👨🏻🙋🏽👱🏾👩🏾👧🏻 The Latinx Collective - Issue #28
THIS WEEK'S SIX:
Beautiful photography and story by Walter Thompson-Hernández (who you read about last week) about the memory and complicated identity of descendants of African-Americans who migrated to the Dominican Republic in the 1800s. This was when President Jean-Pierre Boyer (one of the leaders of the Haitian Revolution) used land and resources to lure black Americans from the U.S., many who were freed slaves, to the island that he and his compatriots had just overtaken.
Ms. Wilmore and many of the descendants of the 1824 wave of African-Americans, have a complicated definition of their Dominican identity. While they were born in Samaná, and in many ways feel Dominican, they acknowledge their roots in African-American history and have yearned to connect with distant relatives in the United States.
This is a 4 minute video story celebrating Carlos Contreras, NASCAR’s first Mexican-born driver to race full-time in any of NASCAR’s National Series. He comes from a family of drivers, including his grandfather, father and even his older brother (who was one of the top drivers in Mexico). Carlos won 8 championships in Mexico before coming to the U.S. to compete. Contreras has been credited for setting the stage for another Latino trailblazer in NASCAR: Daniel Suarez.
As two Latina immigrants of the same age, Rosa and I quickly bonded over the experience of being foreign-born in Boston. We talk about the best grocery stores to find Mexican or Salvadorian specialties. We talk about the food that we miss, the music we grew up on, even old boyfriends. She marvels at the fact that I get away with not cooking dinner for my husband every night. “¡Ay! ¡Usted sí es fresca!” — You’re so cheeky! — she tells me with equal parts fake contempt and delight.
The Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) launched a new fund in November to underwrite dedicated exhibitions and programs at the museum around work by Latinx and Latin American artists. It's a natural fit for an institution in Miami, where the local population is 70% Latino and many Latin American expats have chosen to live. The effort follows the launch of two other successful affiliate groups at the museum: one dedicated to acquisitions of work by African American artists & another dedicated to female artists.
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