Juana Ines de la Cruz

Juana Inés de la Cruz, whose full name was Juana Ramírez de Asbaje, was born on November 12, 1648, in San Miguel Nepantla, New Spain (near modern Tepetlixpa, Mexico). She passed away on April 17, 1695 . She was a self-taught scholar and poet of the Baroque period . Juana thirsted for knowledge from her earliest years and throughout her life. As a female, she had little access to formal education . By the age of three, she could read; by six, she had started asking permission to cut her hair short and disguise herself as a boy so she could attend university . She is remembered as the first published feminist of the New World (the Americas) and stands as a national icon of Mexico . She was also a Hieronymite nun. Her contemporaries nicknamed her The Tenth Muse and "The Phoenix of America. Her works include Carta Atenagorica , First Dream Pawns of a House, and Satira Filosofica. Throughout history, Sor Juana's significance to different communities has varied significantly. She has been presented as a candidate for Catholic sainthood, a symbol of Mexican nationalism, freedom of speech, women's rights, sexual diversity, and others