Hilda A. Hidalgo, PhD - Papers

Hilda Hidalgo was born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico in 1928 to Marcelino Hidalgo and María Flores. A precocious child, Dr. Hidalgo had graduated from high school and completed a year of undergraduate education by age 16. Following a desire to become a saint, Dr. Hidalgo joined a convent and spent the next 11 years as a nun in Philadelphia and in Coamo, Puerto Rico, teaching at the catholic school. Realizing that life in the convent was not for her, Dr. Hidalgo left her order and completed her undergraduate education, receiving her BA from the University of Puerto Rico in 1957. She had accepted a job with the Girl Scouts of America in Santurce, Puerto Rico to pay for her education. The Girl Scouts then offered her a scholarship to a graduate program in educational guidance at Catholic University, Washington D.C. with the understanding that she would continue to work for them for at least two years.

After receiving her first master’s degree, Dr. Hidalgo worked as the District Director of the Girl Scout Council of Greater Essex, New Jersey from 1960 to 1965. During this time, Dr. Hidalgo made it her mission to offer scouting opportunities to girls in urban areas from minority communities. This was when Dr. Hidalgo experienced discrimination because of her ethnicity, gender, and race for the first time. It was also during this period of her life that she met Joan McEniry, a fellow employee of the Girl Scouts, and fell in love; they remained in a committed partnership until Joan’s death in 1995. In 1964, Dr. Hidalgo left the Girl Scouts.

Dr. Hidalgo received her Master of Social Work from Smith College School for Social Work in 1968, while working in Newark at the Child Service Association as the Director of Group Services. As a member of the Newark community, Dr. Hidalgo also spent much of the 1960s becoming politically and socially active, participating in the civil right movement as well as co-founding ASPIRA, Inc. of New Jersey, La Casa de Don Pedro, the Puerto Rican Congress of New Jersey, the United Community Corp., and the Newark Urban League. Dr. Hidalgo attended the 1968 Democratic National Convention as a delegate for Senator Eugene McCarthy. She also served as the Chair of the first Puerto Rican Convention of New Jersey and the Secretary of the first Black and Puerto Rican Convention in Newark, New Jersey. It was that coalition that led to the Community’s Choice Convention in Newark, New Jersey in 1970, which resulted in the election of Newark’s first black mayor, Kenneth Gibson. She also served as a mediator between the National Guard and the residents of the Central Ward during the 1967 riots and between Rutgers-Newark Administration and the students who had occupied Conklin Hall in 1969.

In 1969, Dr. Hidalgo joined the faculty of Rutgers, in the Department of Urban Planning and Community Development at Livingston College. Dr. Hidalgo, in a unique move, convinced Rutgers to hire her at the lowest faculty rank, assistant professor, at a lesser salary than initially offered to counteract any implications of tokenism. She also negotiated for the ability to attend a doctorate program at the Union Graduate School, Antioch College to obtain her PhD. In 1971, Dr Hidalgo successfully defended and received her PhD; she was also appointed Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Community Development. Her renown was such that in 1971 President Nixon appointed her to the President’s Cabinet Committee for the Spanish Speaking; she was the only woman and Puerto Rican to serve on this committee. The following year, she once again attended the Democratic National Convention as a delegate for the State of New Jersey.

It was during the 1970s that Dr. Hidalgo came out as a lesbian both to her family and friends. Emboldened by the positive response she received, and by the internal feelings of freedom this caused, Dr. Hidalgo became active in the struggle for LGBT rights, both personally and professionally. She worked tirelessly to combat the perception of homosexuality as a psychiatric disorder and eventually was the lead editor and co-author of Lesbian and gay issues: A resource manual for social workers (1985). She was an active member of the women’s movement and an outspoken feminist. In both instances, she had the added interest of exploring how these social justice movements served Latinos and people of color in addition to Caucasians.

After working at Livingston College for 8 years, Dr. Hidalgo asked for a transfer to Rutgers-Newark. It was at Rutgers-Newark that Dr. Hidalgo co-created two Masters Programs to train Hispanic professionals: the first was the Experimental MSW for Bilingual/Bicultural Hispanics; the second was the MPA Program for Hispanic Administrators. Dr. Hidalgo helped shape the curriculum for both these programs and was instrumental in securing their funding, since they depended exclusively on external funds. As a direct result of Dr. Hidalgo’s efforts, with the help of like minded Rutgers faculty and her partner Ms. McEniry, roughly one hundred bilingual Latinos entered into the professional sphere in New Jersey, creating greater ease of access to a number of services, both public and private, for the Latino community. Near the end of her tenure at Rutgers-Newark, Dr. Hidalgo was named to the “Complete Count Committee” for the 1990 Census by Sharpe James, Mayor of Newark. She served as the chair of this committee, whose purpose was to increase the response from Latinos as well as from other historically underserved communities, like the homeless, the undocumented, and the poor.

In 1992, Dr. Hidalgo retired from Rutgers then accepted a position as the Assistant Commissioner of Education for the State of New Jersey. Acting in this capacity, Dr. Hidalgo inspected Newark Public Schools to determine their status in preparation for a state takeover. While inspecting Morton Street School with members of the press, Dr. Hidalgo was arrested for trespassing and resisting arrest by the Newark Police; her wrist was broken by the police. She was eventually acquitted of all charges in 1995.

Joan McEniry passed away in 1995 from cancer and Dr. Hidalgo moved to Florida; she did so, as she said in her oral history, to be near her sister and to die. But even with that goal, Dr. Hidalgo still found the time and energy to continue fighting for social justice, joining the LGBT advocacy group Equality Florida Council. She also met Dr. Cheryl LaMay through her sister; sparks flew and they started dating in 1997. In 2004, they got married in Massachusetts on Cape Cod. Dr. Hidalgo remained active in her community in Florida until she was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. She passed away in 2009. Her life and career were celebrated by her friends, colleagues, and family at a celebration of life service at the Newark Public Library in March 2010.

(All information in the above biographical note is taken from the collection and the Hilda Hidalgo Oral History)