© Latinas in History 2008 |
MORAGA, CHERRÍE (1952 )
My
lesbianism is the avenue through which I learned most about silence and oppression.
Born and educated in California, gender, social justice and cultural heritage inform much of Moragas groundbreaking writings in a number of venues. Best known as co-editor with Gloria Anzaldúa (1942-2004) of the seminal anthology, This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, this book remains a classic text in college classes throughout the country. It received the Before Columbus American Book Award. Moraga declares she did not experience discrimination until she pronounced herself a lesbian. She published Loving in the War Years?Lo que nunca paso por sus labios about her life as a Chicana lesbian, and edited Cuentos: Stories by Latinas. She has written and produced more than ten plays, including Giving Up the Ghost, which established her as one of the leading voices in American theater. She received a PEN West Literary Award for Drama, and her play Watsonville: Some Place Not Here received the 1995 Fund for the New American Play Award sponsored by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. (the second time she had won this prestigious award).
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