Central Los Angeles : Statue Honors Mexican Heroine
On a day honoring men like Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, Mexican Americans made room for a woman in their pantheon of heroes in Lincoln Park on Monday, unveiling the first monument to a heroine of the War of Independence.
Shortly after the traditional Nov. 20 homage to heroes of the Mexican Civil War of 1910, dignitaries and residents stepped farther back in history, honoring Dona Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez for her role in the Mexican War of Independence a century earlier.
Ortiz de Dominguez, the wife of a colonial mayor, was among the conspirators in an uprising against colonial rule in 1810. When authorities learned of a revolt, Ortiz de Dominguez warned the conspirators, who then hastened the rebellion. Father Miguel Hidalgo uttered his famed “ Grito de Dolores “ (Shout of Dolores) to begin the struggle at midnight Sept. 15, 1810.
The bronze bust was donated to the Mexican Civic-Patriotic Committee, which placed it in El Parque de Mexico at Valley Boulevard and Mission Street.
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