Historical Marker
Graciela Olivárez
Albuquerque, Bernalillo County · New Mexico
Before law school Olivárez had fourteen years on the air: she joined Phoenix's Spanish-language station KIFN as a bilingual secretary and from 1952 directed its women's programs. Notre Dame's president, Theodore Hesburgh, recruited her, and in 1970 she graduated as the law school's first woman. She taught law at the University of New Mexico from 1972 and in 1977 became President Carter's director of the Community Services Administration. The panel calls her 1980 company the nation's first Spanish-language television network; a Berkeley law tribute calls it the first woman-owned Spanish-language television company.
What the plaque says
Official Scenic Historic Marker Graciela Olivárez (1928-1987) Attorney, public servant, and activist, Graciela Olivárez was a high school dropout who became the first woman graduate of Notre Dame Law School where an award is presented each year in her name. She led national anti-poverty efforts and ensured equal representation of men and women on the National Council of La Raza's Board of Directors. In 1980, she started the nation's first Spanish-language television network.
Where it stands
35.06993, -106.64582 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Petroglyph National Monument — 7.5 miSome 24,000 images pecked into the dark basalt of Albuquerque's West Mesa, protected in 1990 and then crossed by a city boulevard.