The true story of an anti-colonial movement, a political hope dashed, and an ordinary woman who became a firebrand for Puerto Rican independence — told in breathtaking woodcut.

In 1954, four Puerto Rican Independence activists stormed the Capitol, armed with pistols, demanding liberation for their people. But before they were pariahs of white America, before they were symbols of liberation, they were ordinary people. Told in gorgeous woodcuts that imbue the narrative with a quality that is both tactile and mythic in essence, this graphic narrative explores the extraordinary life of one ordinary woman: Lolita Lebrón.

Through rich, expressionistic imagery, Lolita’s life of migration and toil is laid bare. While factory foremen shout in hostile, foreign tongues, there’s talk of revolution in snug tenements where children run and play. Interspersed are sketches of Puerto Rican history and folklore, carving a defiant line from the personal to the political.

The brilliant follow-up to John Vasquez Mejias’s Eisner Award-nominated debut woodcut graphic novel, The Puerto Rican War—the original prints of which reside in the permanent collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art—Lolita Lebrón: Puerto Rican Revolutionary is both an urgent call for and a compelling history of bravery and women’s radical resistance in the face of violent imperialist ambition.