Américo Paredes

An item at American Writers Museum

Américo Paredes was an esteemed scholar and storyteller of the Mexico U.S. border, a champion of its history, peoples, music, and mythologies. He grew up in Texas, in the borderlands along the Rio Grande, giving him a deep understanding of how, as he said, "two cultures mingled and clashed." He wrote in both Spanish and English-in some poems mixing the two.

Paredes was the co-founder and first director of the Mexican American Studies department at the University of Texas, Austin. He also helped create a center for folklore and ethnomusicology at the university.

AMERICAN VOICES

An exhibit at American Writers Museum

American writing is distinctive, diverse, and comes in many forms from across the nation. The 100 authors featured here represent the evolution of American writing. Learn more about each writer on the timeline by turning the panels below their portraits. Explore centuries of writing by pulling, turning, and touching the interactive elements on the counter.

This is not meant to be a list of the greatest or most influential writers. Instead, we present authors and works as part of the American story as it grows and changes. Taken together, this rich literary heritage reflects America in all of its complexity: its energy, hope, conflict, disillusionment, and creativity.

American Writers Museum