Bonus Episode: The Soldadera to Adelita Pipeline

Hey folks,

Welcome to another bonus episode! I hope you enjoyed our last one about Welsh mythology, The Sleeper in The Cave. I thought the story of Owain Lawgoch was so fascinating for all the things it tried to be but couldn’t because the timing just wasn’t right. It’s a good reminder that even in cases of seemingly spontaneous rebellion or revolution, there are always predecessors who try to wage the war first.

For this week’s bonus episode, I wanted to revisit the story of Petra Herrera from late last year. Her story is really fascinating because of her youth and her role in the war, of course, but part of what stuck in my head is the deliberate erasure of it. Her immediate superior, Pancho Villa, was so desperate to keep Herrera from getting any credit for her efforts in the Mexican Revolution, and the men who came after her and told her story also erased it. In fact, they erased the stories of many women who were involved in the Mexican Revolution, which is an interesting—if sad—outcome to me.

So for this week’s bonus episode, let’s dig into the soldadera to adelita pipeline.