Gloria Anzaldua
On September 26, 1942 Gloria Anzaldua was born, the oldest of four children, to tenant farmers on a ranch in south Texas. She found her solace and entertainment by reading books. When she was eleven her family moved to a border town near Mexico where she and her sibling worked in the fields. She and her siblings were enrolled in segregated schools. Her father died in 1956 and left Anzaldua devastated. She turned again to books for comfort and began writing. The situations in Gloria's past drove her to gain an education. She went on to receive her Masters from the University of Texas and, subsequently, she became a cultural activist. She began to write about life of Mexican Americans, the prejudices they faced, and life inside of a border town. Gloria challenged the cultural perception that Mexican-Americans were less than human and that they had feelings different from any other person.
Her Work
In keeping with her cultural activism, Anzaldua published her most famous work, "Borderlands/ La Frontera: The New Mestiza". This book "explored the history and culture of the 'third world' ". As a preface to Borderlands she wrote the poem, "El sonavabitche", in which describes herself as a border woman who grew up in the middle of two cultures. She addresses the issues of inequality of sexuality, race, and culture. In this poem she uses a mixture of English and Spanish language known as "Spanglish". "El sonavabitche" illustrates the brutality and exploitation of migrants workers in border towns. Gloria's works are now published in textbooks across the country that serve as vivid reminders of the inequalities that still exist.