[1] As a young American woman of Mexican descent, she was determined to become a writer, hailing from southern Texas, educated in San Juan, later lived in Corpus Christi during World War II, and then settled in Edinburg, she used her pen as weapon for more than sixty years, countering racial discrimination and exploitation of laborers, all the while championing the civil rights of Mexican Americans through the written word.
[citation needed] As a uniquely qualified high school graduate, she acquired respectable employment from the city of San Juan, as a clerk for the mayor.
With her support of Perales, she was afforded the opportunity to work also with J. T. Canales and Jose de la Luz Saenz, compiling records of discrimination.
After the formation of LULAC in 1929, Sloss-Vento and Zacarias Gonzales arranged an event raising funds for the first lawsuit against segregation, Del Rio ISD v.
[1][3] Throughout her life, Sloss-Vento always identified herself as a helper, never a leader, but author Cynthia Orozco explicates that her peers recognized her differently, "As early as 1931, La Prensa called her 'a well-known resident of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.
Adela Sloss-Vento retired from the Hidalgo County Jail in 1955 and as her health limited her mobility she continued working from home, writing letters and articles.
She made her most significant mark with her book written in honor of a leader of LULAC, Alonso S. Perales: His Struggle for the Rights of Mexican Americans (1977).
[5] Adela Sloss-Vento corresponded with local political leaders like Alonso S. Perales, J. T. Canales, Jose de la Luz Saenz, and Hector P. Garcia in support of Mexican American civil rights.
Archival evidence contained within her papers signifies the rudimentary materialization of the Chicana movement to come and she is a noted forerunner as such by scholars today.