Jose's past

By Mary Spicuzza

When San Jose hosted its big Centennial Celebration Parade in 1876, most young women and men packed the streets to catch a glimpse of the nation's head honcho and rub elbows with the rich and powerful. But not suffragette Sarah Knox Goodrich, who was less concerned about brushes with fame than she was committed to making a difference. Goodrich, who founded the San Jose Suffrage Association in 1869, spent the afternoon dangling outside her window, holding a sign in protest of laws denying women the right to vote. It read, "Taxation without representation is a tyranny, as much in 1876 as it was in 1776."

During the same time period, the equally strong-willed (but unfortunately named) Euthanasia Meade, M.D., the area's first female physician, was fighting to get women doctors accepted into the local medical league.

While Goodrich and Meade were clearly exceptional women, Willow Glen's Chris Hawkins and the San Jose branch of the American Association of University Women are finding that remarkable females have been the rule--rather than the exception--throughout the history of Santa Clara Valley.

Hawkins is leading a team of women from both the AAUW--which is based in Willow Glen on Minnesota Avenue--and The History Museum of San Jose, in a quest aimed at honoring the area's women with their project, "Santa Clara County Women Who Made a Difference." The group of determined volunteers has devoted the past five years to discovering women who helped shape the past, present, and future of the area.

After countless hours of sifting through dusty newspaper clippings, family histories, city records and local folklore, the group is gearing up to go public with their findings. Beginning in May, two-hour workshops featuring more than 40 remarkable women will be offered through the museum. And Hawkins, who is also a special education teacher at Simonds Elementary School, plans to have complementary curriculum materials available for local teachers by the beginning of next school year.

"The curriculum will be available to teachers year-round; that way students who can't attend workshops and tours will still have access to information about the area's incredible women," Hawkins says.

Hawkins says she became interested in local women's history through her involvement with the AAUW, which she joined 13 years ago after moving to San Jose from the Midwest.

"I've always been fascinated with history," Hawkins says. "But you look at the history books, and it's so frustrating. It's so hard to find out about women from the past."

During her 1994-95 tenure as president of the AAUW, Hawkins began a project to highlight women's contributions to Santa Clara County. A group of nearly 20 women from the AAUW and museum set out to research women from the Victorian era, but have since broadened their search to include more women.

"Now we're doing women as far back as we can find them, to the present day," Hawkins says.

That span of time goes back to Maria Francesca Romero, a Mexican woman who walked from the lands south of the border to the San Francisco Pueblo with her family in 1775. She later traveled, again on foot, to San Jose, where she helped start the Pueblo de San Jose Guadalupe mission.

More recent additions include women from the mysterious Sarah Pardee Winchester to recent former mayor Susan Hammer. While both Winchester and Hammer are already well-known, the project volunteers are working to reexamine their contributions to the community. For example, Winchester is known for her eccentric home, but her numerous donations to local charities and commitment to social work often go unrecognized.

A Community Action Grant, a $3,500 award given by the AAUW in 1996, has helped Hawkins and company expand the search. They continue to work at uncovering the lives of women from different time periods, and also from divergent ethnic, racial and class backgrounds.

A core group of six women have continued the project over the years. They often provide information for the National Women's History Project, a driving force in establishing March as Women's History Month more than 10 years ago. The national project's mission statement declares, "Women's history is the primary tool for women's emancipation."

The organization began in the late 1800s, and has since become aligned with the national AAUW, based in Washington D.C.. Throughout Willow Glen's history, the local branch of the association has played an active role in empowering the women of San Jose.

For more than a century, the Willow Glen AAUW has hosted events furthering women's empowerment, through both education and legal advocacy for women.

Workshops feature topics ranging from non-traditional career fields and self-esteem to international relations and local homelessness. The national organization also emphasizes education and legal advocacy for those fighting gender discrimination.

Co-President Zee Del Fiugo feels that the women's history project can teach valuable lessons for both men and women.

"I don't think it's been stressed enough," Del Fiugo says. "It shows that women throughout the Valley have always made a difference, even though you wouldn't know it reading the history books."

Thanks to determined Hawkins, the historic amnesia often blotting out the contributions of women in San Jose's history may soon be a thing of the past.

"We're hoping this is just the beginning," Hawkins says. "We know there are more women out there ... and we're going to find them."

The American Association of University Women is located at 1165 Minnesota Ave. For more information, call the AAUW at 294-2430.

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