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Rigoberta Menchu

BIRTHDAY: Sometime in 1959

ABOUT HER
Born very poor to Quiche Indians in Guatemala, Rigoberta Menchu started working at the age of eight with no opportunity to attend school. Two of her siblings died from malnutrition and pesticides.

In Guatemala, Indians had no rights as citizens. Rigoberta Menchu's father fought as a leader against the government which was taking the Indians' land by force. One of her brothers was tortured and killed in front of her and her family because of her father's actions. Her mother and father were killed soon after this. Nearly 50,000 other Indians were killed or disappeared in Guatemala during its 30-year civil war.

Rigoberta Menchu soon fled to Mexico where she dictated her autobiography, which is in the style of Latin American oral history. She and her two sisters joined the guerilla movement against the Guatemalan government. Her book won the Nobel Peace Prize and succeeded in bringing the attention of other nations to the atrocities of the Guatemalan government.

Rigoberta Menchu used her Nobel Peace Prize money to set up a foundation to fight for human rights, and continues to be active globally as a human rights activist.

AWARDS/HONORS

• Nobel Peace Prize

BIBLIOGRAPHY
I . . . Rigoberta Menchu, Rigoberta Menchu
Herstory: Women Who Changed the World, edited by Ruth Ashby and Deborah Gore Ohrn

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