Vicki L. Ruiz is Professor of History and Chicano/Latino Studies at the University of California, Irvine Virginia Sánchez Korrol is Professor of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies at Brooklyn College. They are the co-editors of Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia and were both named Latina Magazine Woman of the Year in Education in 2000.

[The] fifteen biographical essays...provide a fascinating picture of Latina intellectual and cultural activity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

• Introduction, Vicki L. Ruiz and Virginia Sánchez Korrol 1. Victoria Reid and the Politics of Identity, María Raquel Casas2. Gertrudis Barceló: La Tules of Image and Reality, Deena J. González3. The Adventurs of Loreta Janeta Velázquez: Civil War Spy and Storyteller, Amy Dockser Marcus4. María Amparo Ruiz de Burton and the Power of Her Pen, Rosaura Sánchez and Beatrice Pita5. Lola Rodríguez de Tió and the Puerto Rican Struggle for Freedom, Edna Acosta-Belén6. Teresa Urrea: Curandera and the Folk Saint, Marian Perales7. Luisa Capetillo: Feminist of the Working Class, Nancy A. Hewitt8. Adelina Otero Warren: Rural Aristocrat and the Modern Feminist: Elizabeth Salas9. Pura Belpré: The Children's Ambassador: Lisa Sánchez González10. Jovita González Mireles: A Sense of History and Homeland, María Eugenia Cotera11. Luisa Moreno and Latina Labor Activism, Vicki L. Ruiz12. Carmen Miranda: The High Price of Fame and Bananas, Brian O'Neil13. Antonia Pantoja and the Power of Community Action, Virginia Sánchez Korrol14. Ana Mendieta's Art: A JOurney through Her Life, Carlos A. Cruz15. Dolores Huerta and the United Farm Workers, Alicia Chávez