Last fall, the Fort Worth Human Relations Commission approached me about photographing a project that would be part of the city's broader program, Latino Americans, 500 Years of History. The Commission was among 203 grant recipients across the country selected to receive a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association to hold public programming about Latino history and culture.

Among the ideas the commissioners generated was to celebrate Latinas who'd helped shape Fort Worth with their work, vision, volunteerism, activism, and business acumen. Twelve women were selected and I set out to capture a mini photo story of each one. The photos will complement a bit of oral and written history about each woman in an exhibit March 4-31 at The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. I'll be sharing some of these photos here leading up to the exhibit.

Tammy Melody Gomez is a Fort Worth poet, author and activist. Here, she models a set of bandoliers filled with an artist's ammunition--pencils and lipsticks.

Among Gomez's treasures is a dog-eared copy of Elie Wiesel's memoir, Night, about his experience in the Nazi concentration camps. It's a book that Gomez's family read together when she was a girl.