Scripps College Logo

Close

About Scripps
At a Glance
  • Assessment and Institutional Research
  • Annual Financial Reports
  • WASC Reaffirmation Process
History
  • College Timeline
  • History of the Presidency
  • Scripps College Traditions
Initiatives
  • Centennial (Strategic) Plan
  • Diversity
  • Sustainability
  • Centennial Celebration
Our Campus
  • Scripps Merchandise
Administration
  • President
  • Board of Trustees
  • Senior Leadership
Claremont Colleges
Admission & Aid
Apply
  • First-Year Applicants
  • Transfer Applicants
  • QuestBridge Applicants
  • International Applicants
  • Homeschool Applicants
  • Veteran Applicants
Dates and Deadlines
Financial Aid
Visit
Why Scripps College
  • Scripps College Facts
  • FAQs
Contact Us
Academic Experience
Faculty
Majors & Minors
Academic Resources
  • Clark Humanities Museum
  • Department of Natural Sciences
  • European Union Center
  • Humanities Institute
  • Intercollegiate Feminist Center
  • Library
  • Registrar
  • Scripps College Press
  • Williamson Gallery
Post-Bacc Program
Research
Study Abroad
Life & Community
New Students
Creating Community
Leadership Center
Residential Vibrancy
Student Services
Contact Us
CARE@SCRIPPS
Career Planning & Resources
Title IX
  • Inside Scripps
  • Alums
  • Families
  • Careers
  • Giving
  • Events
  • Directory
Scripps Logo
  • Inside Scripps
  • Alums
  • Families
  • Careers
  • |
  • Giving
  • Events
  • Directory
  • About Scripps
    • At a Glance
      • Assessment and Institutional Research
      • Annual Financial Reports
      • WASC Reaffirmation Process
    • History
      • College Timeline
      • History of the Presidency
      • Scripps College Traditions
    • Initiatives
      • Centennial (Strategic) Plan
      • Diversity
      • Sustainability
      • Centennial Celebration
    • Our Campus
      • Scripps Merchandise
    • Administration
      • President
      • Board of Trustees
      • Senior Leadership
    • Claremont Colleges
  • Admission & Aid
    • Apply
      • First-Year Applicants
      • Transfer Applicants
      • QuestBridge Applicants
      • International Applicants
      • Homeschool Applicants
      • Veteran Applicants
    • Dates and Deadlines
    • Financial Aid
    • Visit
    • Why Scripps College
      • Scripps College Facts
      • FAQs
    • Contact Us
  • Academic Experience
    • Faculty
    • Majors & Minors
    • Academic Resources
      • Clark Humanities Museum
      • Department of Natural Sciences
      • European Union Center
      • Humanities Institute
      • Intercollegiate Feminist Center
      • Library
      • Registrar
      • Scripps College Press
      • Williamson Gallery
    • Post-Bacc Program
    • Research
    • Study Abroad
  • Life & Community
    • New Students
    • Creating Community
    • Leadership Center
    • Residential Vibrancy
  • Student Services
    • Contact Us
    • CARE@SCRIPPS
    • Career Planning & Resources
    • Title IX
Close
Search Scripps College
Scripps College News Feature Stories Voice of the Oppressed

Close

Section Menu

  • Home
  • Student Life
  • Faculty Scholarship
  • Alum Newsmakers
  • Scripps In the News
  • Campus Updates

April 6, 2012

Voice of the Oppressed

  • Feature Stories

Scripps College visiting professor Helena Maria Viramontes grew up in a home with few books. When she was 10, the woman who would be known as “the voice of the oppressed” discovered the local library and that changed her life in ways she never imagined.

“I knew they were something of value,” she says of the books that filled the shelves at the library in her East Los Angeles neighborhood. “Literature is powerful. It has the ability to transform.”

On a recent weekday morning, she excitedly talks about two books: Thomas Kennedy’s In the Company of Angels and Carlos Bulosan’s America is in the Heart.

“I’m interested in literature and I want to know how it works,” Viramontes says. “People need to be more curious about other worlds and authors. You don’t have to travel. All you have to do is go to the library and open a book. We live in a big world. Don’t limit yourself.”

A nationally acclaimed author who teaches at Cornell University, Viramontes writes about the working poor, the homeless, and the undocumented of East Los Angeles, where she was raised.

She teaches at Scripps College this semester as the Mary Routt Chair of Writing before returning to Cornell next fall.

Teaching at an Ivy League university contrasts with her humble childhood of sharing a three-bedroom house in East Los Angeles with six siblings, her parents and many extended family members who often stayed for months, or sometimes, years.

Her relatives described how they crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in hopes of a better life in this country. These stories inspire Viramontes’ writings.

A 1995 Los Angeles Times article described Viramontes as “the voice of the oppressed” and as “one of the country’s premier Latina writers.”

In March, she was tapped to speak on the legacy of Chicano union organizer Cesar Chavez for a noon lecture at Scripps. Chavez’s work organizing migrant farm workers improved their lives, including those in her family, she says.

“I have no qualms calling myself a Chicana feminist writer,” she says.

Her novel “Under the Feet of Jesus” (Plume: 1996) details the life of farm workers and is a required reading for many high school and university courses, including an environmental class at Pitzer College. She has also written “Their Dogs Came with Them: A Novel” (Washington Square Press: 2008) and “The Moths and Other Stories” (Arte Publico Press: 1995).

She is currently working on a book about Chicanos who fought in World War II. Her uncle, Francisco, was stationed in the Philippines during the war. She witnessed how the ravages of combat affected him.

“It completely traumatized him,” she says. “He suffered from bouts of malaria. He couldn’t have children. It hurt him so much because he loved children.”

Her uncle died in 1983, and she regrets never interviewing him for an oral history. Her mother died in 1999, and she also wishes she had recorded an interview with her.

“This is what inspires me to write more, to tell their stories,” Viramontes says.

Tags

  • Newsroom
About Scripps Visit Campus Request Info
Scripps college logo
1030 Columbia Avenue
Claremont, CA 91711
(909) 621-8000
  • Campus Map
  • Virtual Tour
  • Diversity
  • Centennial Plan
  • Employment
  • Scripps Merchandise
  • Emergency
  • Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA)
  • Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF)

The Claremont Colleges.

© Scripps College | Accessibility | Nondiscrimination Statement | Privacy