Jovita González de Mireles
Jovita González de Mireles was a significant figure in early Chicana literature and folklore, born in 1899 in Roma, Texas. Growing up on her grandfather's ranch in the Rio Grande Valley, she was deeply influenced by her family's long-standing heritage, which shaped her perspective on cultural identity. A rare Latina academic of her time, she earned a bachelor's degree in Texas history and a master's degree from the University of Texas, San Antonio. Throughout her life, González de Mireles worked as a teacher and was actively involved in organizations like the Texas Folklore Society and the League of United Latin American Citizens.
She sought to bridge cultural divides between Anglos and Chicanos, emphasizing the importance of understanding Mexican-American contributions to society. Her early works included sketches of border-region characters that highlighted local legends and customs. Although she faced challenges in publishing her novels during her lifetime, her posthumously published works like "Caballero" and "Dew on the Thorn" explore the complexities of cultural clashes and the impact of Anglo dominance on Mexican-American life. Recognized for her invaluable contributions to folklore, González de Mireles has influenced subsequent generations of writers, making her a pivotal figure in the narrative of Mexican-American cultural history.
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Jovita González de Mireles
Writer
- Born: 1899
- Birthplace: Roma, Texas
- Died: 1983
- Place of death: Corpus Christi, Texas
Biography
A precursor to later Chicana authors, Jovita González de Mireles was a folklorist and teacher who wrote about the swift cultural changes that she had witnessed in the border region of south Texas. González de Mireles was born in 1899 in Roma, Texas, and grew up on her grandfather’s ranch in the Rio Grande valley. The ranch land came from a Spanish royal grant five generations earlier, and she absorbed the attitudes of a long-established, proud family. Her father, a teacher, schooled her at home until she was ten, forbidding the use of English in the house. Thereafter she attended schools in Roma and San Antonio.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in Texas history and a teaching certificate from Our Lady of the Lake College, a rarity for Latinas of that era, and completed a master’s degree in 1930 at the University of Texas, San Antonio, under the direction of folklorist J. Frank Dobie. She became a member and later president of the Texas Folklore Society and the League of United Latin American Citizens. She married Edmundo E. Mireles in 1935, and the couple moved to Corpus Christi, where González de Mireles taught Spanish and history in high schools until her retirement in 1966. She died there in 1983.
González de Mireles sought to reduce tensions between Anglos and Chicanos by clarifying the nature and contributions of Mexican-American culture. Her earliest publications were sketches of traditional border-region characters that highlighted legends and customs through songs and narratives. “Don Tomás” (1932), for example, describes an imperious rancher who loses authority and status when Anglos settle in the valley and impose their ways.
Other essays explain the structure, customs, and contributions of Latino society, as in “Latin Americans” (published in Our Racial and National Minorities, 1937). With her husband, she wrote two sets of Spanish texts, Mi libro de español (my Spanish book, 1941-43) and El español elemental (elementary Spanish, 1949). However, her favorite theme was the clash of cultures. She believed that Anglos needed to appreciate Chicanos better, who after all settled the area first, and argued that Chicanos needed to be more Americanized, although she lamented the passing of borderland traditions.
During the 1930’s and 1940’s, she wrote two novels but could find a publisher for neither. Written with Eve Raleigh, Caballero: A Historical Novel appeared in 1996, edited by José Limón and Maria Cotera. It presents the Mexican side of the Mexican-American War of 1846 through the experience of a patrician rancher whose family is divided by the conflict. Dew on the Thorn (1997, also edited by Limón) similarly recounts the life of Texas Mexicans as Anglo culture gradually comes to dominate their lives.
Critics find González de Mireles’s contribution to folklore invaluable and acknowledge her influence on later women writers of the region, although some remark that she stereotyped Chicanos from an aristocratic viewpoint. The Texas State Historical Society organized a conference honoring her in 1991.