Grand Valley State University’s Kutsche Office of Local History has partnered with Grandville Avenue Arts and Humanities and other organizations, including the Chicago Young Lords – a historically significant organization that is credited as one of first Latino Civil Rights groups in America – to commence a new year-long program beginning on Monday, September 23.
Adopting the Chicago model of capturing the oral history of the Young Lords movement, this one-day kick off event will begin in Grand Rapids at the Cook Library Center with a walking tour of the Grandville Hispanic community led by Grand Rapids Public Library’s Tim Gleisner.
At 10:30 a.m., Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell and others at the Cook Library Center will open to the public a photographic exhibition, "Tengo El Pueblo En Mi Corazon: Latino Civil Rights and Leadership," with historical images that illustrate Grand Rapids’ connection to the Chicago Latino civil rights movement.
It also provides an opportunity to highlight the visual history of our Latino residents’ advancement, including images of Caesar Chavez’s visit to Grand Rapids as well as other Latino community leaders of West Michigan.
This day also marks the beginning of a newly formed collaboration between GVSU and the Grandville Avenue Arts and Humanities’ Cook Library Scholars. The two organizations are launching a new community history and leadership program that builds on the research, discovery and recording of the oral history of the Latino immigrant community of this region along the culturally significant Grandville Avenue.
After the morning walking tour and kick-off event, guests, who have pre-registered, will board the GVSU Kutsche Office of Local History’s sponsored trip to Chicago to partake in a Chicago Latino Civil Rights tour. The tour includes admission to a sold-out service dedicated to the lives the Rev. Bruce and Eugenia Johnson, who were murdered because of their advocacy work on behalf of the Latino residents being displaced from their Lincoln Park homes in the 1960s.
The yearlong program, which this first program is a part of, will include a chance for locals to see the impact of our Latin American residents, their role in the fight for equality, and a chance to delve deeper into what makes a community.
Tickets are $50/person and are only available on a first come, first served basis. Admission includes all transportation, entry to the memorial service and reception, and includes a brown bag lunch. To reserve your bus seat, please call or go online:
www.gvsu.edu/kutsche or (616) 331-8099.
As a part of this ongoing year-long program, young scholars will be gathering oral histories to create an open archive of Latinos in this Grand Rapids neighborhood through the assistance of José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez, who founded the Young Lords movement.
Admission: Grand Rapids tours: Free, Chicago bus/tour: $50