AUTHOR’S NOTE
“I have seen many good things and many bad things in my life, but what I loved most was when I was a little girl and started going to school.” —Luz Jiménez
Julia Jiménez, later known as Luz Jiménez (Loos Hee- MEH-nes), came from a Nahua (NAH-wah) family in Milpa Alta, Mexico. Despite many obstacles in her life, she succeeded in being the teacher she always dreamed of becoming by honoring her culture. At the University of Texas at Austin, I found a pam- phlet announcing a symposium about Luz Jiménez in 2000, and I was immediately fascinated. Unfortunately, the meeting had already passed, but I kept the pamphlet anyway. In 2013, I wrote my first draft of this manu- script. I was drawn to Luz Jiménez, as both a teacher and as a Latina who grew up in Texas almost losing my Spanish language and culture. I’ve had to work at regaining both. When we look at art that depicts a person, we rarely consider the real person behind the model. In 1997, a spe- cial exhibition in Mexico City focused on Luz Jiménez. This exhibit of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and pho- tographs featured works by some of the most famous art- ists of the twentieth century who had lived and worked in Mexico: Fernando Leal, Diego Rivera, David Al- faro Siqueiros, Jean Charlot, Tina Modotti, and Edward Weston. All the art depicted Luz. Images of Luz are world-famous and appear in great murals in national buildings in Mexico City, hang in museums around the globe, and are sold as prints. Luz never sought the lime- light and remained humble all her life. It took a lot of
courage for her to become a model. She never told her mother about her modeling work. It wasn’t something that Nahua women typically did. Luz knew how to communicate her traditional Na- hua upbringing through art and her native language. The Nahua called poetry xochicuicatl , “the flower and the song” ( floricanto or flor y canto directly translated into Spanish). I use the term “flower-song” to represent the Nahua spirit in Luz and the Nahua people. Into the early twentieth century Nahua still spoke Nahuatl (NAH-wah-tul) and carried on many of their ancient traditions. Officials believed the native people held back progress in Mexico and sought to change the culture and language of the indigenous people. They jailed fathers if they or their families did not follow the new rules. As a result, younger generations began losing their language and customs. Around the world, includ- ing the United States, conquering nations systematically have shamed indigenous speakers and tried to erase their culture in many ways. Luz’s legacy is helping new gener- ations to treasure their native traditions. I appreciate Dr. Kelly McDonough at the Univer sity of Texas at Austin, whose work on Luz Jiménez has been invaluable and who introduced me to Luz’s grand- son, Jesús Villanueva Hernández. I am very grateful to them both for generously sharing resources and for their support.
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