RIP: Luis Leal (1907-2010)

Professor Luis Leal was one of the most outstanding scholars of Mexican, Latin American, and Chicano literatures and the dean of Mexican American intellectuals in the United States. He was one of the first senior scholars to recognise the viability and importance of Chicano literature, and, through his perceptive literary criticism, helped to legitimise it as a worthy field of study. His contributions to humanistic learning have brought him many honours, including Mexico's Aguila Azteca and the United States' National Humanities Medal.
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On the same day Charles Lindbergh completed his historic crossing of the Atlantic Ocean—May 21, 1927—Luis Leal stepped off the train at Union Station in Chicago.