Lucía Martínez: Yaqui Arizona, 1854-1900

Lucía Martínez escaped Apache slavers at the age of 10 in 1864 only to be recaptured by Arizona territorial Senator King S. Woolsey until she reached the age of 18 in 1871. In the seven years she served on his central Arizona ranches, the Yaqui girl bore three illegitimate children to her captor, and when she left his custody to settle in Yuma, Woolsey kept Lucía's two daughters from her. Lucía filed a habeas corpus petition to secure custody of her 3 and 5 year-old girls, and although the judge--a close friend of Woolsey's--denied her petition, he did award Lucía physical custody of the children because of their young age. When King Woolsey demanded to have the girls back from their mother in 1879, he died unexpectedly, and Lucía filed another bold legal action, requesting an inheritance for her children from the former Senator's estate. This chapter chronicles Lucía's incredible determination to overcome the social and legal barriers that limited her personal and maternal rights.