Participants in this program will engage with scholars, community experts, and colleagues to learn more about Latino history and culture and enhance culturally responsive practice in their classrooms. The speaker series will focus on the following questions:
The intention of the series is for teachers to broaden their understandings of Latino history so they can both incorporate it into their classes and better serve their students in culturally responsive ways. The first half of each session will focus on history and culture, and the second part will focus on asking teacher participants to unpack what they learned and think about how they can bring this knowledge to their classrooms.
For more information about this series, feel free to contact Director of Social Studies, Ryan Keating or Latino Studies and Support Coach Alexci Reyes. All sessions will take place over Zoom unless otherwise noted.
Session 1:
Wednesday, September 15, 2021
4:30-6:30
Harvest of Empire provides a rare and powerful glimpse into the enormous sacrifices and rarely-noted triumphs of our nation’s growing Latino community. The film features present day immigrant stories, rarely seen archival material, as well as interviews with such respected figures as Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Rigoberta Menchú, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Junot Díaz, Mexican historian Dr. Lorenzo Meyer, journalists María Hinojosa and Geraldo Rivera, Grammy award-winning singer Luis Enrique, and poet Martín Espada.
Session Resources
Session 2:
Monday, September 20, 2021
4:30-6:30
Presenter:
Isabel Cordova - Professor in History & Political Science, Nazareth College
Session Resources:
Session 3:
Wednesday, September 29, 2021
4:30 - 6:30
Presenters:
Ruben Flores - Associate Professor, University of Rochester
Anne Macpherson - Chair of the Department of History, Professor, SUNY Brockport
Session Resources:
Session 4:
Wednesday, October 6, 2021
4:30 - 6:30
Session 5:
Monday, October 18, 2021
4:30 - 6:30
Presenters:
Anne Macpherson - Chair of the Department of History, Professor, SUNY Brockport
Isabel Cordova - Professor in History & Political Science, Nazareth College
Session Resources:
Additional Resources:
Puerto Rico Syllabus is a great resource. Be sure to explore the different subject headings at bottom of page.
The Decline of the Plantation Economy and the Puerto Rican Migration of the 1950s
Beyond blanqueamiento: Black affirmation in contemporary Puerto Rico
Annotated Bibliography of Published Materials on Puerto Ricans
Building the Barrio: A Story of Rochester's Puerto Rican Pioneers
Session 6:
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
4:30 - 6:30
Ruben Flores - Associate Professor, University of Rochester
Henry Padron - Owner and Operator of Hipocampo Children's Books
Session Resources:
Session Takeaways, Mr. Padron's Presentation, and Dr. Flores' Presentation
Session 7:
Wednesday, November 3, 2021
4:30 - 6:30
Alexci Reyes - Latino Studies and Supports Coach, Rochester City School District
Session Resources:
Session 7 Takeaways / Latino Achievement in RCSD: Taking a Closer Look at Culturally Responsive Content Presentation
Puerto Rico Syllabus (Not the same resource as Session 5) This resource is an ongoing public dialogue and brings to light the context of social activism on the island and mainland. This source provides historical and sociological tools to assess the roots of the debt crisis and its repercussions. It provides context to the Two court cases relevant to the autonomy of the Island, Puerto Rico v. Sánchez Valle case, and the Puerto Rico v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust case. This source begins to provide an opportunity for our students to begin engaging in meaningful content that as history professor, Dr. Flores articulated nicely, "history of this nature begins to have students make sense of the weight of the past" in context to their identity today.
