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Espino (Virginia) and Tajima-Peña (Renee) Collection of Sterilization Records
16
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Chicano Studies Research Center Library
Title: Virginia Espino and Renee Tajima-Peña Collection of Sterilization Records
Creator:
Espino, Virginia
Creator:
Tajima-Pena, Renee
Identifier/Call Number: 16
Physical Description:
2 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1975-2001
Abstract: This collection includes court records from the 1970's federal class action lawsuit, Madrigal v. Quilligan, which brought
to light the coerced sterilization of Latina women at Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center.
The case was brought to court by 10 Latina women against E.J. Quilligan, M.D. and other hospital obstetricians. The court
records span from June 1975 through April 1979. The judge ruled against the women, however the case increased public awareness
and activism of forced sterilization to minority and non-native speaking women. The records were collected from the National
Archives at Riverside for use in the documentary, No Mas Bebes Por Vida, and for a forthcoming digital archive.
Physical Location: COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Library
and Archive for paging information.
Language of Material: Materials entirely in English.
Open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. These court documents are public record.
[Identification of item], Virgina Espino and Renee Tajima-Peña Collection of Sterilization Records, 16, UCLA Chicano Studies
Research Center, University of California, Los Angeles.
This collection was donated to the Chicano Studies Research Center by Virginia Espino and Renee Tajima-Peña in 2013.
Processed by Angel Diaz, 2013.
Virginia Espino, earned her Ph.D. in history at Arizona State University. She currently works as an oral historian at the
University of California at Los Angeles Center for Oral History Research where she is responsible for coordinating projects
that document the Southern California Latina/o community. She is responsible for launching two oral history series that explore
the Long Civil Rights Movement in Los Angeles: Mexican American Civil Rights Pioneers: Historical Roots of an Activist Generation
and "La Batalla Está Aquí": The Chicano Movement in Los Angeles. Her research on the history of coercive sterilization at
the Los Angeles-USC Medical Center provided the impetus for the documentary, No Más Hijos Por Vida/More Babies for Life, for
which she is a Producer and Lead Historian. Espino has conducted extensive primary research and interviews with a number of
the principals in the case, and has published her research in Las Obreras: Chicana Politics of Work and Family, edited by
Vicki L. Ruiz, and Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia.
Renee Tajima-Peña, Digital Media Producer, is an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker. She was selected for the inaugural programs
of the BAVC Producers Institute for New Media Technologies and the ITVS-Mozilla Foundation "Living Docs Project," where she
prototyped interactive documentary projects for online digital platforms. Her film credits include her current documentary,
No More Babies for Life (formerly¿Más Bebés?), and the nationally-televised PBS documentaries, Calavera Highway, "The Mexico
Story" of The New Americans series, My America...or Honk if You Love Buddha, and Who Killed Vincent Chin?, and The Last Beat
Movie (Sundance Channel), and The Best Hotel on Skid Row (HBO). Her films have premiered at Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, and
festivals around the world. She has been awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship, a USA Broad Fellowship in Media Arts, Peabody
Award, Dupont-Columbia Award, Alpert Award in the Arts, Int'l Documentary Association Achievement Award, and two Rockefeller
Foundation Fellowships. She is currently a Professor in Asian American Studies at UCLA and the Director for EthnoCommunications
at UCLA.
This a collection of legal records and court documents from the 1975 federal class action lawsuit, Madrigal v. Quilligan (CV
75-2057 EAC), which brought to light the coerced sterilization of Latina women at Los Angeles County-University of Southern
California Medical Center. The case was brought to court by 10 Latina women against E.J. Quilligan, M.D. and other hospital
obstetricians. The court records span from June 1975 through April 1979. The judge ruled against the women, however the case
increased public awareness and activism of forced sterilization to minority and non-native speaking women.
The records were collected from the National Archives at Riverside for use in the documentary, No Mas Bebes Por Vida, and
for a forthcoming digital archive.
This collection is arranged by the date that court documents were filed and consists of 2 linear feet of photocopied documents.
The collection is organized into the following series:
- Series 1. Court documents, 1975-1979. 2 linear feet
- Series 2. Oral History Audio Recordings, 1994-2001. 10 cassette tapes
Carlos G. Velez- Ibanez Sterilization Papers, ca. 1972 - 1979, collection 20.
Kluchin, Rebecca M. Fit to be Tied: Sterilization and Reproductive Rights in America. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University
Press, 2009.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Hispanic American women
Involuntary sterilization--California
Mexican Americans--Civil rights--California--Los Angeles
Sterilization of women
Women--legal status, laws, etc--United States--Cases
Women's rights
Records and briefs