Latino history will be in the spotlight as part of free public events organized by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Center for Arkansas History and Culture and partner organizations.
“Latino Americans: 500 Years of History,” a special project of the Center for Arkansas History and Culture, will use documentary films and community discussions to explore the rich and varied history and experiences of Latinos who helped shape the United States.
The program is centered on “Latino Americans” — a six-episode award-winning documentary that chronicles Latinos in the U.S. from the 16th century to the present day.
As part of the project, members of the public are invited to screenings of the documentary as well as community discussions led by Chelsea Halstead and UALR-affiliated speakers. Halstead heads the Family Advocacy Program at the Colibrí Center for Human Rights, an organization working to end migrant death and related suffering on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The activities kick off during National Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs Sept. 15-Oct. 15 this year.Registration is open now.
In addition to Halstead’s discussion of the human rights crisis on the Mexico border, community conversation topics will include: expansionism, Manifest Destiny, the Wild West, multiple wars (Mexican-American, Spanish-American and World War II), the rise of organized labor, the Great Depression, the post World War II boom, the Cold War, the Civil Rights movement, globalization, and the effects of technology.
Scheduled activities include:
- 6:30 p.m. Sept. 16 at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History: Film screening of “War and Peace (1942-1954),” the third installment of the six-part documentary “Latino Americans”
- 12:15 p.m. Sept. 22 at the UALR Stella Boyle-Smith Auditorium: Community discussion: “The human rights crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border,” led by Chelsea Halstead of Colibrí Center for Human Rights, an organization she helped found in 2013
- Noon Sept. 23 at Sturgis Hall, Clinton School of Public Service: Community discussion: “The human rights crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border,” led by Chelsea Halstead of Colibrí Center for Human Rights
- 6 p.m. Oct. 1 at UALR Student Services Center Auditorium: Film screening of “Who is Dayani Cristal?”
- 2 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Arkansas Arts Center: Community discussion and screening of “Foreigners in their Own Land (1565-1880),” the first episode from the documentary “Latino Americans”; Dr. Kristin Dutcher Mann, UALR associate professor of history and social studies education coordinator will lead the discussion
- 2 p.m. Oct. 25 at the Arkansas Arts Center: Screening of “Empire of Dreams (1880-1942),” the second episode from the “Latino Americans” documentary
- 2 p.m. Nov. 1 at the Arkansas Arts Center: Screening of “War and Peace (1942-1954),” the third installment in the six-part “Latino Americans” documentary
- 2 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Arkansas Arts Center: Screening of “The New Latinos (1946-1965),” the fourth episode of “Latino Americans”
- 2 p.m. Nov. 15 at the Arkansas Arts Center: Screening and community conversation, including the presentation of the fifth episode of “Latino Americans,” “Prejudice and Pride (1965-1980)”; community discussion will be led by doctoral candidate and visiting assistant professor Edma Delgado-Solórzano of the UALR Department of International and Second Language Studies
- 2 p.m. Nov. 22 at the Arkansas Arts Center: Screening of “Peril and Promise (1980-2000),” the sixth and final installment of “Latino Americans”
Latino Americans: 500 Years of History, a public programming initiative produced by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Library Association (ALA), is part of an NEH initiative, “The Common Good: The Humanities in the Public Square.”
UALR’s Department of International and Second Language Studies and its Office of Campus Life, as well as the Clinton School of Public Service and the Arkansas Arts Center, also partnered with the Center for Arkansas History and Culture.
Visit https://ualr.edu/cahc/la500 for more information about the project.
