Sandra Cisneros- Mexican Writer
What are they known for?
Sandra Cisneros (born December 20, 1954, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) is an award winning Mexican-American novelist for her groundbreaking evocation of Mexican-American life in Chicago, in particular her 1983 novella The House on Mango Street (a story about a year in the life of Esperanza, a 12-year-old mexican-american girl)
Additional Information:
Sandra’s early life was a key draw point for her writing. Born as the only daughter of seven children, she grew up under oppression from her surroundings because of who she was. Cisneros grew up as an excluded child: excluded from her family as the only girl and from her community because she felt like she wasn’t Mexican or American enough to fit in. She channeled these experiences into her writing, creating authentic pieces describing life for a Mexican-American.
Info from:
The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Sandra Cisneros | American Author.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 16 Dec. 2018, www.britannica.com/biography/Sandra-Cisneros.
Celia Cruz-Afro-Cubano Singer
What are they known for?
Celia Cruz, known as the “Queen of Salsa”, was an internationally acclaimed singer and dynamic stage performer from the 1940s to the start of the 21st century.
Additional Information:
She was born on October 21, 1925, in Havana, Cuba, to a very large family that struggled to stretch the salary of her father. “One of the oldest children in her extended family, her earliest memories of using her musical talent were of singing the younger ones to sleep – not only with conventional lullabies, but with any songs that came into her head,” (NWHM). She rose to fame by winning talent shows sponsored by local radio stations. Her father was originally against the idea because of the stigma around music in Cuba at the time. Nevertheless, Cruz continued to pursue her passion and became the Queen of Salsa we know her as today.
Info From:
Prieto, Laura. “Celia Cruz.” National Women’s History Museum, 2015, www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/celia-cruz.
Elenn Ochoa- Hispanic Astronaut
What are they known for?
Ellen Ochoa is an American engineer, former astronaut and former director of the Johnson Space Center. “Ellen Ochoa became Johnson Space Center’s 11th center director in 2013. She was only the second woman to lead Johnson and the first Hispanic at its helm,” (NASA).
Additional Information
Ellen Ochoa was born on May 10, 1958, in Los Angeles, California. After earning her doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1985, Ochoa accepted a position at Sandia National Labs and later at NASA’s Ames Research Center where she studied optical systems for performing information processing. In 1990, when she was selected to be an astronaut, Ochoa managed the Intelligent Systems Technology Branch at Ames, where she supervised a staff of 35 researching computational systems for spaceflight missions. She went on to fly in space four times and in 1993 Ochoa became the first Latina woman to go to space when she served on a nine-day mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. After her final flight in 2002, Ochoa became the deputy director of the Flight Crew Operations Directorate. She is the co-inventor on three patents: an optical inspection system, an optical object recognition method, and a method for noise removal in images.
Info From:
Nasa. “Ellen Ochoa – NASA.” NASA, 29 Apr. 2025, www.nasa.gov/people/ellen-ochoa/.
Roberto Clemente-Puerto Rican Baseball Player
What are they known for?
Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker was a Puerto Rican professional baseball player who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Not only was he a great athlete, but one of the greatest humanitarians of the time period.
Additional Information
Clemente was born August 18, 1934 in Barrio San Antón, Puerto Rico to laundress Luisa Walker and sugarcane laborer Melchor Clemente. As the youngest of seven children, Clemente and his siblings grew up helping their father in the sugarcane fields. Clemente’s interest in baseball grew as he would watch games in Puerto Rico’s winter baseball league as a kid. In high school, Clemente was considered good enough to represent Puerto Rico for high jump and javelin throwing at the Olympics. Despite his all-around athletic skill, Clemente decided to focus on baseball. “Roberto began his baseball career with the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League at only 17-years-old. After Dodgers scout Al Campanis witnessed Clemente’s outstanding performance, the Dodgers extended Roberto his first offer in 1954. Though Roberto later received an offer twice as valuable from the Braves, he followed his parents’ advice and honored his commitment to the Dodgers,” (Roberto Clemente). Clemente lived a life of giving. “After an earthquake tore through Nicaragua on December 23, 1972, Roberto sent supplies to the country to support those in need. When these supplies were lost in the chaos, he decided to escort the next shipment to Nicaragua. On December 30, 1972, Roberto’s cargo plane took off and almost immediately crashed off the coast of Puerto Rico. Roberto was never seen again.”
Info From:
“Biography.” Roberto Clemente, www.robertoclemente.com/story/.
Desi Arnaz (I love lucy)- Cuban-American Actor
What are they known for?
Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV (born January 19, 1953), better known as Desi Arnaz Jr., was a singer, musician, bandleader, actor, producer, and author starring in famous movies like: Forever, Darling, The Long, Long Trailer, Cuban Pete, and Too Many Girls.
Additional Information
Arnaaz originally grew up in an upper class family. The son of a mayor and wealthy land owner and the daughter of the founder of the Bacardi rum company: Arnaz was no stranger to privilege. This all changed during the Cuban Revolution when his family home was ransacked, and he and his father were forced to flee the country. “In Miami Arnaz got a job cleaning cages for a canary dealer that paid fifteen dollars a week, a good wage for a teenager during the Depression. He left his political future and his cage-cleaning job behind when he was offered a job with a Latin dance band at the Roney Plaza Hotel,” (Gale Biography). Before long, Arnaz was headlining at La Conga, a New York nightclub. He was a hit sensation.
Info From:
“Desi Arnaz.” Contemporary Hispanic Biography, vol. 2, Gale, 2002. Gale In Context: Biography, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K2429100071/BIC?u=j057914&sid=bookmark-BIC&xid=2713f719. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.
Cesar Chavez- Civil Rights Activist
What are they known for?
Cesar Chavez was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. He fought for immigrant workers rights, and co-founded the National Farm Worker’s Association (NFWA).
Additional Information
Chavez was born March 31, 1927, in Yuma, Arizona, to a Mexican-American family. Chavez grew up working as a laborer. One of five children, he grew up in unrelenting poverty. The small farm on which he was born was foreclosed when he was ten, and the family joined the hordes of migrant workers who followed the harvests in California during the Great Depression. At the time, many workers hoped that by organizing into unions, they would be able to secure better working conditions and pay. Some employers of the time underpaid migrant workers, knowing that most of the legal protections that apply to American citizens did not pertain to them. Seeing all of this, Chavez (along with Dolores Huerta and Gilbert Padilla) founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA). In 1965, Chávez led the NFWA into a strike against grape growers in Delano, California. The strike failed but a nationwide boycott of table grapes followed, successfully forcing union contracts with growers in the Imperial, Coachella, and San Joaquin valleys in 1970.
Info from:
“Desi Arnaz.” Contemporary Hispanic Biography, vol. 2, Gale, 2002. Gale In Context: Biography, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K2429100071/BIC?u=j057914&sid=bookmark-BIC&xid=2713f719. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.
