Josefina Fierro

This work is the second in a series of studies illuminating important, yet overlooked and forgotten Latino Civil Rights activists. Each study is unique and a standalone presentation of an individual and the times in which that individual lived. Each study is neither a biography nor monograph, but an introduction to that activist and the situations in which the individual was required to function.

The reader may well be advised to view each work as an introduction to the life and times of the individual. Additionally, no person is an isolated life. Each of us is part of an interlocking association of friends, acquaintances, and unfortunately enemies as well. Thus, many other players interact with each of our main characters to some extent, great or small, and for good or evil. Some of these other players will tend to appear in their various roles in more than one of the works in this series, and more than one may become the main character in one of these works.

This work has such juxtaposition with the first book in our proposed series. The first book focuses on the life of Bert Corona, a blacklisted Hispanic civil rights activist. In that book, a work focused primarily upon Bert Corona, another character appears in a discussion of the Sleepy Lagoon Murder Case. This financial wizard was Josefina Fierro, the main character in this study. Thus, various characters, both protagonists and antagonists, appear in these various roles, large and small, much as a series of books might have interlocking characters fulfilling major or minor roles as the series develops. However, these characters have the added worth of being real human beings living their lives in a period that brought about our own world of the present.

Thus, this series of studies has as a main goal, to address these individuals and their activities with the available source material. If there is no other value to them, may the value of “Let every voice be heard” constitute the motivation for their existence. However, I believe that the overwhelming percentage of readers will find the material fascinating and informative. Additionally, I believe that the history presented is sound and served to expand the knowledge base of the lives and times examined. As always, I wish each one of you a smashing good read and intellectual illumination.

Michael J. Lynch III, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of History and Geography

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff