In The Community
Gloria Anzaldúa: Trailblazer for the Queer Movement
Every Pride month we hear about various LGBTQ trail blazers but Gloria Anzaldúa especially deserves your attention.
Anzaldúa’s contributions to not only the queer community but also the Chicano/a/x movement make her an important figure to add to your list of true jefas standing in their truth.
Anzaldúa was born in 1942 to Spanish American and Native American parents in Rio Grande, Texas. Though initially affluent at the beginning of their marriage, Anzaldúa’s parents went from owning their own farmland to eventually being reduced to poverty and working the fields in order to support their family.
Her father soon realized that keeping the family in the Rio Grande area wouldn’t help to advance his daughter’s education and worked to relocate the family to Hargill, Texas. Anzaldúa would later credit this move to furthering her sympathy for the plight of immigrants and migrant workers alike, leading to her eventual status as an outspoken advocate for their rights.
Anzaldúa pursued higher education at University of Texas-Pan American (now University of Texas Rio Grande Valley), where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in English, later conferring her Master of Arts in English at the University of Texas Austin.
This experience in higher education later went on to inspire much of Anzaldúa’s writings, including Anzaldúa’s intersectional approach to inclusivity when it came to cultural, queer, and feminist theory. Her 1981 essay La Prieta was featured in the book she co-edited, This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. In La Prieta, Anzaldúa writes about the prejudices she faced growing up due to the darker color of her skin.
Gloria Anzaldua | Gloria in 1980, in San Francisco. | K. Kendall ...www.flickr.com
Arguably Anzaldúa’s most famous release is 1987’s Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. In this novel, Anzaldúa muses over the concept of “borders” and how they impact different social perspectives we see. In Borderlands, Anzaldúa explores Chicano identity in white-centric society, lesbians in a heteronormative world, and the role of women in Hispanic society. By bringing to light the different spaces women can exist in, Anzaldúa was among those that paved the way for Latina/x focused feminist prose.
Though known primarily for Borderlands, Anzaldúa was also a very prominent activist in the Chicano movement. This movement’s prime years took place between 1965 until 1975, and was a vital social and political movement by those of Mexican descent in the United States. This movement was primarily led by activist legends César Chávez and Dolores Huerta as they supported farm workers in establishing unions that would allow them to earn fair wages and benefits.
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The effects of this movement grew to empower others to claim back their power in their communities to be able to better control their schools, funding, and allocate resources to where they needed it most.
Though Anzaldúa’s legacy continues to be celebrated by many in the literary world, the mark she left behind that helped champion intersectionality through the lens of a queer brown woman is unarguably the reason she remains so relevant today.
Luz Collective celebrates Latinas every day of the week. To mark Latinx Heritage Month we’re highlighting some of the Alpha Latinas profiled this year on Luz Collective. If you have an Alpha Latina in your life that you want to celebrate, Luz Collective also features women that are leading projects making a positive impact on the Latinx community. Nominate an Alpha Latina here and she may be featured in a future instagram post. Here are just a few of the Alpha Latinas that inspire us:
Writer Myriam Gurba
Savvy intellectuals like Gurba congregate each day on Twitter to engage in witty banter, call out politicians, and develop new schools of woke thought in 280 characters or less. Gurba’s never minced words when it comes to taking on institutions and the egalitarian terrain of social media is her battleground.
She is a promotion-pro extraordinaire and while she is quick to call out her grandfather Ricardo Serrano Ríos for his machismo, she also credits him, a Mexican writer and publicist, for her skill at driving movements from the handheld screen of her smartphone. Shortly before the universal scourge of the pandemic leveled our society by exposing the truth behind our oppressive systems, Gurba personally took on one of the pillars of that machinery: Big Five publishers. Read more about Myriam Gurba here and be sure you read her columns on Luz Collective too.
Actress Mj Rodriguez
Mj Rodriguez has become an idol as she grows a list of firsts: acting in the first tv show to host the largest cast of transgender actresses in leading roles, Pose; being the first openly trans woman awarded Best Television Actress at the Imagen Awards; being the first trans woman of color to play a role in a major production in the Little Shop of Horrors; and entering a partnership with a company, Olay, as the first Latina trans woman. Rodriguez uses these firsts as a platform to advocate for the LGBTQIA community. Rear more about trailblazer Mj Rodriguez here.
Musician Gina Chavez
Now a 2020 Grammy nominee, Gina Chavez released her first all-Spanish EP called “La Que Manda” on May 27. The first track, which is also the title track, is a powerful introduction to the five eclectic tracks that share a story about a “womxn coming into her power.” Her first single and second track, “Ella,” shares a message of empowerment for the Latina community and what it means to be a woman. “I definitely wanted something to be for Latinas,” said Chavez. “For people to get behind them and be like yeah, this is my song.” Read more about Gina Chavez here.
Organizer Rosa Clemente
Organizer, journalist and political commentator Rosa Clemente has spent her life’s work in social justice. Her activism began in college, but since then she has held many roles, including radio show host, vice presidential candidate and, most recently, video web series producer. But one thing has united all of her efforts–a focus on Black liberation.
Clemente’s identity and the labels she uses have evolved over the years. While in the past she described herself as an Afro-Latina, she now embraces her Blackness and identifies as a Black Puerto Rican instead. Read more about Rosa Clemente here.
Musician Lido Pimienta
Lido Pimienta revealed that she’s never been one to write “happy” songs because she tends to write about critical experiences that have shaped her ideologies and that also continue to impact those closest to her. Her Grammy nominated album “Miss Colombia” for example, addresses gender, race, politics, and identity issues, including Indigenous struggles.
“My family is Indigenous, we’re Wayuu from the north coast in Colombia—we’re a people that are surviving still from being a very strong community,” she said. “The Colombian government is continuing to destroy our people by taking away water and other resources, so I’ve grown up with that, that’s a part of my reality, so that’s just what I sing about.”
And in light of the Black Lives Matter protests that have taken place around the world, Pimienta’s music has resonated more than ever before. Read more about Lido Pimienta here.
Luz Collective readers like you are Alpha Latinas too. You don’t need a special month to shine because you’re an Alpha Latina all year long. Be Alpha, be extra, and be extra comfortable in our Alpha Latina ultra soft tri-blend fabric tee. Get yours today!