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Rosa Smester Marrero

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Fi384Timbrel (talk | contribs) at 08:12, 10 February 2023 (Submitting using AfC-submit-wizard). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

  • Comment: Another editor has noted the statements and assertions that are not cited. MarcGarver (talk) 18:21, 9 February 2023 (UTC)
  • Comment: I started editing this draft yesterday evening, which seems like an article with a lot of potential. Many sources on Smester are Spanish-language and not necessarily originating from the Internet (some are included in biographies, for instance). Editors with ready access to publications in the Dominican Republic could help speed the referencing along, but there should nevertheless just about be enough online, with a lot of translation and scouring the Internet, to write an article that might even be worthy of a DYK nomination. _MB190417_ (talk) 21:44, 9 February 2023 (UTC)


Rosa Smester
Born
Rosa Smester Marrero

August 30, 1874
Santiago de los Caballeros
DiedFebruary 15, 1945
Santiago de los Caballeros
NationalityDominican
SpouseJuan Grullon

Rosa Smester Marrero[a] (August 30, 1874 - February 15, 1945) was a Dominican educator and writer. A feminist and Dominican nationalist, she grew to prominence for her vocal opposition to the American occupation of the Dominican Republic.

Smester collaborated in the foundation of the Amantes de la Luz society. She gave lectures in the Dominican Republic and abroad on literary and feminist topics, defending women's rights.[1]

Early life and career

Smester was born in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, on August 30, 1874. She was the daughter of Paul Emmanuel "Pablo" Smester and Dolores Trinidad "Dada" Marrero.[1]

Smester was educated at home:[2] her mother taught her tenths of Juan Antonio Alix.

In 1897, Smester began teaching French to children at home. By 1900, she had become an assistant teacher at the ladies' high school of Santiago. A year later, she was appointed a teacher at the institute, in the subjects of syntax, literature, history and French. By 1911, she had opened a private school in Monte Cristi.[3]

As a teacher of the Higher Normal School of Montecristi, she prepared the first group of Normal Teachers and directed the Higher School of Ladies of Montecristi.[4] She was a member of the Amantes de la Luz society,[1] the first public library in the Dominican Republic.[5]

Writings

Opposition to the American occupation

Smester wrote in the national press about her opposition to the American occupation of the Dominican Republic, which took place between 1916 and 1924.[1][6] Her words were published in literary magazines in Santiago and Barcelona. Smester also gave anti-occupation lectures in Monte Cristi at the Ateneos Amantes de la luz; at the Renovación Society of Puerto Plata; in the women's action of Barcelona and in the union of French women. She was a member of these last two groups.[7]

Smester was part of the Patriotic Board of Ladies. She refused to speak English as a form of civil resistance,[1] claiming that if she spoke that language, the Americans would also have occupied her mind.[5]

One of Smester's appeals for the removal of American forces read:[6][8]

To the American journalists who visit us. A simple schoolteacher speaks to you with my heart on my lips. [...] The Dominican people love, above all things, like God, their freedom and their land; that is why our pain in this unfortunate hour is infinite [...] Surprised by the American invasion, we did not prepare for death; because our leaders proclaimed from the outset that we were not at war with the United States and we trusted that that normality would be temporary [...] And it's been over five years of the Via Crucis; we have experienced every pain and humiliation. [...] We have been defenseless and have relied on the strength of patience, justice, and resistance [...] Women have had a prayer on their lips that God help us, and that the gift of justice be granted to the people who oppress us, and the shame of ignominy does not fall upon the country of Washington and Lincoln [...] The Senate Commission comes to clarify the truth of the atrocities we have suffered; it is true that there have been many. [...] There is an unusual fact, a monster against which we will forever clamor: the landing of American troops in our country under the guise of friends and protectors, to strip us of our rights and our holy freedom. Can there be a greater atrocity?

In May 1920, Smester donated a month's salary to nationalist cause, writing to Francisco Henríquez y Carvajal, the President of the Nationalist Board, that “whenever necessary, I will give gladly”.[9]

Feminism

In 1926, Smester wrote to Petronila Angélica Gómez, founder of Fémina, the first feminist Dominican journal, that "your magazine is the only genuine feminine, genuinely Dominican, and therefore deserving of the greatest help."[10] In the same year, Smester requested to publish in the magazine, and so recorded her first two contributions to feminist journalism,[11] publishing a further article in 1929.[12]

Of the three articles written by Smester for Fémina, two concerned the masculine condition.[13] Smester contributed to a broader feminist position that pacifist strategies disqualified androcentric warmongering, including female voices in war discourses, such that "honoring and glorifying enlightened men is a form of patriotic love".[14] In her 1929 article Así es, Smester praised Henríquez y Carvajal's intellectual attributes, which lended him to being an "enlightened" feminist man.[15]

Later life and legacy

Smester chaired a chapter of the charitable Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.[16] At her urging, in 1923, the La Caridad society, which had founded the first hospital in Santiago in 1891,[17] established the 'St Vincent de Paul Branch' under her leadership, for the foundation of a nursing home in Santiago.[16] Smester thus became the first director of the city's St Vincent de Paul Hospice. During this time, she lived in a Victorian house in the Calle del Sol, in front of the central park.[17]

From 1927 to 1937, she lived in Paris,[1] accompanying her son on his studies.[18] She ran a lady's institute and gave private lessons.[19] Upon her return to the Dominican Republic in 1934.

Smester died on 15 February 1945.[1]

Legacy

A street in Santo Domingo bears Smester's name. In Monte Cristi, an educational establishment is named the Rosa Smester Basic School.[20]

Smester educated former Dominican President Joaquín Balaguer.[21][22] In his memoirs, Balaguer recalled Smester's great influence on his intellectual formation.[22]

References

  1. ^ In this article, the surname is {{{1}}}.
  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Rosa Smester (Maestra de Maestras)" (PDF). Instituto Montecristeño de Antropología e Historia. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  2. ^ Lora Beltrán, Rafael D. (1971). Historias de la educación dominicana: 24 pequeñas biografias de grandes educadores. Santo Domingo: Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Ureña. Nacida en un medio raquítico, recibió sus primaras ensenanzas en una época en que la mujer no necesitaba saber leer y escribir.
  3. ^ "Escuela Rosa Smester". Foursquare. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  4. ^ imah-rd.org http://imah-rd.org/personajes/. Retrieved 2023-02-10. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ^ a b Mercedes Morel, Luz; M. Cruz, Raysa (2022). Literary Anthology On Dominican Heroes (in French) (3rd ed.). Santiago de los Caballeros: Universidad Abierta Para Adultos. p. 42.
  6. ^ a b Jaime Julia, Julio, ed. (2001). Rosa Smester: Maestra de Maestras (in Spanish). Santo Domingo: Impresora El Siglo.
  7. ^ "Revista Ecos - Número 14 by Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo - Issuu". issuu.com. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  8. ^ Durán Jourdain, Carmen (2017). "Las mujeres dominicanas en el marco de la primera intervención norteamericana 1916-1924: una mirada desde la historia". Órgano del Instituto de Historia de la UASD. 1 (14): 23–4.
  9. ^ Rodriguez Collado, Aralis Mercedes (2015). "Images of invasions and resistance in the literature of the Dominican Republic" (PDF). University of Birmingham eTheses Repository. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  10. ^ Lora Peña 2020, p. 72–3
  11. ^ Lora Peña 2020, p. 327, 486, 517
  12. ^ Lora Peña 2020, p. 486, 517
  13. ^ Lora Peña 2020, p. 517
  14. ^ Lora Peña 2020, p. 344
  15. ^ Lora Peña 2020, p. 382
  16. ^ a b Espinal Hernández, Edwin. "Historia del Hospicio San Vicente de Paúl" [History of the St Vincent de Paul Hospice]. www.sociedadsanvicentedepaulrd.org (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  17. ^ a b Mercader, José (2020-07-04). "El hospicio de Santiago en tiempo de epidemia" [Santiago's hospice in time of epidemic]. elCaribe (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  18. ^ Hernández, Edwin. "CERRAR BENOIT: FAMILIA SOLERA DE JACAGUA" (PDF). CERRAR BENOIT: FAMILIA SOLERA DE JACAGUA. pp. Pag.5.
  19. ^ "Instituto Dominicano de Genealogía, Inc. - Victor Arthur". www.idg.org.do. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  20. ^ Rodríguez, Marcos (2020-03-26). "Distrito 10-03 es ejemplo de gerencia en educación" [District 10-03 is exemplary of management in education]. el Caribe (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  21. ^ Albaine Pons, J. R. (2011-02-07). "Cerebro, lectura y escritura". Acento (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  22. ^ a b "Dr. Joaquín Balaguer". Partido Reformista Social Cristiano | PRSC (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-02-10.
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