Olga Talamante (born 1950) is a Chicana political activist and the former executive director of the California-based Chicana/Latina Foundation. She is also the interim President and CEO of The Greenlining Institute (as of 2025).
Early Life
Talamante was born in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, to Eduardo and Refugio Talamante. Her father was Mexican and her mother was a Mexican-American woman from Lompoc, California. At age eleven, she and her family moved to Gilroy, California, an agricultural community. She learned English, excelled in her studies, and was elected president of her sophomore class and vice president of her senior class at Gilroy High School. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen and attended the University of California, Santa Cruz, graduating with a degree in Latin American studies.
Activism and Imprisonment
At UC Santa Cruz, Talamante became active in the anti-Vietnam War peace movement and the Chicano Movement. While conducting a field study in Chiapas, Mexico, she encountered Argentines who informed her of recent leftist political successes in their country. After graduating, she traveled to Argentina, arriving shortly after the election of Peronist candidate Héctor José Cámpora. She settled in Azul, Buenos Aires Province, and worked for Juventud Peronista, a poverty-relief agency.
Following the death of Juan Perón and the subsequent political turmoil, the Peronist party split into left- and right-wing factions. In November 1974, Talamante was arrested in Azul for political activity and subsequently imprisoned and tortured. The Olga Talamante Defense Committee petitioned the U.S. Congress and State Department for her release. She was freed on March 27, 1976, and returned to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she began working for the Argentine Commission for Human Rights.
Career
After her release, Talamante continued working with minority causes in the United States. She served as Western branch Vice President of INROADS, an association supporting Hispanic, African American, and Native American business and engineering students. She has also worked with Head Start, the YMCA, and the American Friends Service Committee.
In January 2003, she became the first executive director of the Chicana/Latina Foundation, serving in that role until March 2018, after which she became Executive Director Emerita. She has served as co-chair of the board of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. In 2025, she was appointed Interim President and CEO of The Greenlining Institute.
Awards
Talamante has received numerous community awards in the San Francisco area, including the KQED-TV award for "heroes and heroines of the Latino community," the Girl Scouts of the USA Daisy award, Hispanic Magazine's "Diversity award," and the "Women Making History Award" from the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women.
Personal Life
Talamante is openly lesbian. Her life story, including her imprisonment and torture in Argentina, was featured in the opera ¡Chicanisima! by Opera Cultura.
