|
Time Line Month of September, Toyon Meadow
Come celebrate Latinas who have fought for justice and peace for hundreds of years and to this day.
Take a walk through history as you view the Latina Heritage Month Timeline. From Lola Rodriguez de Tio to Dolores Huerta
to Sonia Sotomayor (and many more!), enjoy the beautiful timeline that commemorates these admirable women.
Kick Off for Latino Heritage Month!
12:15–1:00, Wednesday, September 2, 2009, Suzanne's Plaza
Whether it’s through guest speakers, workshops, films, music, dancing or poetry, Latina Heritage Month
brings you expression through art and activism. Celebrate the kickoff of Latina Heritage Month on
Adam’s Plaza with music, Latina refreshments, and information about all of the events that are planned
for this month.
Opening Reception, Cuba: Beauty and Decay, A Photographic Journey with
Photographs by Vivian Stephenson Texts by Carlota Caulfield
6:30-8:00 pm, Thursday, September 3, 2009, Art Museum
Join us at the Mills Art Museum for the opening reception for Mills Trustee Vivian Stephenson’s photo
exhibit of her native Cuba, with written commentaries by Professor Carlota Caulfield—also from Cuba.
A Havana native and tireless traveler, Vivian Stephenson returned to Cuba in 1999 and 2002 after a
long absence, writing a four hundred-year history of Cuba in pictures with her Nikon 80. In this exhibit
Stephenson offers us a splendid series of photographs of the cities of Havana, Trinidad, and
Sancti-Spíritus. Stephenson will talk about Cuban architecture and history.
Vivian Stephenson has been named one of the San Francisco Business Times “100 Most Influential Women”
in the Bay Area. She chaired the Mills College Board of Trustees from 2002 until 2009. Carlota Caulfield
is a Poet and Professor of Spanish and Spanish-American Studies at Mills College.
“Creating Street/Protest theater (DIY Theater)”: Teatro Campesino Workshop
7:00 pm, Thursday, September 10, 2009, Student Union
Learn how to create street theater from the “maestros”: San Juan Bautista’s Teatro Campesino! Don’t
miss this special hands-on workshop, designed to promote the use of art as a tool for social change
and inspire community involvement, social consciousness, and political action.
El Teatro Campesino was founded in 1965 as the cultural arm of the United Farm Workers; the original
actors were all farm workers. Early performances were on flat bed trucks in the middle of the fields in
Delano, California where they enacted events inspired by the lives of their audience.
The founder and initial director of the troupe, Luis Valdez, is a Chicano from a migrant farm worker
family. He attended San Jose State University, worked briefly with the San Francisco Mime Troupe and
returned to Delano to found the troupe. Valdez later gained fame for his play Zoot Suit (which was
produced on Broadway and made into a film starring Edward James Olmos), and for directing the Ritchie
Valens biopic La Bamba.
Teatro Campesino's early performances drew on varied theatrical traditions, such as commedia
dell'arte, Spanish religious dramas adapted for teaching Mission Indians, Mexican folk humor, a
century-old tradition of Mexican performances in California, and Aztec and Maya sacred ritual dramas.
Although the troupe began by entertaining the farm workers, within a year of their founding they
began to tour to raise funds for the striking farm workers. By 1967, their subject matter had expanded
to include aspects of Chicano culture that went beyond the fields: education, the Vietnam War,
indigenous roots, and racism. In 1971, they moved their headquarters to San Juan Bautista and adapted
traditional religious plays La Virgen del Tepeyac and La Pastorela for Christmas celebrations. As
Chicano culture began to receive unprecedented attention in the United States, Valdez taught drama at
the University of California, Berkeley and Santa Cruz.
El Teatro Campesino is still housed in San Juan Bautista. The company continues their yearly
Christmas pageants, alternating annually between La Virgen del Tepeyac and La Pastorela. They also
did revivals of Zoot Suit in 2002 and 2007 at their playhouse, as well as a Southwestern tour of the
production in 2004, and have also toured nationally and internationally. In addition, the company has
conducted various types of theater workshops for communities and educational institutions.
Official website: Teatro Campesino
back to top
Dinner Honoring Latina Heritage Month 5:00-7:00 pm, Thursday, September 17, 2009,
Founders Hall Come and enjoy the company of the Mills community as we enjoy an impressive
variety of authentic and delicious Latina and Latin American dishes mouth-watering Latina/Latin American
spread! Special guests, the Alma de America Mariachi Band, will be serenading us during dinner!
Menu
Soups: Sopa de Pescado (Fish Soup)
Sweet Pureed Plantain Soup (Vegan)
Appetizers: Melted Chihuahua Cheese and Refried Beans with Blue Tortilla Chips
Salads: Cactus Salad with Fresh Crumbled Cheese
Meat Entrees: Chicken Mole with Rice and Beans with Epazote
Cuban Roasted Pork with Fried Plantains
Empanadas Argentinas
Vegetarian/Vegan Entrees: Roasted Chayote with Garlic and Tomatillo Salsa
Vegan Tamales
Drinks: Agua de Tamarindo
Orange and Passion Guava Agua Fresca
Dessert: Tres Leches Cake
Mexican Tea Cookies
Our thanks to Bon Appetit for their preparation of this delicious menu!
"Krudas," Queer/Transgender People of Color Film Series 7:00 pm, Friday, September 18, 2009,
Faculty/Staff Lounge
Don’t miss this opening event of the year-long Mills Queer/Transgender People of Color Film Series,
curated by Mills student Nia King. Krudas explores the lives and work of a Cuban lesbian
couple who are hip hop singers and performers. The duo Las Krudas addresses issues such as women's liberation,
lesbian rights, female solidarity and racism. Their work is deeply engaged with feminism and strong ties to
their African roots. The film is in Spanish with English subitles and is 29 minutes long. A discussion will follow.
Folkloric Dancers 12:00 pm Wednesday, September 23, 2009 Suzanne Adams Plaza
Join us for a special noontime presentation of Mexican folkloric dance and music on Adams Plaza.
Guest Speaker Chicana Author and Activist Elizabeth “Betita” Martinez 7:00 pm, Thursday,
September 24, 2009, Student Union
Come meet one of the mothers of the Chicana/o movement —and an internationally recognized leader
for multiracial justice. Founder of the Institute for Multiracial Justice, Elizabeth “Betita” Martínez
has been involved in most of the movements for social justice in the U.S. of the past half century and
has authored many widely acclaimed books and articles that are used by educators and activists. She
will share some of her experiences, especially with regard to women activists and leaders, and will be
signing copies of her latest book, 500 Years of Chicana Women’s History.
“Elizabeth Martínez’s work comprises one of the most important living histories of progressive
activism in the contemporary era.… [Martínez is] inimitable … irrepressible … indefatigable.”—Angela
Y. Davis
A Chicana activist, author, and educator for over 50 years, Elizabeth “Betita” Martínez has published
six books and many articles on social movement in the Americas . Her best-known work is 500 years of
Chicano History in Pictures, a bilingual history that became the basis for the video she co-directed.
Her collection of essays published by South End Press is entitled De Colores Means All of Us: Latina
Views for a Multi-Colored Century. Other books include Letters from Mississippi and The
Youngest Revolution: A Personal Report on Cuba.
After graduating from Swarthmore College, which awarded her an honorary doctorate in May 2000, she
worked in the United Nations Secretariat as a researcher on colonialism in Africa, as an editor at
Simon & Schuster; and as Books and Arts Editor of The Nation magazine. During the 1960s, she was
one of two Chicanas who served full time in the Black civil rights movement with the Student Non-Violent
Coordinating Committee (SNCC), in the South and as a coordinator of its New York office. In 1968 she
joined the Chicano movement in New Mexico where she founded the bilingual movement newspaper El Grito
del Norte (1968-1973) and co-founded the Chicano Communications Center, a barrio-based organizing
and education project. As an activist against the Vietnam War, she travelled to North Vietnam in 1970
and was arrested in New York City.
Since moving to the Bay Area in 1976, she has taught Ethnic Studies and Women’s Studies in the
California State university system, organized on Latino community issues, conducted anti-racist training
workshops, and worked with youth groups. She ran for governor of California on the Peace & Freedom Party
ticket in 1982, and has received many awards from student, community, and academic organizations. In 1997
she founded the Institute for MultiRacial Justice, a resource center to help build alliances among
peoples of color. In 2001 she attended the U.N. World Conference Against Racism in South Africa as a
delegate from the Women of Color Resource Center in Oakland, California. She is one of 1000 women from
150 countries nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. Her daughter Tessa is an actress and co-founder
of San Francisco’s Latina Theater Lab.
About her latest book, which she will sign and sell at the Mills event:
500 Years of Chicana Women's
History
500 Years of Chicana Women's History
The history of Mexican Americans spans more than five centuries and varies from region to region across
the United States. Yet most of our history books devote at most a chapter to Chicano history, with even
less attention to the story of Chicanas.
500 Years of Chicana Women’s History offers a powerful antidote to this omission with a vivid,
pictorial account of struggle and survival, resilience and achievement, discrimination and identity.
The bilingual text, along with hundreds of photos and other images, ranges from female-centered stories
of pre-Columbian Mexico to profiles of contemporary social justice activists, labor leaders, youth
organizers, artists, and environmentalists, among others. With a distinguished, seventeen-member
advisory board, the book presents a remarkable combination of scholarship and youthful appeal.
Dance 8:00 pm–midnight, Friday, September 25, 2009, Student Union
Join us as we close Latina Heritage Month 2009 with our customary and wildly popular dance,
featuring a live Latin band – plus lessons for those of you who have always wanted to dance to
Latin music!
Sponsors Events are co-sponsored by Ethnic Studies Department, Mujeres Unidas,
President's Office, Associated Students of Mills College, Spanish and Spanish American Studies Program,
Women's Studies Program, Film Studies Program, School of Education, Office of Spiritual and Religious Life,
Student Diversity Programs
Mills College Heritage Months are supported in part by the Ethnic Studies Fund. To learn about and
donate to the Fund, please click here:
Ethnic Studies Fund. Many thanks for your
generosity in support of Ethnic Studies and students of color at Mills.
back to top
 |