Jovita Idar

Jovita Idar (1885–1946) was a journalist, human rights activist, and educator who fought for the rights of Mexican Americans and women. In an era of severe discrimination and prejudice, she took up writing as her weapon, striving to expose injustice and protect people’s rights.

The reverse of the coin depicts Jovita Idar standing with her hands clasped together. Remarkably, her body is formed of letters spelling out the things she accomplished and the names of the newspapers in which she published her writing. It is a meaningful composition in which the figure of a person is filled with the very record she left behind.

The letters that form her body show that she confronted the world through writing her whole life. On the pages of newspapers, she denounced the discrimination faced by Mexican-American residents, and insisted forcefully that women too should be able to learn and to have a voice.

The path she walked as a journalist and a woman was sometimes accompanied by danger. When those in power pressured the newspaper offices, she did not back down but held fast to her convictions. Her courage in protecting people’s rights through writing is often recalled today when we speak of freedom of expression and equality.

Gazing at the figure of her formed of letters on the coin, the life of a person who confronted the world with nothing but pen and paper comes vividly to mind. Jovita Idar is still honored today as a journalist who wrote for the sake of justice.