Luz Marina Rodriguez was born in New York City on March 7, 1956, and grew up on the Lower East Side. She was the eldest of three children of Elsa Rodriguez Vazquez and Luis Rodriguez Nieto, Sr., who had both recently emigrated from Puerto Rico as part of Operation Bootstrap, a government economic investment into the Puerto Rican economy. Her father held a variety of jobs, including electronics repair and night security work, while her mother sold Avon products.
After graduating from Seward Park High School in 1974, Rodriguez spent two years immersed in social and cultural activities in her Puerto Rican neighborhood, which became known as Loisaida (a Latino pronunciation of the Lower East Side). She was deeply involved in The Real Great Society, a gang outreach and community empowerment organization created in 1964 to engage youth in addressing local needs, especially sweat equity projects to create affordable housing. She was also an active participant in Charas/El Bohio, a cultural center where she taught Puerto Rican folkloric dance.
After studying dance at Pratt Institute, Rodriguez graduated from New York University as a dance therapy major in 1982. College research into the sterilization of, and birth control experimentation on, Puerto Rican women planted the seed of later reproductive rights activism.
Rodriguez defines herself as a servant-leader. She has continued to combine grassroots social justice work with administrative leadership in non-profit organizations, including Henry Street Settlement, East Side Family Resource Center, Dominican Women's Development Center, and Casa Atabex. In 1996 she became Executive Director of the Latina Roundtable on Health and Reproductive Rights and played a critical role in the formation of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective. In 2011, she become co-chair of the Management Circle of that organization. A specialist in organizational development and non-profit sustainability, Rodriguez currently serves as bilingual training coordinator at the New York City headquarters of the Foundation Center.
In 1994 in recognition for her advocacy work, Rodriguez was awarded a Windcall Residency, a retreat program for those who work for social justice. She is a published poet, playwright, aspiring sculptor, and she remains active in SisterSong. She was married to Norbeto Cruz and later divorced. She has two sons, Gabriel and Abran-Lumi, a step-son, a foster daughter, a kinship foster child, and four grandchildren.
The Luz Marina Rodriguez Papers contain 8.5 linear feet of organization, conference, and symposia materials; appointment books; writings; educational records; correspondence; photographs; and memorabilia. The papers are particularly strong in documenting her many professional activities, especially her activism in health and education for women of color, including SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective and the Latina Roundtable on Health and Reproductive Rights. In addition they document her activities on behalf of Hispanics in New York City such as Baile Boricua Dance Company, Charas, and Dominican Womens' Development Center; as well as other neighborhood, educational, family-oriented, and health-related organizations and initiatives. There are also family materials, New York University course work and student papers, early correspondence, speeches, and writings.
This collection is organized into seven series:
The Papers are open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection without any additional restrictions. Original audio-visual materials are closed to research.
Luz Rodriguez retains copyright to material authored by her until her death, then her children retain rights to plays, original literary work, and academic term papers. Copyright to materials authored by others may be owned by those individuals or their heirs or assigns. Permission must be obtained to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use." It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights. Permission must also be obtained from the Sophia Smith Collection as owners of the physical property.
Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:
Luz Marina Rodriguez Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass.
Periodic additions to this collection are expected.
Luz Marina Rodriguez began donating her Papers to the Sophia Smith Collection in 2006. Periodic additions to this collection are expected.
Processed by Susan Boone, 2010.
Additional material on Luz Rodriqeuz can be found in her interview for the Sophia Smith Collection's
This series is arranged alphabetically and contains address books; calendars; day planners; family material related to her foster child, Tanya Vasquez, and sons Gabriel and Abran; financial material related to two court cases, an accident claim, and medical bills. There are student papers, course work, grades, and financial information from New York University.
This series is arranged chronologically and consists primarily of letters from childhood friends.
This series contains speeches, public testimony and writings. The writings are arranged alphabetically and consist of notes; a poem, "El Yunque"; a play, "Ghost Writer"; and an essay, "Seven Days to Life". There is a compact disc of Rodriguez reading her work in SERIES VII. AUDIO VISUAL MATERIALS.
This series is arranged alphabetically and contains material related to more than twenty-one organizations in which Rodriguez was involved. The bulk of the series relates to Baile Boricua Dance Company, Charas, Latina Roundtable on Health and Reproductive Rights, and SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective. The Baile Boricua Dance Company (a group devoted to folkloric dance of the Puerto Rican and Afro-Caribbean culture) contains articles and clippings, board of directors' materials, correspondence, notes, and performances. Charas (a grassroots community serving the Latina section of the New York Lower East Side) includes material about its founder Amando Perez, anniversaries, bylaws, El Bohio Community Center, financial materials, Loisada neighborhood materials, board of directors' meetings, programs, activities, and strategic plans. The Latina Roundtable on Health and Reproductive Rights consists primarily of board of director and financial materials. The financial materials include information on a Ford Foundation grant received in collaboration with SisterSong and the resulting symposiums on reproductive health and women of color. SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective contains additional information on the Ford Foundation grant, meetings, national conferences, and miscellaneous programs. It also contains information on Moon Lodge and other collective members. Since Latina Roundtable on Health and Reproductive Rights is part of the SisterSong collective, some materials overlap.
This series is arranged alphabetically and contains information on fourteen subjects. Of particular interest are materials on Hispanic art and a conference on women's alcohol and drug education.
This series consists two subseries
This series is divided into two subseries:
[see SERIES VII. AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS and
[see also SERIES VII. AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS - Luz Rodriguez reads from her work ]
[see also SERIES VI. PHOTOGRAPHS AND MEMORABILIA and SERIES VII. AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS]
[see also Latina Roundtable on Health and Reproductive Rights]