Juan Gómez-Quiñones, to use social philosopher Antonio Gramsci's term, is one of the leading "organic intellectuals" of the Chicano movement, a cultural worker and ideological spokesman with roots in the struggle of his community. His efforts have been evident on various political, ideological, and cultural fronts, from the picket lines of Delano and East Los Angeles to the reorientation of major educational institutions. Best known as a Chicano historian, his major fields of research include Chicano labor history and the Mexican revolution of 1910. His well-articulated polemical essays on cultural resistance and his poetry are lesser known but, nonetheless, distinguish him as a creative writer as well. Since his sociological and historical works are well documented elsewhere, the focus of this article is his poetry and essays on culture.

Born to Juan Gómez Duarte and Dolores Quiñones in Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico...