Ricardo Sánchez
(1941–1995)

The culture of the El Paso, Texas, barrios (Hispanic neighborhoods) had a profound effect on the life and writing career of Ricardo Sánchez. The youngest of 13 children, Sánchez grew up in a caring family, and from his father he acquired a love and passion for his community. This love and passion developed into a concern for the condition of Mexican Americans, and Sánchez gained a reputation as a powerful speaker and eloquent writer on their behalf.

Sánchez's writing and teaching took him to many parts of the country, from Massachusetts to Washington state but he remained always conscious of his roots. Sánchez produced a large body of poetry, much of it autobiographical. It evokes the experiences of Mexican Americans and of his own youth in El Paso. As Sánchez once wrote, "The barrios of my past still live on, if only in the imagery coursing through my mind…." His writings include Canto y grito mi liberacion/The Liberation of a Chicano Mind, Brown Bear Honey Madness: Alaskan Cruising Poems, and Eagle-Visioned/Feathered Adobes: Manito Sojourns and Pachuco Ramblings.

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