Eva Peron
Maria Eva Duarte de Peron y La Razon por Su Vida
At 8:25pm on the 26th day of July in 1952, all of Argentina clutched their chests in shock. They had just been told by President Juan Peron that their beloved and revered Evita had passed away. While the masses wept in her memory a select few mourned her death with celebratory toasts of champagne. Nevertheless, the Argentine streets were lined with mourners and flowers from the moment her death was announced until her funeral on August 11th. Eva defied stereotypes and her memory is forever embedded in the foundations of Latin American social reform. Transcending her life was her myth and transcending her myth was her love of her husband, Argentine President Juan Peron and of the Argentine people and their ever-present struggle for social justice and economic reform.
Biography
Born on May 7, 1919, in the small town of Los Todos, Argentina, to Juana Ibaguren and Juan Duarte, Maria Eva Duarte was the youngest of five children. Juan was a notable but controversial political leader and very influential in their city. He was also married to Adela d'Huart with whom he had several children. Eva and her siblings were stigmatized by their parents' relationship from birth and even more so after Juan's death in 1926. From that moment on, the family's survival became a daily struggle (Duarte 20). After attending primary and grade school up to sixth grade, Eva developed a passion for poetry and a desire and talent for reciting it. By her teens, she was ready to make a name for herself as an actress. "Even as a little girl I wanted to recite. It was as though I wished to say something to others, something important which I felt in my deepest heart" (Peron 21). By this time, the Duarte children and their mother were living in Junin and Eva busied herself by nurturing her talent at the local cinema and attending radio auditions. By age fifteen and after much feuding with her mother over her ambitions, Eva headed off to
At 8:25pm on the 26th day of July in 1952, all of Argentina clutched their chests in shock. They had just been told by President Juan Peron that their beloved and revered Evita had passed away. While the masses wept in her memory a select few mourned her death with celebratory toasts of champagne. Nevertheless, the Argentine streets were lined with mourners and flowers from the moment her death was announced until her funeral on August 11th. Eva defied stereotypes and her memory is forever embedded in the foundations of Latin American social reform. Transcending her life was her myth and transcending her myth was her love of her husband, Argentine President Juan Peron and of the Argentine people and their ever-present struggle for social justice and economic reform.
Biography
Born on May 7, 1919, in the small town of Los Todos, Argentina, to Juana Ibaguren and Juan Duarte, Maria Eva Duarte was the youngest of five children. Juan was a notable but controversial political leader and very influential in their city. He was also married to Adela d'Huart with whom he had several children. Eva and her siblings were stigmatized by their parents' relationship from birth and even more so after Juan's death in 1926. From that moment on, the family's survival became a daily struggle (Duarte 20). After attending primary and grade school up to sixth grade, Eva developed a passion for poetry and a desire and talent for reciting it. By her teens, she was ready to make a name for herself as an actress. "Even as a little girl I wanted to recite. It was as though I wished to say something to others, something important which I felt in my deepest heart" (Peron 21). By this time, the Duarte children and their mother were living in Junin and Eva busied herself by nurturing her talent at the local cinema and attending radio auditions. By age fifteen and after much feuding with her mother over her ambitions, Eva headed off to