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Ethel E. Murrell, a lawyer, writer and lecturer, campaigned for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. After graduating from the University of Miami Law School in 1934, Murrell opened a Miami law firm, and maintained her practice while travelling frequently to lecture on historical, religious, and feminist topics. During the 1940's, Murrell headed the Married Women's Law Committee of the Florida State Bar Association. The Association drafted and sponsored the Married Women's Act of 1943. Murrell defended the Act before the Florida Supreme Court in 1944 and succeeded in having the constitutionality of the law upheld on all points.
Murrell also participated in a drive for the re-drafting of the Florida constitution and was named a member of the Dade County Bar Association Constitutional Committee. She presented a resolution to the Bar calling for the inclusion of a phrase which would make men and women equal before the law. A dedicated member of the National Woman's Party (NWP), Murrell held the position of Chairwoman in 1952. Murrell, however, resigned one year later as a result of rivalries for leadership and the group's departure from the exclusive goal of the Equal Rights Amendment.
In addition to her political activities, Murrell wrote newspaper columns, magazine articles, college law textbooks and books of poetry which were published in the United States, Europe and the Far East.
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Muñoz del Valle, Luisa, 1906-1987
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Luisa Muñoz del Valle was a teacher, poet, and journalist born in Sancti Spiritus, Las Villas, Cuba, on June 4, 1906.
The daughter of Luis Muñoz Valdés and Francisca del Valle Gonzáles, she was baptized Luisa María Juana Muñoz del Valle. For her early education she attended the Colegio San Francisco Javier in Sancti Spiritus. She began her postsecondary education at the Escuelas Normales de Santa Clara, Las Villas, ultimately earning her degree in education from the Escuelas Normales de la Habana, in 1930.
Muñoz taught in private schools from 1930 to 1938 while studying for her doctorate. She later went on to complete her doctorate in Pedagogy at the University of Havana, receiving her degree on November 18, 1937. During this time she had already started writing her poetry. Her first major award as a poet was at the Juegos Florales in Sancti Spiritus where she was awarded the Flor Natural (First Prize) for her poem, “Civilización Occidental” in 1934. In 1935, encouraged by Cuban poets Andrés de Piedra-Bueno and José Angel Buesa, she published her only book of poetry, Angelus.
In 1936 Muñoz received national recognition when her poem “Romance de la Virgen de la Caridad” won third place at the Eucharistic Congress and Coronation of Our Lady of Charity. From this point on, she published her poems frequently in magazines such as San Antonio, Azul, El Fénix, La Milagrosa, and Semanario Católico, with which she had collaborated since 1928.
Muñoz pursued another professional interest, in journalism, at the Escuela Profesional de Periodismo “Manuel Marquez Sterling.” When she graduated in 1950, she was first in her class—the first time a woman had done so. After spending a year studying in Spain through a scholarship from the Ministry of Education, she started working as a journalist, predominantly for Alerta!, where she edited the daily Catholicism column.
Luisa Muñoz worked less after the Revolution since many newspapers were closed down by the policies of the Castro regime. She chose, however, to remain in Cuba instead of going into exile like the rest of her family. She stayed living in Havana, publishing her poems whenever possible, while her health increasingly weakened. Her family in Miami, particularly her brother, Dr. Luis B. Muñoz del Valle, tried to convince her to leave during the Mariel exodus in 1980 but she refused because she felt she would burden her family too much. Her health continued to deteriorate until her death on August 2, 1987.