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Julia Alvarez’s novel, In the Time of the Butterflies, depicts the Mirabal sisters rising up and fighting for a cause in which they believed, despite the danger to their lives caused by their actions. The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women commemorates the death of “Las Mariposas” (also known as The Butterflies), the three Mirabal sisters who were brutally murdered on November 25, 1960 in the Dominican Republic for their efforts to bring an end to the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. In this joint presentation, Dr. April J. Mayes, Associate Professor of History at Pomona College, will explore women’s activism and feminism in the Dominican Republic prior to the nascence of “Las Mariposas” as well as during the era of Trujillo, while Dr. Esther Hernández-Medina, Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology at Pomona College, will examine the legacy of the Mirabal sisters in contemporary Dominican feminism and in the international movement against violence against women.