Move forward. Step in
Democracy is like a penny machine
by Talia Rodriguez
In 1929, in Puerto Rico, a law was approved granting the right to vote to women who could read and write. In 1930, the census recorded that my great-grandmother, Francisca Avilés y Candelaria de Rodríguez, was illiterate. She wasn’t allowed to vote—but others were.
In 1932, in the first elections in which women could vote in Puerto Rico, María Luisa Arcelay de la Rosa ran for a seat in the legislature. She won—and was re-elected in 1936. The year before, a law had finally been passed granting all women the right to vote, whether they could read or not.
A year later, my great-grandmother would be gone—dying after childbirth, leaving my abuela motherless, illiterate, and forced to toil as an orphan in the homes of extended family.
And yet, on the radio, in the background, María Luisa was there the whole time: teacher, businesswoman, political leader, legislator.
I wonder—did the news reach the campo? Did word travel that there was a woman, una falda, making history? I want to believe it did. There’s no way my abuela would have missed her entirely.
María Luisa was the first woman elected to the Puerto Rican legislature—and the first female legislator in all of Latin America. A businesswoman first, she attended a normal school and devoted herself to improving the lives of teachers and students across the island. She helped establish juvenile courts and orphanages, created pension funds for teachers, and supported cooperatives for handmade goods.
She would have recognized my grandmother—as a girl in need of care, education, and protection. My abuela didn’t have access to those things, but even from a distance, María Luisa’s existence was its own kind of education. A message to the poor, the rural, the illiterate, the orphaned: women belong in democracy.
My abuela may never have told me María Luisa’s story—but she passed it down anyway.
That wisdom lives in me. On the morning of election day, I thought: less than 100 years ago, my great-grandmother was not legally allowed to vote. And now, I was the candidate.
Seventy-six days ago, at my swearing-in, I made history as the first public official in my region to take the ceremonial oath in Spanish—the first in the history of that body.
That’s how democracy works. Democracy is like a maquina de chavito —nothing comes out if you don’t put anything in. It works because people invest in it, because they recognize their civic duty. María Luisa. My grandmother, one of thousands who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. at the March on Washington. Me. My colleagues. Others who choose to serve.
We are doers. People who opt in.
Civic duty is the act of opting into democracy—the responsibility we feel toward the places we live, and the actions we take because of that responsibility.
In the Puerto Rican community, when it’s time to step up, we say one word: dale.
And I like to think that’s what María Luisa would say to me—and to all of us inspired by her legacy:
Dale.
Move forward. Step in. Actualize the promise democracy whispered to us the first time it met Puerto Rico and its people.
Register to vote. Join the PTA. Join the union. Go to the thing your friend keeps asking you to join, and bring your kids. And if you can’t attend the board meetings, you can watch us on YouTube—that counts too.
Whatever you do, put your last name forward—so that one day, it stands in the history books alongside “María Luisa Arcelay de la Rosa.”
Because I’m working on mine. And the point is this: everyday people doing everyday things define history.
Access the Buffalo Public School Board meetings on our YouTube channel: @buffalopublicschoolsboard. I’ll be there—in Spanglish, every time.
Ms. Talia Rodriguez J.D. is a bi-racial, bi-cultural, and bi-lingual Latina from Buffalo. Ms. Rodriguez’s mission is to write about Latina’s, who have shaped the face of our city and our region. It is Ms. Rodriguez’s believes that our own people should inspire us and in telling our collective stories, we push our community forward. Ms. Rodriguez is a community advocate and organizer. She is a 5th generation West Sider, a graduate of SUNY Buffalo Law School, and an avid baseball fan. She lives on the West Side with her young son A.J… Ms. Rodriguez sits on the board of several organizations including the Belle Center, where she attended daycare. Ms. Rodriguez loves art, music, food, and her neighbors. You can send your comments or questions to talia.rodriguez.716@gmail.com.
