6 Books in Honor of Hispanic Heritage Month
“This love letter to intergenerational relationships opens every window and door to one’s heart… A healing work of art.” —Yesika Salgado, author of Corazón
Born into a large, close-knit family in Nicaragua, Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez grew up surrounded by strong, kind, funny, sensitive, resilient, judgmental, messy, beautiful women. Whether blood relatives or chosen family, these tías and primas fundamentally shaped her view of the world—and so did the labels that were used to talk about them, from the tía loca, to the pretty prima, to the divorced tía.
In Tías and Primas, Mojica Rodríguez explores these archetypes, lovingly illustrated by Josie Del Castillo. Fearlessly grappling with the effects of intergenerational trauma, centuries of colonization, and sexism, this book attempts to heal the pain that is so often embodied in female family lines. Tías and Primas is a deeply felt love letter to family, community, and Latinas everywhere.
Nelson A. Denis tells this powerful story through the controversial life of Pedro Albizu Campos, who served as the president of the Nationalist Party. A lawyer, chemical engineer, and the first Puerto Rican to graduate from Harvard Law School, Albizu Campos was imprisoned for twenty-five years and died under mysterious circumstances. By tracing his life and death, Denis shows how the journey of Albizu Campos is part of a larger story of Puerto Rico and US colonialism.
Through oral histories, personal interviews, eyewitness accounts, congressional testimony, and recently declassified FBI files, War Against All Puerto Ricans tells the story of a forgotten revolution and its context in Puerto Rico’s history, from the US invasion in 1898 to the modern-day struggle for self-determination. Denis provides an unflinching account of the gunfights, prison riots, political intrigue, FBI and CIA covert activity, and mass hysteria that accompanied this tumultuous period in Puerto Rican history.
“A groundbreaking account of African American freedom struggles.” —Alice Baumgartner, author of South to Freedom
Fifty years before the United States went to war over the issue, Chile abolished slavery. Colombia followed in 1821, and Mexico soon after. Black Americans took note. As plantation slavery terrorized their communities, Latin America emerged as the place they could be free.
Many have written about the Underground Railroad and northward migration to Canada, but for thousands of African Americans, freedom lay to the south. Abolitionists from Boston to San Antonio celebrated anti-slavery efforts in Latin America.
Freed and fugitive slaves began to see the region as a viable place to migrate, a land where they could find stability, safety, and opportunity. Some went on their own initiative. Others were motivated by organized political movements, like a Lincoln-backed colony in Panama and hotly debated proposals for mass emigration to Central America.
Drawing on travelogues, runaway slave ads, and hundreds of other archival sources across the Americas, Yesenia Barragan rewrites conventional histories of slavery in the antebellum era to prove that emancipation was a hemispheric effort. Eloquent and cutting-edge, In Latin America You Could Be Free is a powerful account of how African Americans pursued freedom in the darkest of circumstances.
Revered as much for her fierce spirit as she is for her art, Frida Kahlo stands today as a feminist symbol of daring creativity. Her paintings have earned her admirers around the world, but perhaps her greatest work of art was her own life. What Would Frida Do? celebrates this icon’s signature style, outspoken politics, and boldness in love and art—even in the face of hardship and heartbreak. We see her tumultuous marriage with the famous muralist Diego Rivera and rumored flings with Leon Trotsky and Josephine Baker. In this irresistible read, writer Arianna Davis conjures Frida’s brave spirit, encouraging women to create fearlessly and stand by their own truths.
Named a Best Gift Book of the Year by: Instyle, Oprah Daily, Business Insider, Esquire, Boston Globe, and Redbook
In May 1968, while serving in Vietnam, Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez led the rescue of a reconnaissance team surrounded by hundreds of enemy soldiers. He saved the lives of at least eight of his comrades that day in a remarkable act of valor that left him permanently disabled. Awarded the Medal of Honor after a yearslong campaign, Benavidez became a highly sought-after public speaker, a living symbol of military heroism, and one of the country’s most prominent Latinos.
Now, historian William Sturkey tells Benavidez’s life story in full for the first time. Growing up in Jim Crow–era Texas, Benavidez was scorned as “Mexican” despite his family’s deep roots in the state. He escaped poverty by enlisting in a desegregating military and was first deployed amid the global upheavals of the 1950s. Even after receiving the Medal of Honor, Benavidez was forced to fight for disability benefits amid Reagan-era cutbacks.
An unwavering patriot alternately celebrated and snubbed by the country he loved, Benavidez embodied many of the contradictions inherent in twentieth-century Latino life. The Ballad of Roy Benavidez places that experience firmly at the heart of the American story.
“Mojica Rodríguez’s electrifying debut channels mesmeric prose to heal the wounds of white supremacy.” —Los Angeles Times
For generations, Brown girls have had to push against powerful forces of sexism, racism, and classism, often feeling alone in the struggle. By founding Latina Rebels, Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez has created a community to help women fight together. In For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts, she offers wisdom and a liberating path forward for all women of color. She crafts powerful ways to address the challenges Brown girls face, from imposter syndrome to colorism. She empowers women to decolonize their worldview, and defy “universal” white narratives, by telling their own stories. Her book guides women of color toward a sense of pride and sisterhood and offers essential tools to energize a movement.
May it spark a fire within you.