Read Poems by a Chicana Writer


Chicano Literature

  • Mexican American Voices - Digital History
    An excellent framework for teaching Chicano Literature classes. Chicano history ordered by chronology and topic: From America's Spanish heritage, Spanish to Mexican to Anglo rule, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, to the Chicano Movement.
  • Are Chicanos the Same as Mexicans?
    Richard J. Salvador's typology of the Spanish speaking people of the United States is another important framework for teaching Chicano Literature.
  • Border Studies
    From the Texas Council for the Humanities Resource Center. Especially helpful for teaching Chicano literature are the early maps of Texas and the Southwest.
  • Thirty Years of Hispanic Literature in the United States
    An abridged history of Latino literature by Dr. Roberta Fernández; with an excellent bibliography. This essay would make a good introductory handout for a Chicano/Latino Lit class.
  • Making Face, Making Soul - A Chicana Feminist Website
    Poetry, literature, short biographies of Chicana poets and writers, cultural resources, suggested readings in Chicana/o literature, and current research in Chicana studies.
  • The Chicano Literature Index
    Sponsored by San Antonio College LitWeb, the index of authors provides bibliographic information and other online resources. Serves as a forum for students and researches of Chicano Literature.
  • Americo Paredes
    Author of George Washington Gómez: A Mexicotexan Novel, Paredes established the foundations of modern Mexican American scholarship with his research in corridos, folkloric ballads, and Chicano folklore.
  • Ana Castillo
    One of the leading figures of Chicana literature, Castillo's website offers a complete bibliography, interviews, excerpts of work, and the author's excellent blog.
  • Teaching Chicana Literature from a Gender and Queer Perspective
    Scholarly paper by Imelda Martin Junquera, Universidad de Leon; with a tribute to Gloria Anzaldua.
  • LatinoStories.com New
    A great resource for teaching Latino Literature; with many Latino author sites, Latino publications and writer resources, reviews of the latest books and films by Latinos.
  • Xispas: The journal of Chicano Art, Culture, and Politics
    A print and online journal of Chicano culture, art, and politics offers book, arts, and music reviews, social commentary, history, and resources on indigenous traditions.
  • Border Correspondent: The Selected Writings of Ruben Salazar
    Ruben Salazar, was a correspondent and columnist for the Los Angeles Times and the first Mexican-American journalist to cross over into mainstream English-Language journalism. He frequently wrote about border life, the Chicano protest movement, and other issues important to the Chicano community. He was killed by police during the National Chicano Moratorium March in Los Angeles in 1970. An e-Scholarship edition.
  • Southwest Children's Literature
    A great resource for elementary school teachers; with reviews and lesson plans for hundreds of Southwest-themed children's books, including many Chicano authors such as Pat Mora, Ralfka Gonzalez, and Ana Cruz.
  • Why Should Latinos Write Their Own Stories? New
    In this essay, El Paso native and author of The Last Tortilla and Other Stories, Sergio Troncoso, discusses the importance of defining and preserving our culture through Latino literature.

Chicano Myth & Folklore

  • Send an Y-Dicho
    Create and email a postcard from a collection of "dichos" and vintage photographs from La Herencia Magazine's list of dichos, or proverbs such as, "A donde va la gente, va Vicente." (Wherever the people go, Vincent goes; or Monkey see, monkey do.) Also unique is their Novenas in Cyberspace page where readers can select a novena with a picture of a special saint and email it.
  • La Llorona
    An important myth among the Mexican-American communities. "The weeping woman" is the ghost of a woman crying for her dead children. Variants of the llorona tale are also popular in Mexico and in most of the Americas.

Research in Latino/Chicano Studies

  • Latino Studies Journal
    A leading peer-reviewed journal whose aim is to advance interdisciplinary scholarship in Latino Studies. Covers a diversity of issues, including sociology, politics, education, pedagogy, and more.
  • The Pew Hispanic Center
    A nonpartisan research organization whose mission is to improve understanding of the U.S. Hispanic population and to chronicle Latinos' growing impact on the nation. Conducts and commissions studies on a wide range of topics, including demography, economics, education, identity, immigration, labor, and politics. A good fact-finder resource for Latino Literature and culture classes.
  • Mesoweb
    Devoted to the exploration of Mesoamerican cultures of Mexico and Central America, including the Olmec, Zapotec, Mixtec, Teotihuacan, Toltec, Aztec and Maya.
  • The Aztecs
    Many resources on Aztec culture such as Aztec language pronunciation, stories, music, Aztec and Mesoamerican gods; offered by Mexicolore, an educational organization.
  • The Aztec Calendar
    A site devoted to the tonalpohualli, or the sacred Aztec calendar, whose main use was as a tool for divination. Exploring the tonalpohualli allows for a deeper exploration of the Aztec's worldview, cosmology, and myriad gods.

Chicano Art

  • Frida Kahlo Online
    From ArtCyclopedia; From the collections of the Metropolitan, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Phoenix Art Museum, Arte Latinoamericana; biography and extensive resources.
  • La Chicana: A Celebratory Photo Essay
    Real-life images of Mexican American women in work, play, and community activities, from turn-of-the-century to contemporary Chicanas and their families. From the Chicano Research Collection Department of Archives and Manuscripts at the Arizona State University Libraries.
  • Arte Latino
    Latino art treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum; with works by Gloria López Córdova, Luis Jiménez, Delilah Montoya, and more.
  • Chicano Art Digital Image Collection
    From the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives. Be sure to especially see the section on indigenous Chicano mediums and art forms.
  • Latino/a Art Community
    Be sure to go to the Exhibits/Gallery page; especially interesting is the "Mexican Revolution of 1910 and its Legacy" exhibit.
  • Poetas y Pintores: Artists Conversing with Verse New
    Francisco X. Alarcón, Rigoberto González, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Pat Mora, and other Chicano/Latino writers engage with the works of visual artists. Initiated by the Center for Women's InterCultural Leadership at Saint Mary's College and the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame.
  • The Virtual Diego Rivera Web Museum
    The muralist painter was born in Guanajuato Mexico and later lived in Mexico City. In Paris, he was influenced by post-modernism and cubism, and later adopted a simplified style that evoked Mexico's pre-Columbian past. Much of his work detailed the history of Mexico and its peasant farmers and laborers in the rich beauty and colors of a uniquely Mexican landscape.
  • Chicano Art Magazine
    A quarterly Chicano arts publication based in Los Angeles California featuring the latest Chicano/Chicana artists.

Chicano Music

  • Musica Fronteriza/Border Music
    An interesting scholarly paper by Manuel Pena, originally published in Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. How Chicano border music preserves both a culture of resistance and assimilation through traditional musical forms like conjunto and corrido, and newer hybrids such as orquestra.
  • Accordion Dreams
    The arrival of the German accordion to Texas in the 19th century gave birth to "Conjunto," a uniquely Texas Chicano musical tradition. This site not only provides information about the documentary film directed by Hector Galan and narrated by Tish Hinojosa, but also the history and musical elements of conjunto, and pioneer and contemporary artists.
  • Lila Downs
    Contemporary ranchera musician, Lila Downs was born to a Mixteca Indian mother and Scottish leftist Father in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, and grew up both in Oaxaca and Minneapolis, Minnesota. She sang with the band "Los Cadetes de Yodoyuxi" and later with "La Trova Serrana," a group of folk musicians from the Zapotec town of Guelatao, Oaxaca. She also studied social anthropology and voice at the University of Minnesota.
  • El Mariachi.com
    Features over 350 boleros, corridos, sones, rancheras, and other traditional and contemporary mariachi songs.

Chicano Blogs

  • Chicanonews.net
    Daily news scoured from the Net on immigration, art, music, poetry, pop culture, Chicano celebrities, and more.
  • HispanicTips New
    An aggregation service whose goal is to bring together daily Latino news from around the nation. A comprehensive information archive reflecting Hispanic life in the US.
  • Margo Candela Blog
    A collection of essays, postings, and thoughts on her experiences as a Chicana fiction writer and author of Underneath It All.
  • Madam Mayo New
    Author of Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles Through Baja California, The Other Mexico, and Sky Over El Nido, is the founding editor of Tameme and a translator of contemporary Mexican poetry and fiction. Creative Writing students especially should read her "10 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Writing Workshop."

Links updated on March 1, 2008