Rosa Guerrero

Photo: Rosa Guerrero takes time to talk to photographers after performing in the year 1974. Rosa Ramirez Guerrero of El Paso, Texas, is an artist, educator, dance historian, and humanitarian. Her efforts have enhanced her commitment in promoting cultural awareness around the United States. She has also taught for EPISD, The El Paso Community College and at The University of Texas at El Paso. Mrs. Guerrero was the first of seven children in her family to graduate and earn her BA and MA from Texas Western College, now the University of Texas at El Paso. Mrs. Guerrero founded and became the artistic director of the International Folklorico Dance Group. Her film “Tapestry,” based upon creating cultural harmony and understanding, was honored with a national award for documentary filmmaking. She was awarded a lifetime membership with the Texas PTA and was the first Hispanic woman in El Paso to have a school, Rosa Guerrero Elementary, named in her honor. She has been honored with many local, national, and international honors for her efforts as a humanitarian, which includes being a Distinguished Alumni of The University of Texas at El Paso, Inductee into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame, the Valley Forge Freedoms Foundation Award, the LULAC Arts and Humanities Award, the NEA Human Civil Rights George T. Sanchez Award, and the Mexican Consulate OHTLI Award for her work with Mexican Americans and other minorities. Rosa Guerrero wanted to be a teacher since the third grade. Her own teachers in the early 1940’s and 1950’s were not kind and did not understand her cultural background. She, like thousands of others, was punished for speaking Spanish in school. This was the reason she became an educator and swore to never punish her students for their racial and cultural differences. http://rosaguerrero.org/