For Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15 – October 15, we honor one of the most influential voices in feminist history, the late Gloria Anzaldúa.
Born in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas in 1942, she grew up navigating the U.S.–Mexico border as well as the racism against Mexican-Americans in the Jim Crow South, an experience that shaped her outlook and her writings.
Anzaldúa believed dignity begins with the freedom to speak in your own voice. A time when Spanish-speaking students were often punished for speaking their native language in schools, she saw the right to speak in your native tongue as a civil rights issue, defending bilingual and code-switching communities.
As a Chicana writer, poet and cultural theorist, she challenged the idea that women had to fit into one identity, one language, or one culture.
Her groundbreaking anthology, This Bridge Called My Back (1981), created space for women of color to tell their own stories, and exposed the racism and exclusion many experienced within mainstream feminist movements. It became a landmark text in intersectional feminism decades before the term became widely used.
In 1987, Anzaldúa published Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, blending memoir, poetry, history, and theory. The book introduced the concept of the borderlands — not only the physical border between nations, but the lived experience of people existing between languages, cultures, genders, and identities. Today, it remains required reading in women’s studies, Chicano studies, and cultural studies programs around the world.
While Gloria Anzaldúa passed away in 2004, her work continues to inspire generations fighting for equality, belonging, and the right to define their own identities.
As we approach the 2026 mid-term elections, let’s honor Gloria Anzaldúa’s memory and exercise our political power by electing candidates who will fight for Chicano rights, bilingual education and women’s rights.
If we want political power, we must have a seat at the table. To get a seat at the table, we must have the right to vote and make sure our vote is counted. And, then, we must exercise our right by voting. To learn more, watch Stand UP, Speak OUT Episode 2: Voting Rights.
In:
A Woman’s View
