Women’s History and More (W.H.A.M) put on a documentary called “Linda & the Mockingbirds” on Thursday, March 3 via Zoom. The documentary discussed the impact of Mexican music and culture on Mexican-American culture. The purpose of this event is to explore the different ways women have overcome and ally themselves across intersectional identities to achieve power for change. According to dictionary.com, intersectional identities means “the theory that the overlap of various social identities, as race, gender, sexuality, and class, contributes to the specific type of systemic oppression and discrimination experienced by an individual.” 

The documentary was 40 minutes long and talked about Linda Ronstadt and learning about her family’s heritage through music and dance. Ronstadt is a Mexican-American singer who was very popular in the ’70s and ’80s and also popular in the United States as well as in the Mexican-American community. Ronstadt was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona. In the documentary she talked about what a special connection she had always felt with Mexico. She continued about how she watched a group of kids called Los Cenzontles dancing in San Francisco in 1993 down in the palace of Fine Arts.

Ronstadt went up to Eugene Rodriguez, who was in charge of Los Cenzontles, and said they were good. Rodriguez said that they were trying to raise money to take a trip to Mexico so that the kids could learn what it is to be Mexican. It was interesting to learn that the cowboys in the old films were based on Mexican tradition. The way this documentary tied into Women’s History month is that they said that every Mexican-American girl wanted to sing just like her and that her songs brought them a lot of hope. Young Mexican-American girls had a role model like her. Something that was interesting was the music. The music that was in the documentary was upbeat and meaningful. The music played throughout the documentary was called “The Dreamer.” This one song touched upon how a girl was in America for the first time and how she had dreams, and she tried the best she could in a foreign place. This can resonate with a lot of people because many people immigrate to new places to get a better life. A lot of people could get something out of the film as they could see another perspective of what life is like for an immigrant.