Mexican American Studies at NVC

09/03/2026

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month in San Antonio with our local heroes. The Hispanic Heroes project will be on display from September 15 to October 15, 2024.

09/01/2026

Raza Heritage Month is just around the corner, and we’re starting off with a pop of red! Discover the vibrant history of cochineal, from Indigenous innovation to artistic tradition. Learn how this natural dye is made.
📆 Wednesday, September 23rd
⏰ 9:30-10:45AM
📍CCC Lago Vista

09/01/2026

This semester, we have our FIRST-EVER MAS evening course with Professor Macias! Making Mexican American Studies accessible beyond the 9-to-5. 🪗

08/16/2026

Kinda chic, but make it NVC MAS. 💜

08/15/2026

A familiar piece of our community is back on the walls. Come visit the “Changing the World” mural at Lago Vista in Cypress Campus Center! ✨

08/11/2026

07/11/2026

From block to print to gallery walls. Congrats to Professor De Luna on a beautiful opening reception! The best part? You can take her classes this fall.✨

07/09/2026

✨ NVC MAS Fall 2026 Courses ✨
Looking for your next class? Explore Mexican American Studies this fall and learn how culture, community, and history intersect to shape our past, present, and future. Enroll today!

07/08/2026

As a Mexican-American journalist, activist, and suffragist, Jovita Idar bravely fought the injustices of her time. She single-handedly protected her newspaper headquarters when the Texas Rangers came to shut it down, and crossed the border to serve as a nurse during the Mexican Revolution, never backing down to a challenge.

Born in 1885 in Laredo, Texas, Idar was surrounded by activism and journalism. Her father, Nicasio, was a newspaper editor and civil rights advocate. Although she earned her teaching certificate in 1903, she quickly resigned because she was unable to tolerate the segregation and poor conditions for Mexican-American students. She turned to journalism instead, writing in her father’s La Crónica newspaper about racism, women’s suffrage, and the revolution unfolding across the border.

In 1911, Idar and her family organized the First Mexican Congress, bringing together Mexicans across both sides of the border to address education, economic inequality, and injustice. In the same year, she founded and became the first president of the feminist organization La Liga Feminil Mexicanista.

Idar crossed over the Mexican border to fight alongside the volunteer group La Cruz Blanca during the Mexican Revolution. Upon returning to Texas, she took a position at El Progreso, where she published an article protesting President Woodrow Wilson’s decision to send U.S. troops to the border. The U.S. Army and Texas Rangers responded by marching to the newspaper’s offices, and Idar met them at the door. They left that day, but later returned to forcefully shut down the paper.

Idar did not give up the fight. She returned to La Crónica, eventually running the paper following her father’s death in 1914. She went on to become an editor, a Democratic party organizer, a hospital interpreter, and the founder of a free kindergarten for children in her community.

Learn more about Idar: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/jovita-idar