Far from the ordinary reality television star with 15 minutes of fame, HIV/AIDS activist and educator Pedro Zamora was a inspiration and role model to the GBLT community and the rest of the world. Born February 29th, 1972, to Cuban parents, Hector and Zoraida, he was raised in a small town near Havana, Cuba. After previously having seven children, Pedro's mother was told prior to his birth that she would not be able to have any more children, so when she did give birth to him he was seen almost as a miracle. Born feet first on leap day in a leap year added to the idea that he was a very special child. A priestess of Santeria even blessed him as an infant and called him a "wise one", a soul who was born to save lives. He grew up in a very small house with a dirt floor, and food was scarce with his mother trading things on the black market in exchange for food to support their large family. Growing up in these grim conditions made his childhood tough, but things changed for the better when Zamora's family moved to Hialeah, a suburb of Miami, Florida (Mills). When Zamora was 8 years old, his family, a whopping ten people, attempted to leave Cuba together for the United States. They left Cuba during the Mariel Boat Lift, which was a mass movement of Cubans who departed from Mariel Harbor trying to get to the United States in 1980. Although his family tried to stay together, government officials informed them that the four older siblings were too close to the draft age and were not going to be allowed to the United States with the rest of their family. Even though the family wanted to go together, the older siblings were adamant about the rest of their family getting an opportunity for a better life in America. Thus, the rest of the family continued with their trip to the U.S. After sailing on a boat with 250 people with a boat half the capacity for 13 hours Pedro and his family arrived and started a new life (Vaillancourt). When Zamora was 13, his mother passed away from skin cancer. During his time in the United States prior to her death, they had developed a very close relationship and her death was devastating to him. In his high school years Pedro become an honors student, Cross-Country Team Captain, and President of the Science Club.
The 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act grants Cubans a unique place in U.S. Immigration Law and Policy by declaring that all those who arrive in the United States are accepted as political refugees, and are eligible to become legal permanent residents after one year (Marc R.). It was created to offer protection to Cubans escaping oppression from their Communist government. As might be expected, this law is always the debate of Cubans who think about coming to America seeking freedom and a better life. For many Cubans to reach American territory is all a dream, mostly because of the chances of attaining a better economic situation for themselves and their families. A lot of them also pursue to reunite with their families in the United States after many years of separation. Some others are opponents of the Castro regime. Because they don’t have freedom of speech and can see their lives threatened if they speak out against the government, seek for more political freedom and a democratic form of government, in a land of capitalism where there are fewer restrictions and more opportunities.
Selena Quintanilla Perez was born on April 16, 1971 in Lake Jackson, Texas. Selena grew up understanding Spanish, but English was her first language. At the age of five Selena saw her brother learning to play the guitar and became jealous of the attention he was getting. She picked up a songbook and began to sing. Her family quickly turned their attention to her strong and beautiful voice. In the first grade Selena excelled at a game called Jump the Brook, in which two ropes are placed side by side and each kid takes a turn jumping across.1 In middle school Selena was in honors classes and made A’s and B’s. Selena used her allowance to put clothes on layaway. As a teenager, Selena hung all of her awards on the wall next to the staircase in her family’s house. As an adult, Selena was very involved with kids. She was a spokeswoman for the D.A.R.E. Program.
Between all of this, on December 14, 1953, the sisters’ father passed away. This allowed their mother to move to a different smaller house three years later and after their mother died on January 20, 1981, it was then turned into El Museo Hermanas Mirabal (The Mirabal Sisters Museum). As the 4th sister, Belgica was not present on that tragic day she dedicated her life to honoring her sister 's’ death. She later died at the age of 88 on February 1st, 2014. Las Hermanas Mirabal were the bravest women in all of the Dominican Republic given that they were the only ones who actually confronted Trujillo and even gave their life for their country. Visiting Salcedo was very enjoyable. Not only because it was my vacation but also because of how calm it felt to be there. Everyone is very humble and despite the fact that most of them don’t have much, they always offer everything they can to make you feel welcome. I always look forward to visiting Salcedo because even though it isn’t my birthplace, it still feels like home. Salcedo is home to most of my family in the Dominican republic and I can’t wait to
...rest became a nightmare. Enrique’s time apart from his mother made them more like “strangers” than family. Filled with anger stemming from the years apart from one another, he refused to obey his mother’s wishes to live healthier. While lost in family chaos, he turned back to his addiction of drugs crashing his dream of a perfect family dynamic. Though his dream became a nightmare, he was able to achieve it through one core trait where his inner strength help drive him to not give up his dream of seeing his mother. This signifies that if a person is willing to work hard to achieve their dream through diligence, it can be met. Though the outcome may not be what one hoped for, being able to say you accomplished something is soul-pleasing. His success in making it to the U.S. regardless of many downfalls satisfies one missing piece in his broken puzzle of a life.
In Watts Los Angeles, California Rodriguez and his family first settled after his father refused to return to Mexico, having been in prison due to some false charges he was accused of. Watts being a black neighborhood caused his older brother Rano to constantly be bullied, jumped, or chased by the other children Rano took all the rage and pain out on young
It is crucial to have an awareness of the early beginnings of his life in order to understand Cesar Chavez’s development into becoming the celebrated leader he is known as today. One of the noteworthy aspects of his life is that he was not what some would consider a “natural-born” leader, meaning that he was not born into a family of great wealth or power. Chavez was born on March 31, 1927 near the town of Yuma, Arizona to a humble, hardworking Mexican immigrant family. His grandfather, Cesario Chavez, for whom he was named after, had worked hard to save enough money to be able to buy land in Arizona and raise his thirteen children, which included Cesar’s father. His father, Librado Chavez, grew up, got married, and opened up a couple of small businesses to help provide for his family and build a better life for his own children. According to biographical accounts about Cesar, this is when and where he began to learn and...
George Washington knew him. So did Napoleon Bonaparte. Hugo Chavez and many other South American presidents have referred to him. Francisco De Paula Santander was his political opponent. And Joseph Bonaparte, king of Spain, knew him as an enemy. The person all these people are referring to is Simon Bolivar, or better known as “The Liberator” (“Simon Bolivar Biography”). Simon Bolivar impacted society in a positive way because of his contributions in liberating South America, love for South America, and his efforts to unite South America.
George Lopez was born on April 23rd in the year of 1961 in the Mission, Hills of Los Angeles, California. His father who was Anataso was a migrant worker who left his wife, Frieda for a different lifestyle. After Lopez was born, Frieda and George Moved in with his mom’s parents who tried to raise Lopez In her hometown of California. When George was a young kid his mother explained to him that his father had died. Even though, the real truth was that he was in fact alive but wanted nothing to do with his son who he had with his ex-wife. His mother soon remarried when George was only ten years of age. His mouther also left, so he had nowhere to go other than to his grandparents’ house because he figured they would take care of him. Lopez was
it is unmistakable that life situations inspired Juan Rulfo to write this story. He like no other person had a greater understanding of how to portray the theme of family especially missing a father as a role model, death, survival and revenge. Moreover, through the use of local Mexican language it furthermore developed the society in which peasants had to live during the post-revolution. Additionally Juan Rulfo tries to add all five senses in the story forming magical realism and a vivid picture that the readers can understand. Overall, the readers learn a lot about peasant’s approach to life after revolution that the main drive was
In the beginning, Cesar Chavez started having a hard life ever since he was young. He was born on March 31, 1927 in San Luis Arizona, near Yuma. He had two brothers and two sisters. He started working at a young age after his family lost their ranch on an economic crisis. As a consequence, they moved and started living in a barrio, which was a poor area of town in San Jose, California and they started living as immigrants. Later, he left school in order to start working with his family in fields and, in a way, start supporting his family. They used to move from farm to farm in look for more fields to harvest, so they could get more money. When he was seventeen he enlisted into the United States Navy and served for two years. At his return, in 1948, he married the love of his life, Helen Fabela, and eventually years later they had eight children together.
Martinez writes about the months he spent on the trailing the immigrants, starting with a stay in Cheran, Mexico, the town of 30,000 Purèpecha Indians, home of the Chavez family.
Selena, “Le Reina de Tejano”, was born on April 16, 1971, in Lake Jackson. She was the youngest of three children of Abraham Quintanilla Jr. and Marcela, his wife. At a young age, Abraham had a strong passion for music that he still has. During the 1950s and 1960s, him and his friends made a group called “Los Dinos” and played at nightclubs and restaurants. Even though his passion for music, he gave it up when he got married and earned a job at Dow Chemical as a shipping clerk.
Reymundo was born in Puerto Rico in 1963 in the back of a 1957 Chevy. His mother was married at age sixteen to a man that was seventy-four years of age. Reymundo’s father died when he was almost five years old, therefore he does not have much memory of the relationship that they had. Reymundo has 2 sisters with whom he did not have a relationship with, one sister would always watch out for him, but that was about it. After the death of Reymundo’s father, his mother remarried a guy named Emilio with which she had a daughter for. After Emilio, Pedro came in to the picture with his son Hector. Pedro was an illegal lottery dealer and Hector sold heroin.
The dictatorship of President Batista caught the attention of a young attorney named Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, or better known as Fidel Castro. In protest against President Batista, Castro formed and led a small group called M-26-7. The name of this group symbolized when the group attacked the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba on July 26, 1953. This marked the beginning of the Cuban Revolution. The attack was unsuccessful and it left many of the attackers, including leader Fidel Castro, jailed while others fled the country and a few killed in the attack. After going to trial, on October 16, 1953, Castro was sentenced to 15 years in prison in the hospital wing of the Presidio Modelo while delivering his History Will Absolve Me speech. However, on May 15, 1955, Castro and the rest of the prisoners were released after President Batista believed that to be of no threat. Upon getting being released from prison, Castro’s main focus was to strengthen the M-26-7. Later that year, Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl Castro fled Cuba to avoid being arrested after the 1955 bombings. Fidel said that his reason for leaving was because all doors of peaceful struggle had closed on him.
Raised by his grandparents, Marquez was born in 1928 in a Colombian fishing village located in the Caribbean coast. “Because his parents were still poor and str...