Rutgers Libraries Awarded Nationwide “Latino Americans: 500 Years of History” Grant
Rutgers University Libraries is one of 55 organizations nationwide receiving a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association to support varied programming about Latino history and culture.
The “Latino American: 500 Years of History” grant is an initiative to explore the rich and varied experiences of Latinos, who have helped shape the United States over the last five centuries, according to the National Endowment for the Humanities official website.
This initiative has been promoted by Nancy Kranich, special projects research librarian and faculty member at Rutgers.
According to Kranich, the main purpose of this program is to draw attention to the incredibly rich history of Latino American community in New Jersey. “This is something that has not been told before,” she said.
About 20 percent of the New Jersey’s population is Latino, Kranich said, and that “this grant will allow to expand the involvement of Rutgers with the Latino scholarship and community, bringing together people who work on issues related to this population, but do not necessarily get to know each other.”
In addition to that, “this program represents an opportunity to work collectively with other public libraries in the area, to collect more information about the New Jersey Latino experience, fostering a better understanding about it among new audiences,” Nancy Kranich said.
As part of the programming, Rutgers Libraries, in partnership with public libraries in New Brunswick, Camden and Newark, will be presenting a series of activities including film screenings, exhibitions, book discussions and performances about Latino history and culture.
Activities will be open to the public from September 2015 to June 2016. The full schedule of events is available now.
Viewings and discussions about the award-winning six-part documentary film “Latino Americans,” constitute an essential part of the public programing. The film was created for PBS in 2013 by the WETA public television station and chronicles the history of Latinos in the United States from the 16th century to present day.
Jesus Bravo is a senior at Rutgers in mechanical engineering who came from Peru with his parents at the age of 11. Bravo said his transition to a new culture and school was very difficult since people in the town and school were predominantly white.
“I experienced mild racism as a Latino student but also noticed how many other doors opened just due to the fact I was Latino,” he said.
As a student, Bravo considers the award as a good opportunity to empower Latino population through the exploration of its culture.
“This award attracts Latinos to be more involved and represent and by being educated about their culture, they can grow and become a more influential part of America,” he said. “All I can say is that being Latino feels really good.”
More than $1 million has been awarded to 203 libraries, museums and other nonprofit organizations across the country. However, only 55 will receive $10,000 and the other 148 organizations will receive $3000 grants. View the full list of recipients here.
For more information about the public programming and schedules, visit the following sites:
Rutgers Center for Latino Arts and Culture
New Brunswick Free Public Library events
Newark Public Library’s 2015 Hispanic Heritage Celebration schedule
