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Hijas de Cuauhtémoc is a student newspaper, named after "a Mexican feminist organization that worked against the Porfirio Díaz dictatorship in Mexico", Hijas de Cuauhtémoc focused on issues specific to Chicanas, such as gender and sexuality. It was founded at State University Long Beach, California in 1971 and distributed three issues within that year. In the spring of 1973, Hijas de Cuauhtémoc became the scholarly feminist journal, Encuentro Femenil.

The Chicana movement
Between 1970 and 1980, the Chicana feminist movement developed in the United States to addresses the particular issues that concern Chicanas as women of color. This movement developed out of the Chicano student’s movement. The Chicano movement centered on a wide range of matters: social justice, equality, educational reforms, and political and economic self-determination for Chicano communities in the United States. In the same way that Chicano males were questioning the historical and contemporary realities of Chicanos in the US, Chicanas established to investigate the oppressions forming their own experiences as women of color. Maylei Blackwell, a professor for Chicana/o studies at sees the student's newspaper Hijas de Cuauhtémoc as a vital part of the uprising Chicana movement.

Founding
While working as a counselor and instructor at California State University Long Beach, Anna NietoGomez mentored and organized Chicana undergraduates. As an outcome of that organization process, they published Hijas de Cuauhtémoc. Besides Anna NietoGomez, Cindy Honesto, Marta López, Corinne Sánchez, and Adelaida R. Del Castillo are the founders and chief editors of Hijas de Cuauhtémoc. The group Hijas de Cuauhtémoc became a way for women in the Chicana/o movement to organize collectively. They were able to express their experience as young, working-class Chicanas and to address issues that were ignored in the student's movement like for example their critique about machismo in the Chicano movement. The student newspaper presented new forms of feminism as they started the dialogue about the intersection of class and race. These concepts were presented through an “innovative mixed-genre format that was equal parts journalism, poetry, photography, art, social critique, recovered women history, and political manifesto". It involved economic and social issues, political consciousness and Mexicana/Chicana history. Moreover, it provided space for many young activists to express their own political insights and visions".

Support
To print the first issue, the newspaper received financial support from a Norwalk Mutualista society, a tradition of Mexican migrant communities. In contrast to the support group, other Chicano men, especially Chicanos in the sphere of the Chicano newspaper El Alacrán were less supportive of the arising of a feminist Chicana newspaper.

Content
The issues covered subjects like sterilization and reproduction health, welfare and labor rights, employment and gender discrimination, access to health care, Chicana incarceration, family and cultural roles, along with sexism, sexual politics and women's role in the movement.

First issue
The first issue was published in March 1971, dealing with the topic of Chicanas studying at California State University at Long Beach as well as Chicana historie, Chicana education, Chicanas in the Prison, Chicana poetry and socio-sexual problems in Chicano organizations and families. Even though the issue was so rich on contend, the article on "Macho Attitudes" received most attention, which was mostly negative.

Second issue
A month later, in April the second issues were intended to circulate thoughts and ideas produced at the Los Angeles Chicana Educational Conference. The conference was planned in preparation for the first national Chicana Conference, la Conferencia de Mujeres por la Raza, which was to be held in Houston later that year.

Third issue
The third Issue came out in June 1971. It provided Information about Chicana Workshops at the May Educational Chicana Conference and contained information about the 5-point program of Hermanidad, the philosophy of Chicana sisterhood.

Overall the paper encouraged Chicanas to complete their education by providing them with a support group, an organizational tool, and a forum for addressing their concerns as women. Moreover," the newspaper was a vehicle for regional communication where Chicanas spread information about their political activities, campus issues, Mexican history, the growth of Chicana feminism, women in prison, role of women in the movement and a struggle against sexism and sexual politics” . Besides working on the issues, members of Hijas de Cuauhtémoc participated in Community organizations and made links among other Chicana groups such as the La Raza Community Center in Eastside Long Beach, the UFW's grape boycott and Teatro Campesino.

Transformation
In spring 1973, original members of the Hijas de Cuauhtémoc staff formed a core founding group for Encuentro Femenil, including Anna Nieto-Gómez, Cindy Honesto, Marta López, Corinne Sánchez, and Adelaida R. Del Castillo. Hoping to expand the reach of Hijas de Cuauhtémoc, they founded the first Chicana journal centering Chicana scholarship and activism. They aimed to document community issues and struggles as well as rise greater political awareness of Chicana issues among a larger Chicana/o community. Additionally, the publication of Encuentro Femenil not only documented the political mobilization of Chicanas, but it encouraged new forms of Chicana political solidarity and participation.