Loreta janet a velazquez biography of martin lawrence

We asked Agui Carter a few questions about her film and the woman "who made no apologies about breaking every gender, social, and ethnic boundary. Can you tell us a little bit about Loreta Janeta Velazquez and her story?

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When the American Civil War broke out, Velazquez, a Cuban immigrant who grew up in New Orleans, disguised herself as a man to fight as a Confederate soldier, then spied as a double agent for the Union. Contemporary research shows she was one of about a thousand women soldiers who fought in the Civil War. How did you first find out about Loreta Janeta Velazquez?

What drew you to her story and made you think it needed to be shared? I first came across the story of Loreta Velazquez, in her memoir The Woman in Battle , over a decade ago. She is one of only two Latina authors published in the U. Her voice sounded so modern—here was a Victorian-era woman who made no apologies about breaking every gender, social, and ethnic boundary.

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There was something about her maverick nature and her constant reinvention that seemed quintessentially American to me. I wanted to know more about this rebel. It was striking to me that this Latina woman was fighting in a war that we think of as about race in terms of Black and White. Where did Latinos fit in all this, and why did she feel the need to hide not only her gender but also her race?

Why did historians think she was a hoax? Older articles analyzing the book concluded she was likely a hoax, or based on a composite character—it seemed like such an impossible story.