Sánchez, Ricardo, 1941-1995

Sometimes called the "grandfather of Chicano poetry," Ricardo Sánchez was a professor of creative writing and Chicano studies at Washington State University from 1991 until his death in 1995. He was born March 29, 1941 in El Paso, TX and raised in a neighborhood called "El barrio del diabolo." After serving in the U.S. Army he was convicted of armed robbery and sent to prison. In 1969, he received a Ford Foundation sponsorship as a Frederick Douglass Fellow in Journalism and in 1970 was employed as a staff writer and humanities instructor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

He earned his Ph.D. in American Studies and cultural linguistic theory in 1974, at the Union Graduate School in Cincinnati, Ohio. Subsequently, Dr. Sánchez worked at El Paso Community College (1974), the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (1977), and the University of Alaska (1979). From 1977 to 1980 he was an assistant professor at the University of Utah Ethnic Studies Center. At WSU, he was a member of the faculty in both the English Department and the Department of Comparative Cultures, achieving full professorship with tenure in early 1995.

His works include Canto y grito mi liberación (y lloro mis desmadrazgos...) : pensamientos, gritos, angustias, orgullos, penumbras poéticas, ensayos, historietas, hechizos almales del son de mi existencia... (The 1995 edition includes poems written during Dr. Sánchez's tenure at WSU); Amerikan journeys = Jornados americanos (1994); Dr. Sanchez' all-you-can-eat poetry buffet, or, Lentils of revolution (1994); Selected Poems (1985); Amsterdam Cantos y Poemas Pistos (1983); Brown Bear and Honey Madness. Alaskan Cruising Poems (1981); and Milhuas Blues and Gritos Nortenos (1978).

Dr. Sánchez died of cancer on September 3, 1995.