Latino Americans: 500 Years of History

• "Mexican Brain Deer" mural by Carlos Maldonado,
  on the exterior wall at the north entrance of the Iowa City Campus Kirkwood Credit Center building at 1816 Lower Muscatine Road
• May 2016: Month long display of traditional Oaxacan carvings, from the collections of two local collectors. 1st floor display case, Iowa City Public Library, 123 South Linn Street

Kirkwood Community College's Iowa City Campus has been awarded a grant jointly from NEH and ALA in support of programming that raises awareness of Latino American history and culture. We will continue to update this page with information and events related to this grant and related to current issues that involve or impact Latino Americans. 

Latino Americans: 500 Years of History has been made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association.

All Events are Free and Open to the Public!​
 

• Thursday, March 31, 2016, 4:30pm, University of Iowa, IMU, Illinois Room: Food Chains: Screening and Discussion
  "Food Chains" tells the dramatic story of an intrepid group of mostly immigrant tomato pickers from Southern Florida as they demand justice from the $4 trillion global supermarket industry and fight to improve working conditions.
  Screening followed by discussion with Jose Oliva, Co-Director of the national Food Chain Workers Alliance
   
• Thursday, Apr 7, 2016: Prejudice and Pride: artistic and literary creations of 1960-1980 
  6:30 pm at Iowa City Campus, Kirkwood Community College, 1816 Lower Muscatine Rd., Iowa City
  Dr. Marcela Ochoa-Shivapour of Cornell College presents episode 5 of Latino Americans: 500 Years of History along with lecture, presentation and discussion. 

• Saturday, Apr 23, 2016, 10:30am to 11:30am at Iowa City Public Library, Meeting Room A: Dia de los Ninos/Dia de los Libros
  Join in Storytime fun as we celebrate Latino books, music and culture. Únete a la diversión en celebracion de los libros Latinos Americanos, la música y la cultura.
  Featuring traditional tales told by master storyteller Darrin Crow.

• May 2016: Display of Oaxacan carved figures at the Iowa City Public Library
   

• Wednesday, Sep 23, 2015: abUSed: The Postville Raid  

  Luis Argueta, photo courtesy of Maya Media

  
  6:30 pm at the Iowa City Public Library
  Join documentary film director Luis Argueta to view his film "abUSed" and have an opportunity to ask questions and discuss this important film.

  “Presents the devastating effects of US Enforcement Immigration policies on communities, families and children. The film tells the gripping personal stories of the individuals, the families and the town that survived the most brutal, most expensive and largest immigration raid in the history of the United States and serves as a cautionary tale of government abuses.”

• Thursday, Sep 24, 2015: Informal discussion with Luis Argueta
  11:15 am at Iowa City Campus, Kirkwood Community College. 1816 Lower Muscatine
• Thursday, Sep 24, 2015: ABRAZOS: Film and discussion 
  6:30 pm at Iowa City Campus, Kirkwood Community College. 1816 Lower Muscatine Rd.
  Join documentary film director Luis Argueta to view the 2nd film in his trilogy, "ABRAZOS", and have an opportunity to ask questions and discuss this important film.

  “ABRAZOS tells the transformational journey of a group of U.S. citizen children who travel from Minnesota to Guatemala to meet their grandparents for the first time.”

• Saturday, September 26 & Saturday, October 3: Art demonstration with Carlos Maldonado
  9:00am, and continuing public exhibit at Iowa City Campus, Kirkwood Community College. 1816 Lower Muscatine Road, North entrance.
  Local artist Carlos Maldonado will recreate one of his own paintings as a spray paint mural on the exterior wall of Kirkwood's Iowa City campus. Called "Mexican Brain Deer", the work is Maldonado's own contemporary vision inspired by the Huichol art of his ancestors. More information available on the artist's website.
   
• Wednesday, Oct 28, 2015: Santiago Vaquera-Vasquez, author reading
  7:00 pm at Prairie Lights, Iowa City on Dubuque Street

  Santiago Vaquera-Vasquez, photo courtesy of the author

   
  Dr. Vaquera will read from his recently published collection of short stories, One Day I'll Tell You the Things I've Seen.
  
  From book jacket: “The stories in Santiago Vaquera-Vásquez's intimate conversational narrative take readers around the world, from the orchards of California to the cornfields of Iowa, from the neighborhoods of Madrid and Mexico City to the Asian shore of Istanbul. As the characters navigate borders and border crossings--both physical and psychological--they attempt to make sense of their increasingly complex memories and relationships.”
   
   
• Thursday, Oct 29, 2015: Book talk with Santiago Vaquera-Vasquez
  11:15 am at the Iowa City Campus Kirkwood Commons, 1816 Lower Muscatine Road
  Join Dr. Vaquera along with Kirkwood students and faculty to discuss his recent short story collection, One Day I'll Tell You the Things I've Seen.
   
• Thursday, Oct 29, 2015: Peril and Promise: Immigration and US/Mexico Borderland Culture, Dr. Santiago Vaquera-Vasquez  
  6:30 pm at the Iowa City Campus Kirkwood Commons
  A screening of episode 5 of the PBS documentary "Latino Americans: 500 Years of History. Peril and Promise", followed by a lecture and discussion led by Dr. Santiago Vaquera-Vasquez of the University of New Mexico.
  
• Saturday, Mar 5, 2016: Mujeres Latinas: Every Woman Has a Story  

  Vallejo sisters, Des Moines, 1945, Iowa Women’s Archives, University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City

  11:00 am at the University of Iowa Main Library, Iowa Women's Archives
  A workshop open to all. This program will showcase the Mujeres Latinas collection at the Iowa Women's Archives in the University of Iowa Main Library, and show how to contribute stories or artifacts to the archives.
  "Despite their significant presence in Iowa, Latinas remain largely invisible in our state’s history due to the lack of historical documents available to researchers. The Mujeres Latinas Project of the Iowa Women’s Archives has been established to collect and preserve materials which document the lives and contributions of Latinas and their families to Iowa history."