Chicano Movement Epic Poem on Mestizo Identity and Civil Rights, 1972

Rodolfo Gonzales

First Edition

Gonzales, Rodolfo. I Am Joaquin / Yo Soy Joaquin, 1972, is a central literary work of the Chicano Movement, using bilingual epic poetry to articulate Mexican American identity, cultural survival, economic justice, and political self-definition. Written by Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales, the poem became one of the most widely read works associated with Chicano nationalism and framed Joaquín as a collective figure for a people negotiating Indigenous, Spanish, Mexican, and American inheritances.

Gonzales, Rodolfo. I Am Joaquin / Yo Soy Joaquin. Toronto: Bantam Books, 1972. First trade edition, preceded by the author’s self-published edition. Text in Spanish and English. 122 pages, lacking pages 1–28. Illustrated softcover with images and illustrations associated with the Chicano Movement, 4.5" x 5.5". The poem addresses assimilation, mestizo identity, historical memory, labor, cultural dispossession, and the demand for equal rights in the United States. ERIC records the 1972 publication as containing both Spanish and English versions of the epic poem.

The Bantam edition helped circulate Gonzales’s movement poetry beyond activist networks, joining literature, political education, and Chicano visual culture in a compact mass-market format. Repaired at spine, lacking pages 1–28; overall fair condition. Despite incompleteness, a meaningful early trade edition of a foundational Chicano literary text.

Item #21146

Price: $450.00