Hispanic Heritage Month in the Social Science and History Department

By Ben R. RSS Thu, September 19, 2024

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, the Social Science and History Department at Parkway Central Library is excited to host three programs covering different aspects of the Hispanic-American experience.

The first program comes on September 26, when University of Pennsylvania historian William Sturkey will discuss his latest book, The Ballad of Roy Benavidez: The Life and Times of America’s Most Famous Hispanic War Hero. In May 1968, while serving in Vietnam, Master Sergeant Benavidez led the rescue of a reconnaissance team surrounded by hundreds of enemy soldiers. He saved the lives of at least eight of his comrades that day in a remarkable act of valor that left him permanently disabled. Awarded the Medal of Honor after a years-long campaign, Benavidez became a highly sought-after public speaker, one of the country’s most prominent Latinos, and an embodiment of the contradictions inherent in 20th-century Latino life. The Ballad of Roy Benavidez places that experience firmly at the heart of the American story.

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David W. Blight has lavished praise on Professor Sturkey’s book: "Behold in William Sturkey, a major new voice of the historian’s craft. His Ballad of Roy Benavidez reveals a life made by the tragedy of the Vietnam War, but also by intergenerational poverty and racism from deep in the heart of Texas ... Sturkey has lyrical powers as a biographer. Through this beautiful and harrowing story, he converts Benavidez’s life into a mirror of America’s never-ending struggle over race and war culture."

Registration for the talk is encouraged, but not required.

The second and third programs celebrating Hispanic heritage come back to back on October 1 and 2, when Social Sciences and History will partner with Boricuas Unidos en la Diáspora to present Alberto Medina and Luis Ponce, in conversation with the department’s own Alberto Pagan-Ramirez to discuss the current status of colonialism in Puerto Rico, as well as the possibility of independence for the island. 

Day 1, which will be held in the Montgomery Auditorium, will focus on the current "commonwealth" status of Puerto Rico. Day 2, held in the Fourth Floor Skyline Room, will focus on the prospect for independence, including its potential economic effects. You can read more about each event on the Social Science and History Events Calendar. Spanish interpretation will be available both days. 

You can further celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by checking out the titles on the department's Hispanic American Heritage book list:

 

Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States

Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States maps the influence of America's Hispanic past, from the explorers and conquistadors who helped colonize Puerto Rico and Florida, to the missionaries and rancheros who settled in California and the 20th-century resurgence in major cities like Chicago and Miami.

Understanding Latino History: Excavating the Past, Examining the Present

This Latino history textbook is an outstanding reference source that covers many different Latino groups within a single comprehensive narrative.Latinos make up a vibrant, expanding, and extremely diverse population with a history of being in the Americas that dates back to the early 16th century.

The Latino Century: How America's Largest Minority is Transforming Democracy

In 2020, Latinos became the second largest ethnic voting group in the country. They make up the largest plurality of residents in the most populous states in the union, as well as the fastest segment of the most important swing states in the US Electoral College. Fitting neither the stereotype of the aggrieved minority voter nor the traditional assimilating immigrant group, Latinos are challenging both political parties' notions of race, religious beliefs, economic success, and the American dream.

Caribbean Migrations: The Legacies of Colonialism

With mass migration changing the configuration of societies worldwide, we can look to the Caribbean to reflect on the long-standing, entangled relations between countries and areas as uneven in size and influence as the United States, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica. More so than other world regions, the Caribbean has been characterized as an always already colonial region. It has long been a key area for empires warring over influence spheres in the new world, and where migration waves from Africa, Europe, and Asia accompanied every political transformation over the last five centuries. In Caribbean Migrations, an interdisciplinary group of humanities and social science scholars study migration from a long-term perspective, analyzing the Caribbean's "unincorporated subjects" from a legal, historical, and cultural standpoint, and exploring how despite often fractured public spheres, Caribbean intellectuals, artists, filmmakers, and writers have been resourceful at showcasing migration as the hallmark of our modern age.

Barrio America: How Latino Immigrants Saved the American City

30 years ago, most people were ready to give up on American cities. We are commonly told that it was a "creative class" of young professionals who revived a moribund urban America in the 1990s and 2000s. But this stunning reversal owes much more to another, far less visible group: Latino and Latina newcomers. Award-winning historian A. K. Sandoval-Strausz reveals this history by focusing on two barrios: Chicago's Little Village and Dallas's Oak Cliff. These neighborhoods lost residents and jobs for decades before Latin American immigration turned them around beginning in the 1970s. As Sandoval-Strausz shows, Latinos made cities dynamic, stable, and safe by purchasing homes, opening businesses, and reviving street life. Barrio America uses vivid oral histories and detailed statistics to show how the great Latino migrations transformed America for the better.

Latinos: A Biography of the People

They are sometimes called the people who died twice, once at the hands of the Spaniards, more recently at the hands of Anglos practicing a subtler exploitation. They are Latinos, the fastest-growing minority in the U.S.

Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America

A sweeping history of the Latinx experience in the United States. The first new edition in ten years of this important study of Latinos in U.S. history, Harvest of Empire spans five centuries — from the European colonization of the Americas to the 2020 election. Latinos are now the largest minority group in the United States, and their impact on American culture and politics is greater than ever. With family portraits of real-life immigrant Latino pioneers, as well as accounts of the events and conditions that compelled them to leave their homelands, Gonzalez highlights the complexity of a segment of the American population that is often discussed but frequently misrepresented. This landmark history is required reading for anyone wishing to understand the history and legacy of this influential and diverse group.

El Norte: The Epic and Forgotten Story of Hispanic North America

Because of our shared English language, as well as the celebrated origin tales of the Mayflower and the rebellion of the British colonies, the United States has prized its Anglo heritage above all others. However, as Carrie Gibson explains with great depth and clarity in El Norte, the nation has much older Spanish roots — ones that have long been unacknowledged or marginalized. The Hispanic past of the United States predates the arrival of the Pilgrims by a century, and has been every bit as important in shaping the nation as it exists today. El Norte chronicles the sweeping and dramatic history of Hispanic North America from the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century to the present — from Ponce de Leon's initial landing in Florida in 1513 to Spanish control of the vast Louisiana territory in 1762 to the Mexican-American War in 1846 and up to the more recent tragedy of post-hurricane Puerto Rico and the ongoing border acrimony with Mexico.

Latino Almanac: From Early Explorers to Corporate Leaders

Explore the achievements and contributions of Latinos in the United States with this illuminating history. Whether calling themselves Latino, Latinx, Hispanic, Chicano, or something else, Latinos in the United States are a mix of people and multiple identities, each unique, varied, and accomplished. Beginning with the Spanish explorers in the 16th century, Latinos have been an important part of American society.

Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of "Latino"

"Latino" is the most open-ended and loosely defined of the major race categories in the United States. Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of "Latino" assembles the Pulitzer Prize winner Héctor Tobar's personal experiences as the son of Guatemalan immigrants and the stories told to him by his Latinx students to offer a spirited rebuke to racist ideas about Latino people. Our Migrant Souls decodes the meaning of "Latino" as a racial and ethnic identity in the modern United States, and seeks to give voice to the angst and anger of young Latino people who have seen Latinidad transformed into hateful tropes about "illegals" and have faced insults, harassment, and division based on white insecurities and economic exploitation.


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