Do you believe your words have the power to move and heal a community?

In our last WarriHERS piece, we’ll meet a warrior who used her words to address the horrors of war and bondage, and who advocated for equality. This WarriHer was a crusader for the people; she spoke up against institutional racism and helped communities express their traumas and heal through words. As a poet, she wrote about issues affecting marginalized communities around the world, not only inspiring others to share their stories, but also healing from the battles she fought throughout her youth.

Luisa Moreno was born Blanca Rosa Lopez Rodriguez on August 30, 1907, in Guatemala City, Guatemala, to a prominent and well-to-do family (2). Details on the specifics of Moreno’s life are hard to come by, but we do know that during her school-age years, she attended boarding school in Oakland, California.

We’re back, with the second installment of Amplify! I have a weird connection to our February Amplify feature, Frances Harper, but we’ll get to that later. Frances Harper initially came on to my radar as the first black woman to publish a short story, but her actual life story is just as compelling as any work of fiction.