Books and Works By Author Fran Leeper Buss (original) (raw)

Forged under the Sun: Forjado Bajo el Sol: The Life of María Elena Lucas

Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1993

María Elena Lucas, the oldest of seventeen children, began work when she was five, then assisted her family as they worked as migrant workers throughout the nation. An extraordinary child, she wrote poems and stories describing their conditions. This oral history recalls Lucas’ struggle to survive poverty, hardship, and violence to become, as an adult, an outspoken champion of the United Farm Workers and the Farm Labor Organizing Committee. Even after a nearly lethal dose of pesticide from a crop-dusting plane left her permanently disabled, she continued to work as a tireless activist for migrant workers in the United States. Themes that run through her stories include the emergence of Lucas’ political and religious consciousness and her growing awareness of the deeply rooted sexism in American and Latin American society. Woven into the narration are the songs, poetry, and diary entries through which Lucas has expressed herself.

“. . . an inspirational story that explores the nature of memory and resistance.” - Feminist Bookstore News

​

“An important book; it finally gives a politically and poetically potent voice to and analysis of a Chicana and Mexicana farmworker and impoverished woman writer’s experiences from her own mouth and pen.” - Laura Pérez, University of California, Berkeley

​

“Direct, gripping, and very moving, María Elena’s story is testimony to the resilience of the human spirit.” - Ruth Behar, author of Translated Woman: Crossing the Border with Esperanza’s Story