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These six revolutionary women writers changed the face of education for women in the Dominican Republic

An excerpt from ‘Girl Squads: 20 Female Friendships That Changed History’

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September 27, 2018 at 2:08 p.m. EDT

The following is an excerpt from “Girl Squads: 20 Female Friendships That Changed History” written by Sam Maggs and illustrated by Jenn Woodall.

“Girl Squads” celebrates female friendships throughout history. In this excerpt, we learn about the first national poet of the Dominican Republic, Salomé Ureña, and the bond she formed with the inaugural graduating class of Instituto de Señoritas, the country’s first institution of higher education for women.

After two years of hard work developing a curriculum and securing support and funding on November 3, 1881, Salomé Ureña threw open the doors to the Instituto de Señoritas (Young Women’s Institute) on la calle de la Esperanza (Hope Street—seriously!). The institute would become the first higher-ed school for women in the Dominican. In a country with a tyrannical leader and constantly at war, 14 gals enrolled that first year, tossing aside cultural and religious expectations. (In this still very Spanish- influenced and Catholic-centric country, women were expected to be as domestic as possible.)

Almost six years later, on April 7, 1887, the Instituto saw its first graduating class of six amazing women. These ladies had relied on one another through their studies and were now solidly friends for life: Mercedes Laura Aguiar, Ana Josefa Puello, Altagracia Henríquez Perdomo, Leonor María Feltz, Catalina F. Pou de Arvelo, and Luisa Ozema Pellerano Castro.

These women comprised one of the raddest, yet least well- known, 19th-century squads; they were all strong writers and fiercely patriotic, following in their mentor’s footsteps. For their graduation ceremony, Salomé wrote and recited a special poem, “Mi ofrenda a la patria” (My offering to the nation), which was a celebration of women’s education. She spoke of the graduates as the first bastion of a new era for the Dominican, where a nation of educated women, the true holders of virtue and science, could come together to effect change for the better.

All six of these gals would end up widely published in social justice poetry and prose (especially in the renowned magazine Letras y ciencias [Letters and Science]), but each did her own fantastic thing. Leonor, the brains of the operation said to have “vast intelligence,” taught classes first out of her home and then at Liceo Dominicano, a teachers college founded by Emilio Prud’Homme, the writer and educator who in 1883 penned the lyrics to the Dominican national anthem.

Catalina was put in charge of a classroom at one of the country’s two elementary schools for girls, El Dominicano, and continued the tradition of ladies getting ladies educated.

So did Altagracia, who (after marrying an obstetrician named Rodolfo Coiscou Carvajal) started her own coed primary school in Santa Domingo’s Villa de San Carlos district.

Ana—especially close buds with Luisa, who called her “Ana Jó”—was the oldest of the bunch (the others jokingly called her “the Dean”) founded El Jardín de la Infancia (the Infant Garden), a coed school that became the most respected primary school in Santo Domingo. She taught there for 60 years and was described by her students as proud, tolerant, and kind, with a “melodious voice.” Ana was also a great hostess of many of the Dominican’s intelligentsia and, of course, stayed in touch with her friends. Letters between the gals show that Mercedes, Luisa, and Ana in particular remained close friends, even taking care of each other when sick.

Mercedes, probably the most famous of this impressive bunch, taught for over 30 years but is best known as a feminist poet who advocated for women’s suffrage, education, and workplace rights. As a founder of the women’s group Sociedad Amantes de la Luz (Lovers of the Light of Day) and member of the Junta Patriótica de Damas (Board of Patriotic Ladies), Mercedes became a vocal opponent of the United States occupation of the Dominican Republic in 1916. She remained active until the 1940s, when she was appointed to government lobby groups that promoted Dominican women’s rights.

Finally, there was Luisa. Her life had been touched so deeply by the Instituto de Señoritas; the friendships she had formed there had such an impact on her life, and her sister Eva graduated the following year. When the Instituto shut down in 1893, Luisa and Eva were devastated. But, following Salomé’s example, and with the support of friends, they knew what they had to do. With two third-year grads, Anacaona Moscoso and Lucila de Castro; two second-year grads, Mercedes M. Echenique y Pelaez and Encarnacion Suazo; and Luisa’s old pal Mercedes, they reopened the Instituto in January 1897, three months before Salomé passed away.

That September, they made one small change: the school would from then on be known as the Instituto Salomé Ureña.

Reprinted with permission from Quirk Books. "Girl Squads: 20 Female Friendships That Changed History” will be released Oct. 2.