María Ruiz de Burton

María Amparo Ruiz de Burton (1832–95) was the first writer of Mexican origin to write and publish English-language novels in the United States. Born in Baja California, Ruiz de Burton wrote two novels and a play, all deeply critical of the tensions embedded in race, gender, and social position. She would spend much of her life fighting to secure family land claims and won her last lawsuit posthumously, in 1942.