Gloria Gallardo

Gallardo was born in San Antonio.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780801883873|url-access=registration|quote=gloria gallardo sister.|title=Latinos and the New Immigrant Church|last=Badillo|first=David A.|date=2006-05-17|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=9780801883880|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780801883873/page/160 160]|language=en}} She became a member of the Sisters of the Holy Ghost.{{Sfn|Medina|2006|p=373}} After taking vows, Gallardo began to work what was considered a "rough" part of town, Alazán-Apache Courts in San Antonio.{{Sfn|Medina|2004|p=52}} She worked for several years in barrios in San Antonio.{{Cite web|url=http://www.uscatholic.org/church/2010/06/journey-center-church|title=Journey to the center of the church|last=Sandoval|first=Moises|date=March 2010|website=U.S. Catholic|language=en|access-date=2017-09-21}}

In 1969, she was asked to come to Houston to work as the interim director of the Mexican American Education Council (MAEC).{{Sfn|Medina|2004|p=52-53}} In this capacity, she helped support student boycotts against unfair policies, protested and spoke publicly for MAEC.{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cb1f_EahYVsC&q=Mexican+American+Educational+Council+gloria+gallardo&pg=PA153|title=Catholicism in the American West: A Rosary of Hidden Voices|last=Treviño|first=Roberto R.|date=2007|publisher=Texas A&M University Press|isbn=9781585446216|editor-last=Treviño|editor-first=Roberto R.|pages=152|language=en|chapter=Faith and Justice|editor-last2=Francaviglia|editor-first2=Richard V.}} Gallardo was a leader in the Mexican American boycott of the Houston public schools in the early 1970s.{{Sfn|Treviño|2006|p=184}} In September 1970, she set up special schools, called strike or huelga schools, for students to get an education while they were boycotting the school district.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13912521/arizona_daily_star/|title=Chicanos Open 7 More Strike Schools|date=1970-09-09|work=Arizona Daily Star|access-date=2017-09-21|pages=32|via=Newspapers.com}}

Gallardo met Sister Gregoria Ortega through a friend, Father Edmundo Rodriguez in 1970.{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GFrwuj-ZXMkC&q=%22gloria+gallardo%22+sister&pg=PA413|title=Hispanic American Religious Cultures: A - M.|last=Medina|first=Lara|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2009|isbn=9781598841398|editor-last=De La Torre|editor-first=Miguel A.|location=Santa Barbara, California|pages=413–414|language=en|chapter=Ortega, Gregoria}} Together, they worked to identify Hispanic nuns in the United States and invited them to join a group. While they were working on the project, Ortega, who had recently been fired from her diocese had no income, and Gallardo shared her salary from her work with the Galveston-Houston diocese. Gallardo and Ortega then worked together to invite Mexican American nuns to create an organization for Spanish speaking religious women in April 1971.{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ixl03|title=Las Hermanas|last=Flores|first=María Eva|date=2010-06-15|website=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|language=en|access-date=2017-09-15}} The group was formed and called Las Hermanas. Gallardo was elected to be the first president of Las Hermanas at this first meeting.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13843912/longview_newsjournal/|title=Spanish-Speaking Nuns Form National Caucus|date=1971-04-06|work=Longview News-Journal|access-date=2017-09-18|pages=2|via=Newspapers.com}} Gallardo also edited their newsletter, Informes, which was first sent out on September 19, 1971.{{Sfn|Medina|2004|p=60}}

In 1972, Gallardo resigned from the leadership team of Las Hermanas.{{Sfn|Medina|2004|p=71}} She didn't like the change in direction the organization was taking.{{Sfn|Medina|2004|p=66}}

Eventually Gallardo left religious life and was married.{{Sfn|Medina|2004|p=66}} She had a son, Ervey Longoria, in 1977.{{Cite web|url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VDTD-TBY|title=Ervey Jose Longoria|website=Texas Birth Index|access-date=22 September 2017|via=Family Search}} Gallardo died in 2012.

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eCTwwI9ZXocC&q=%22las+hermanas%22+latina&pg=PA2|title=Las Hermanas: Chicana/Latina Religious-Political Activism in the U.S. Catholic Church|last=Medina|first=Lara|publisher=Temple University Press|year=2004|isbn=9781592134830|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania}}
• {{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_62IjQ-XQScC&q=%22las+hermanas%22+latina&pg=PA373|title=Latinas in the United States, set: A Historical Encyclopedia|last=Medina|first=Lara|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=2006|isbn=0253111692|editor-last=Ruiz|editor-first=Vicki L.|volume=1|location=Bloomington, Indiana|language=en|chapter=Las Hermanas (1971- )|editor-last2=Korrol|editor-first2=Virginia Sánchez}}
• {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OxsfuWARmCQC&q=%22las+hermanas%22&pg=PA184|title=The Church in the Barrio: Mexican American Ethno-Catholicism in Houston|last=Treviño|first=Roberto R.|publisher=The University of North Carolina Press|year=2006|isbn=9780807829967}}

• [https://billiongraves.com/grave/Gloria-Gallardo-Longoria/10283170 Gloria Gallardo Longoria] (gravestone)

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Category:1938 births

Category:2012 deaths

Category:Activists from San Antonio

Category:20th-century American Roman Catholic nuns

Category:Activists from Houston

Category:Catholics from Texas

Category:21st-century American Roman Catholic nuns