Américo Paredes, whose scholarly and creative-writing career began in the early 1950s, has been instrumental in the study of the folklore of the American Southwest, Chicano culture, and Chicano literature. His many publications led the way toward new theoretical and methodological approaches to folklore and to sociohistorical studies of minority groups in the United States. Moreover, Paredes has been an influential Chicano personality, guiding generations of Chicanos toward the pursuit of their literary and academic goals.

Américo Paredes Manzano was born in Brownsville, Texas, on 3 September 1915 to Justo and Clotilde Manzano-Vidal Paredes. His paternal ancestors had settled in that area in the eighteenth century when it was part of the Spanish province of Nuevo Santander. Paredes graduated from Brownsville High School and began his higher education at the local community college. His early poetry appeared between 1936 and 1940 in "Los lunes literarios" (Literary Mondays), a...