Leonor Villegas de Magnón

Who is Leonor Villegas de Magnón?

Leonor Villegas de Magnón was a political activist, teacher, and journalist who founded the international Mexican American relief service, La Cruz Blanca, during the Mexican revolution.

The better part of Magnón's life was dedicated to the Mexican revolution; she even began her life as a refugee—her father brought her family to the United States to escape the fighting in Mexico. By 1895, Magnón had received her bachelor's and teaching certificate at New York's Academy of Mount St. Ursula, and after school, married Aldopho Magnón and settled in Mexico City to teach kindergarten out of their home. Magnón also began to write articles criticizing then Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz in La Crónica, a Spanish-language newspaper founded by the Idar family that exposed injustices against the community.

Because of Magnón's political affiliation her father's businesses in Mexico began to be shut down, and Magnón fled to Laredo, Texas while her husband stayed in Mexico. There in Laredo she continued to teach kindergarten, but eventually her home became a makeshift hospital for her all-volunteer medical team, La Cruz Blanca.