Dolores S. Atencio Live at Tattered Cover Colfax

Join us for an inspiring conversation with Dolores S. Atencio about her book, The Illustrious Impact of Luminarias on the Law on Thursday, April 16th at 6:00 PM at our Colfax location.

Registration includes a $5 Gift Card to Tattered Cover Book Store

We will have a limited supply of additional books for guests to purchase in store.

ABOUT THE BOOK

The first generation of Latina attorneys, Luminarias, earned their law degrees over the 100-year period of 1880–1980. Lawyer and author Dolores Atencio uncovered their identities and legal careers through the Luminarias Study, which was conducted from 2016 to 2022 at 167 law schools in the country accredited by the American Bar Association.

This book features the legal work of the first Latina federal Article III judges, state supreme court justices, and select public interest litigators. Their story begins in the early 1970s when the first Luminaria public interest social justice activistas began advancing novel litigation theories seeking to expand voting rights, equal educational opportunities and funding, and the reproductive and work rights of women. Included are cases tried or supervised by Luminaria litigators and leaders—Vilma Martinez, Norma Cantú, Antonia Hernandez, Irma Herrera, and Deborah Escobedo—during their tenures at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Multicultural Education and Training Advocacy, Inc., Youth Law Center, Equal Rights Advocates, and the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights.

Beginning in the 1980s when Luminarias began ascending to the bench, significant decisions issued by the first eight Luminaria judges on courts of last resort are discussed, including those that codify theories tested by the Luminaria litigators. The juridical careers of the first seventeen Luminaria Article III judges are covered, from both the district trial courts and circuit courts of appeals. Obstacles faced during their confirmation processes are highlighted as is data construed and created expressly for the book, including a comparison of the number of days from dates of referral to dates of confirmation.

For each Luminaria featured in the book, biographical summaries of their early lives, education, and professional trajectory are included. The intersectionality of the careers of these thirty-five remarkable Latina lawyers blends together their individual histories with the country's during times of turmoil, reconciliation, and a return to a litigious past.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Visiting Scholar Dolores Atencio earned her law degree from the University of Denver in 1980 and practiced law until 2012. She was the second woman president of the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA, 1991- 1992) and first Co-Chair of the HNBA’s Latina Commission (2008-2010).

In 2015, the Visiting Scholar created a national legal research project designed to identify and document the first Latina attorneys in the country, circa 1880-1980. In 2023, Atencio completed the seven-year Luminarias Study that resulted in key findings published by UCLA Chicanx-Latinx Law Review, Luminarias: An Empirical Portrait of the First Generation of Latina Attorneys 1880-1980.

For her historical work, Atencio has earned a national reputation as the expert on the history of Latina attorneys in the country. She is the recipient of the prestigious, American Bar Association’s Margaret Brent Outstanding Women Attorneys Award (2024), the HNBA Latina Commission’s 2018 Primeras Abogadas Award, and the Mexican Government’s Othli Award (2014).

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