Francisca Flores (1913-1996), infected with tuberculosis at age 15, lived in an iron lung at the Vauclain Tuberculosis Sanatorium in San Diego for many years. There, she underwent a political awakening after meeting women who had survived the Mexican Revolution. She was inspired to learn about revolutionary philosophy, and organized a group called “Hermanas de la revolución Mexicana” which encouraged women to talk about politics and activism. Soon after leaving the sanitarium and moving to Los Angeles, Flores became a prominent figure in Chicanx activism and journalism; she worked for a number of publications including La Luz, Mas Grafica, and Regeneración and founded a number of community organizations. To all of her work, Flores brought her own radical Chicanx feminism, for which FBI Chief J. Edgar Hoover designated her "a most dangerous individual."
