Hilda Hidalgo

Puerto Rican-born activist, educator, and social reformer

• Born: September 1, 1928
• Birthplace: Puerto Rico
• Died: November 8, 2009
• Place of death: Gainesville, Florida

Hidalgo dedicated her life to social activism on behalf of the Hispanics, homosexuals, and women who often had little access to community or government support while furthering the educational needs of minorities as a well-respected professor at Rutgers University.

Early Life

Hilda Hidalgo (HIHL-dah ee-DAHL-goh) was born in Puerto Rico on September 1, 1928, and lived in Rio Piedras with her family. The family included sisters Elia and Zaida; Elia would later help Hidalgo in her research and would publish works on minority issues in her own right.

As a young woman, Hidalgo taught in a Puerto Rican school for a few years before earning her B.A. from the University of Puerto Rico in 1957. In 1958, she left Puerto Rico to pursue a master’s degree from Catholic University of America, which she earned in 1959. By 1968, Hidalgo added a master’s degree in social work from Smith College School of Social Work, located in Northampton, Massachusetts, and a Ph.D. from Union Graduate School in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She later credited an episode of racial intolerance during her first two years in the United States with spurring her to concentrate her lifelong efforts on furthering equality.

Life’s Work

In 1960, Hidalgo moved to Newark, New Jersey, to work for the Girl Scouts Council of Greater Essex in the position of district director before serving as director of Child Services from 1965 through 1970. After leaving Child Services, Hidalgo began teaching at the Rutgers School of Social Work in New Brunswick, New Jersey, before moving to the Newark campus to teach in the Department of Public Administration. In her capacity at Rutgers, she served as director of the Master’s of Work Bilingual Program and later as the director of the Masters of Public Administration Hispanic, Bilingual, and Bicultural Program. In a position with special relevance to her birthplace, Hidalgo also periodically worked as the coordinator of Puerto Rican studies. Throughout her career, she edited and wrote about the issues to which she devoted her life, including a collection of essays dedicated to other women struggling with being both lesbians and part of the minority population, and a resource manual for the disabled.

In her spare time, Hidalgo helped to organize community groups with emphasis on Hispanic, women’s, and gay rights issues, including the women-oriented Aspira, Inc., of New Jersey and La Casa de Don Pedro. She also branched out into organizations with wider appeal, such as the United Community Foundation, the Newark Urban League, and the United Community Corporation. In 1975, she cofounded the Puerto Rican Congress, whose mission was to help coordinate the efforts of area groups for the benefit of the substantial Puerto Rican population in the New Jersey-New York area. In recognition of her significant professional and volunteer efforts, Rutgers University awarded her the Rutgers Presidential Award for Public Service.

Using her academic expertise, Hidalgo conducted a study of the frequency of lesbianism among women in high positions in Puerto Rican organizations. Because of the cultural attitudes of both Puerto Rican and non-Hispanic society, these women overwhelmingly kept their homosexuality private, making the publicly acknowledged lesbian Hidalgo not only a researcher but also a source of inspiration. In 1976, Hidalgo and her sister Elia Hidalgo Christenson published an academic article in the Journal of Homosexuality entitled “Puerto Rican Lesbians and the Puerto Rican Community.”

Although primarily known for her work as a gay activist and Hispanic leader, Hidalgo’s interest in helping others encouraged her to pursue interests in several other areas. She earned certifications as a marriage counselor and in social work. She served on the New Jersey Department of Human Services Advisory Committee and participated in the National Association of Social Workers.

After twenty-three years teaching at Rutgers University, Hidalgo formally retired but continued her public work as the assistant commissioner of education in New Jersey from 1994 through 1995. She left New Jersey for Florida, where she actively participated in the gay rights organizations Wild Iris and Equality Florida.

During her years of activism, Hidalgo garnered several awards and honors. In 1978, Essex County College chose her as the Puerto Rican Woman of the Year. The national publication Ladies Home Journal named her one its “50 American Heroines,” and New Jersey honored her in 1986 as part of Women’s History Week. In 2007, she received the Maria De Castro Blake Community Service Award. Hidalgo died of pancreatic cancer on November 8, 2009, in Gainesville, Florida, survived by her partner, Cheryl Lamey, and her sisters.

Significance

Hilda Hidalgo used her experience as an openly lesbian Latina to help others who struggled with cultural acceptance and who needed access to programs and organizations that could better their lives. Hidalgo’s professional and volunteer work was far-reaching, both in scope and ambition, and provided a pathway for other women who were often overlooked in the latter part of the twentieth century.

Bibliography

Hidalgo, Hilda. Lesbians of Color: Social and Human Services. Binghamton, N.Y.: Haworth Press, 1995. This collection of essays highlights programs that can benefit minority women with economic, educational, social, and other needs.

Telgen, Diane, and Jim Kamp, eds. Notable Hispanic American Women. Detroit: Gale Research, 1993. Includes a concise but thorough biography of Hidalgo, providing a detailed overview of her contributions to Hispanic and gay rights issues, in addition to her social work efforts.

Torres, Andres, and Jose Emiliano Velasquez, eds. The Puerto Rican Movement: Voices from the Diaspora. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998. Discusses the community organizations designed to help Puerto Ricans navigate American society, including several in which Hidalgo actively participated.