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Gloria Anzaldúa

Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa was born on a ranch in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas on September 26, 1942 to Urbano and Amalia Garcia Anzaldúa.  Both her parents were fieldworkers and were barely able to provide for the family of six but always encouraged their children to pursue their education. 

Anzaldúa is a sixth generation Tejana.  She had one sister, Hilda, and two brothers, Urbano Jr. Anzaldúa and Oscar Anzaldúa.  Along with her parents and siblings, at age 11 Anzaldúa, relocated to Hargill, Texas to start working in the fields.   She worked as a migrant worker for one year in Arkansas. 

Her father passed away when she was 14 years old.  Anzaldúa felt obligated financially to continue working in the family fields throughout high school and college to help support her family.  Anzaldúa lived this stereotypical Chicano migrant lifestyle but wanted to defy society’s expectations and decided to go to college. 

In 1969 she earned a B.A. in English, Art, and Secondary Education from Pan American University. She worked as a school teacher before attending graduate school.  In 1972 she received an M.A. in English and Education from the University of Texas at Austin and later did graduate work at the University of California, Santa Cruz.  

After receiving her M.A., in 1977, she moved to California where she supported herself through her teaching, writings, and lectures at different universities.  Anzaldúa taught high-school English, was involved in education programs for the children of migrant workers, and taught creative writing and literature at a number of universities.

She wrote several books but is best known for Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza and the concept of mestizaje and the “New Mestiza.”