Irene Hernandez

Irene Hernandez (1915-1997) was born in Texas to Mexican immigrant parents. After her father died, she and her mother moved to Chicago. After working in the Venezuelan and Argentinian consulates in Chicago, she was hired by the State’s Attorney’s office. In 1974 she was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Cook County Board of Commissioners and became the first Latina on that board and one of the first Latinas ever elected in Chicago and state of Illinois.  Hernandez was a hero to the underserved and underprivileged.

Why this stop? The Kedzie Brown Line stop is located on the Northwest Side near a neighborhood where Hernandez lived.