Mistral, Gabriela

The Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral was born in Vicuña as Lucila de María del Perpetuo Socorro Godoy Alcayaga. She came from a poor, but well educated family of mixed Spanish, Basque and Native American descent. After her father, a teacher, had left home when Gabriela was three years old, she moved with her mother and her half-sister Emelina to Montegrande. Emelina became a teacher in a small village and Gabriela had to work from an early age. She attended school for a few years, but during her final year she was falsely accused of destroying school property, and the other children threw stones at her, so from then on she was taught at home. She then became a teacher’s assistant, and eventually she attended teacher’s college.