‘Mother of bilingual education’
Four years before Arizona became a state, Maria Urquides, a third-generation Mexican-american, was born in Barrio Libre near downtown Tucson.
“She enjoyed the racial and ethnic composition of her culturally diverse neighborhood which included Chinese, Mexicans, Indians, and Euro-americans, and identified strongly from early childhood with the need to communicate, despite language and cultural barriers,” according to the Arizona State Archives, Library and Public Records.
Her family made financial sacrifices so she could attend Tempe State Teachers College, which is now Arizona State University. She was valedictorian of her class and later earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in education from the University of Arizona.
Urquides played a major role in developing a bilingual and bicultural approach to teaching language among her students. It was an emerging field of study across the nation and she became known as “the mother of bilingual education.”
Urquides was also recognized for her exhaustive work in mental health, continuing education and human relations.
She was inducted into the Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame, and the Tucson Unified School District paid tribute to her by naming Urquides Elementary School in her honor.
She was like many diverse Arizonans who created a path for eventual racial and ethnic harmony or came here to work, building the state one railroad tie or mining shovel at a time.
Trimble said many of the state’s residents are unaware of the broad spectrum of races and nationalities that contributed to building the Arizona territory.