Nicholasa Mohr

Mohr was born in 1930 to Puerto Rican immigrant parents during the tail end of the Great Depression. She was raised in East Harlem at a time when the neighborhood was transforming from the Italian enclave it has been earlier in the century to the Puerto Rican and African American neighborhood it would be during Mohr's childhood. During Mohr's early childhood, East Harlem included high concentration of retail and thrift stores and a collection of expensive homes and lower income housing, including the East River Housing Project. Mohr lived in a four-bedroom apartment with eleven members of her family and extended family. Mohr grew up in a bilingual household where she used Spanish with her parents and English with her siblings. Since Mohr's parents saw her schooling in America as a privilege, Mohr learned to adapt to her surroundings, while spending her free time volunteering in the library and reading, learning what she wasn't able to attain in school. After graduating junior high school, she got a job as a page girl in the New York Public Library. Mohr studied fashion illustration in high school and graduated in 1953, then went to study at the Art Students League, an art school located in New York. Here she discovered the works of Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco which inspired her to study art and travel to Mexico City to study at the Taller de Gráficos for a semester. After a year she returned to the United States and attended the New School for Social Research. Then in 1959 she went to Brooklyn Museum of Art School and Pratt Graphics Center. Throughout her studies Mohr was drawn to artwork because of its powerful message about social change. Mohr had a successful career in graphic design and the fine arts, until she shifted to fiction writing in the early 1970s. Mohr went on to turn that 50-page piece into her first novel, Nilda, which would kickstart her writing career. From 1988 through 1991, she taught writing as a distinguished visiting professor at Queens College, City University of New York. From 1994 through 1995, she was writer-in-residence at Richmond College, the American University in London. Mohr has written fifteen books total, not including reprinted or translated versions. Her most recent books are 1997's “A Matter of Pride and Other Stories,” published by Arte Público Press and Untitled Nicholasa Mohr in 1998. == Major works ==

Nilda Mohr published her first book Nilda in 1973, which traces the life of a teenage Puerto Rican girl who confronts prejudices during the World War II era in New York. The work is semi-autobiographical, drawing inspiration from her childhood, but includes as much fiction as it does reality. On her deathbed, Nilda's mother encourages her to find agency in her own life as a woman, telling her to hold onto her education and the self-expression she finds through art. Drawing on her training and expertise in art, Mohr created the book jacket and eight illustrations for the book. Though she has not been as active publishing in the last twenty years, her books are still highly regarded. She was awarded the Jane Addams Children's Book Award. El Bronx Remembered Mohr's second book, El Bronx Remembered, was published in 1975 by Harper & Row. It is a collection of stories and a novella about the experiences of Puerto Ricans living in New York. The stories center on the era of the Great Migration of Puerto Ricans to New York with the stories taking place from the late 1940s through the mid 1950. In "The Wrong Lunch Line" Mohr tells the story of an interethnic childhood friendship between a Puerto Rican girl (Yvette) and a Jewish girl (Mildred) in a diverse New York public school. Each story features a different Puerto Rican American woman, describing their personal conflicts and their interpersonal relationships. The works are set in the era following the Great Migration of Puerto Ricans to New York and focuses on a period of economic hardship, racism, and sexism. == Creative Influences ==

Mohr is predominantly influenced by Puerto Rican culture and the migratory patterns of Puerto Ricans within the United States. She has refers to herself as "a daughter of the Puerto Rican Diaspora." Much of her work is influenced by the geographic distance between Puerto Rican New Yorkers and the Puerto Rican Island, which creates an "island mythology" for those so far from the real island. The concept of "island mythology" and its relationship with colonialism and a community in exile are steady themes throughout many of her works. In Mohr's own memoir, she recalls living in an all-white neighborhood with her family as a child. Her brothers got brutally beaten and she was afraid to leave her house. Due to this, the family moved after four months to another part of the Bronx. These incidents of brutality and fear are what inspired her young adult book Felita. Feeling like an outcast is a common theme in Mohr's stories, and is also paralleled through her own life experiences. In Mohr's memoir, she recalls times where her bilingualism got her in trouble in school. In Nilda, a similar situation occurs where a character finds her knuckles smacked by a teacher when she speaks Spanish. In addition, when Mohr discussed her faith with nuns growing up, she was told that her religious practice was "sinful." Being forced to assimilate to a new culture is a reoccurring issue in Mohr's books, and her characters use their voices to overcome stereotypes as Mohr did in her life. By exploring the lives and traditions of Latin Americans, Mohr encourages readers of all ages and ethnicities to widen their perceptions of Latinos. == Personal life ==

Mohr met her husband Irwin when she attended the New School for Social Research. == Works ==

• (First published 1974.) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • I NEVER EVEN SEEN MY FATHER (play) == Awards ==

• Raul Julia Award by the Puerto Rican Family Institute (June 2007) • Governor George E. Pataki's New York State Hispanic Heritage Month Award (2006) • Women of El Barrio, Woman of Substance Award (2003) • Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature (1997) • Honoree for Dedication to Puerto Rican Heritage by the Puerto Rican Heritage Committee, District 32 in Bushwick, Brooklyn (1998) • Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Congress of Puerto Rican Women in Philadelphia (1996) • Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from the State University of New York, Albany Campus (1989) • American Book Award (1981) • Jane Addams Children's Book Awards (1974) • The New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year • National Book Award finalist (1976) == Critical studies ==

(as of March 2008) • Nilda de Nicholasa Mohr, El bildungsroman y la aparición de un espacio puertorriqueño en la literature de los EEUU By: Bellver Sáez, Pilar; Atlantis: Revista de la Asociación Española de Estudios Ingleses y Norteamericanos, 2006 June; 28 (1): 101–13. • Nicholasa Mohr (1938-) By: Sánchez González, Lisa. IN: West-Durán, Herrera-Sobek, and Salgado, Latino and Latina Writers, I: Introductory Essays, Chicano and Chicana Authors; II: Cuban and Cuban American Authors, Dominican and Other Authors, Puerto Rican Authors. New York, NY: Scribner's; 2004. pp. 905–16 • Nicholasa Mohr, A Matter of Pride and Other Stories By: González, Lisa Sánchez. IN: Quintana, Reading U. S. Latina Writers: Remapping American Literature. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan; 2003. pp. 141–49 • Prophesy Freedom: Puerto Rican Women's Literature as a Source for Latina Feminist Theology By: Delgado, Teresa. IN: Pilar Aquino, Machado, and Rodríguez, A Reader in Latina Feminist Theology: Religion and Justice. Austin, TX: U of Texas P; 2002. pp. 23–52 • Border Spaces in Nicholasa Mohr's Growing Up inside the Sanctuary of My Imagination By: Vásquez, Mary S.; Bilingual Review/La Revista Bilingüe, 2001 Jan-2002 Apr; 26 (1): 26–33. • Pa'lante: An Interview with Nicholasa Mohr By: Kevane, Bridget. IN: Kevane, and Heredia, Latina Self-Portraits: Interviews with Contemporary Women Writers. Albuquerque, NM: U of New Mexico P; 2000. pp. 83–96 • Bildungsroman Written by Puerto Rican Women in the United States: Nicholasa Mohr's Nilda: A Novel and Esmeralda Santiago's When I Was Puerto Rican By: Muñiz, Ismael; Atenea, 1999 June; 19 (1–2): 79–101. • The Wretched Refuse at the Golden Door: Nicholasa Mohr's 'The English Lesson' and America's Persistent Patronizing of Immigrants By: Dwyer, June; Proteus: A Journal of Ideas, 1994 Fall; 11 (2): 45–48. • Nicholasa Mohr (1 November 1938 – ) By: Miller, John C.. IN: Luis and González, Modern Latin-American Fiction Writers: Second Series. Detroit, MI: Gale; 1994. pp. 170–77 • Down These City Streets: Exploring Urban Space in El Bronx Remembered and The House on Mango Street By: Heredia, Juanita; Mester, 1993 Fall-1994 Spring; 22-23 (2–1): 93–105. • De Puerto Rico a Nueva York: Protagonistas femeninas en busca de un espacio propio By: Rodríguez-Luis, Julio; La Torre: Revista de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1993 July-Dec; 7 (27-28 [2]): 577–94. • The Concept of Puerto Rico as Paradise Island in the Works of Two Puerto Rican Authors on the Mainland: Nicolasa Mohr and Edward Rivera By: Miller, John; Torre de Papel, 1993 Summer; 3 (2): 57–64. • The Puerto Rican 'Rainbow': Distortions vs. Complexities By: Gregory, Lucille H.; ''Children's Literature Association Quarterly,'' 1993 Spring; 18 (1): 29–35. • Latina Narrative and Politics of Signification: Articulation, Antagonism, and Populist Rupture By: McCracken, Ellen; Crítica: A Journal of Critical Essays (Univ. of California, San Diego), 1990 Fall; 2 (2): 202–07. • The Journey toward a Common Ground: Struggle and Identity of Hispanics in the U.S.A. By: Mohr, Nicholasa; The Americas Review: A Review of Hispanic Literature and Art of the USA, 1990 Spring; 18 (1): 81–85. • Growing Up Puertorriqueña: The Feminist Bildungsroman and the Novels of Nicholasa Mohr and Magalí García Ramis By: Fernández Olmos, Margarite; Centro, 1989–90 Winter; 2 (7): 56–73. • Puerto Rican Writers in the U.S., Puerto Rican Writers in Puerto Rico: A Separation beyond Language: Testimonio By: Mohr, Nicholasa. IN: Horno-Delgado, Ortega, Scott, and Sternbach, Breaking Boundaries: Latina Writing and Critical Readings. Amherst: U of Massachusetts P; 1989. pp. 111–116 • Puerto Rican Writers in the United States, Puerto Rican Writers in Puerto Rico: A Separation beyond Language By: Mohr, Nicholasa; The Americas Review: A Review of Hispanic Literature and Art of the USA, 1987 Summer; 15 (2): 87–92. • An Interview with Nicholasa Mohr By: Natov, Roni; ''The Lion and the Unicorn: A Critical Journal of Children's Literature,'' 1987 Apr.; 11 (1): 116–121. • Back Down These Mean Streets: Introducing Nicholasa Mohr and Louis Reyes Rivera By: Flores, Juan; Revista Chicano-Riquena, 1980; 8 (2): 51–56. • Nicholasa Mohr: Neorican Writings in Progress: 'A View of the Other Culture' By: Miller, John C.; Revista/Review Interamericana, 1979; 9: 543–54. • The Emigrant and New York City: A Consideration of Four Puerto Rican Writers By: Miller, John C.; MELUS, 1978 Fall; 5 (3): 82–99. == See also ==