An extraordinary exploration of Latinas in the United States from the 1800s to the present, this collection of narrative biographies documents the lives of fifteen remarkable individuals who witnessed, defined, defied, and wrote about the forces that shaped their lives. Since the earliest periods of Spanish American colonization, women have claimed public space and built communities, both as physical places and as cultural realms.  As entrepreneurs, community activists, mystics, educators, feminists, labor organizers, artists and entertainers, many Latinas used the power of the pen to traverse and transgress the social boundaries and cultural conventions of their time. Their diverse histories span two centuries and encompass a past of multiple conquests and migrations, taking into account race, region, gender, culture, and social location. Blending insights from history, literary criticism, and cultural studies, this interdisciplinary anthology re-envisions Latina history taking into consideration gendered genealogies of power as charted through grassroots' activism, literature, education, and economic enterprise. Their legacies rest on the production and dissemination of knowledge, which in turn reveals much about their own worldviews and historical agency. This anthology profiles Victoria Reid, Mar?a Amparo Ruiz de Burton, Mar?a Gertrudis Barcel?, Loreta Janeta Vel?zquez, Luisa Capetillo, Lola Rodr?guez de Ti?, Teresa Urrea, Adelina Otero Warren, Jovita Gonz?lez Mireles, Pura Belpr?, Luisa Moreno, Carmen Miranda, Antonia Pantoja, Ana Mendieta, and Dolores Huerta.

Latina Legacies: Identity, Biography, and Community (Viewpoints on American Culture) PDF

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