Latino Civil Rights Figures: Cecilia Denogean Esquer
Cecilia Denogean Esquer was an influential Chicana activists from Arizona, who spent her life fighting for Latino rights.
Born in Superior, Arizona in 1942, Esquer went from being a high school educator to an attorney, author, and activist. After graduating from Arizona State University, she taught Spanish for several years at a public school in Tempe, where her experiences with minority students led her to become involved in civil rights activism. She frequently spoke out upon issues of racial justice, progressive politics, and the farmworkers movement.
Esquer became involved in the Chicano Movement and frequently attended rallies in Phoenix, finding inspiration in the words of Cesear E. Chavez, who called attention to the need for more Mexican-American lawyers in the community. In 1976 Esquer graduated from ASU’s law school and was admitted to the Arizona bar a year later.
Her many achievements included serving as chief counsel of Arizona Attorney General’s Public Advocacy Division and teaching at Arizona State University and Phoenix College. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed Esquer to the Legal Services Corporation Board (LSC), the federal authority responsible for legal aid to the less fortunate. where she worked alongside Hillary Rodham Clinton.
In October 2010, Esquer’s book “The Lie About my Inferiority, Evolution of a Chicana Activist” was published two months before her death. The book detailed the struggle that Latinos in Arizona and the nation had in the fight against inequality and was noted in The Arizona Republic for being “a final legacy for a woman who opened doors for Hispanics and spent her life fighting for the rights of others.”
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[Screenshot and Video By phoenixcollegemccd]