Augustina Muñoz
January 31, 2009
Here’s an article I wrote on my great grandmother.
Augustina Acosta Muñoz was born in Mexico by a lake called Chapala around 1873. She was daughter of Cosme’ Acosta.
Around the year 1900, Augustina married Martin Muñoz and the family moved to Abilene, Texas. The family eventually moved to Midland, Texas where Augustina earned 5 cents for every newspaper she sold. She was selling the now famous newspaper called La Prensa. Augustina sold the newspapers door-to-door for 10 cents. At the time the company that printed La Prensa was called ‘Lozano’.
The 1920 Midland County census shows Augustina was 47-years-old with three children ages 18, 5 and 1. The 1-year-old was my grandfather Maximo Acosta Muñoz. He was an avid reader, who never missed an opportunity to vote.
My family loves the story of Augustina peddling La Prensa in Midland, Texas. In the early 1900s, spreading a newspaper dedicated to the Hispanic people was potentially dangerous and had to be done underground.
Ironically, the only picture I have of Augustina Muñoz shows her mouth somehow smeared. I had a friend point out once how her missing mouth represented the oppression women and Hispanics endured during those early days in Texas. Nevertheless, my great grandmother knew the power of journalism and thought it was important to spread La Prensa.
Every time I pick up a copy of La Prensa, I’m reminded of my great grandmother. Little did she know, she was opening the doors for her descendants who would be allowed to finish High School and go to college. That idea of spreading the news lives on.
Augustina Muñoz died at age 92 in Midland, Texas in 1965.
Comments
Got something to say?
