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Hispanic folklore, legend ,and mythology
Essay on the importance of cultural awareness
Essays on importance of cultural awareness
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Born in El Paso, Texas, on November 14, 1834, Rosa Guerrero is an artist, educator, dance historian, and humanitarian. As a child, she was punished for speaking Spanish in class, but now an Elementary School in El Paso bears her name. Rosa Guerrero has created harmony in our community by using folklorico to help others understand diversity, culture, and dance. Facing a rough childhood, being the youngest of six siblings, and experiencing the hardships of poverty, Guerrero still remembers her childhood as memorable, as she’s proud of her humble origins. After experiencing punishment and discrimination in the early 1940s and 1950s for speaking Spanish in the classroom, Rosa Guerrero chose to dedicate the rest of …show more content…
her life toward offering quality education free of racial bias to children of all cultural backgrounds. After this experience, she always tried to emphasize the importance of never forgetting where you come from and always being proud of who you are, because you are special, and that uniqueness is what truly defines you as a person. She emphasizes that “all individuals are unique and together make one giant tapestry”, which is also the title of a documentary she made that stresses this concept. Released in 1974 and 1995, her dance films, Tapestry, and Tapestry II, talk about border culture.
In the films, Rosa Guerrero tells the story of her use of dance to celebrate diversity and enhance multicultural education for students. She teaches students folk dances from countries around the world, showing how they all inform each other, and spreading the message that America is not a melting pot, but a beautiful tapestry of many individuals. Guerrero became immersed in other religions and cultures through dance. Although she worked at numerous public schools throughout El Paso, her goal was always to spread the exposure of culture. She was responsible for spreading Folklorico dance style throughout the United States after becoming the founder and director of the Rosa Guerrero International Folklorico Dance …show more content…
Group. As a talented dancer and choreographer, she founded the Rosa Guerrero International Ballet Folklorico in 1974.
From 1974 to 1997, the group was one of the most respected dance troupes of its kind, and in 1991, it performed a sold-out crowd at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She has been honored with many local, national, and international honors for her efforts as a humanitarian, which includes being a Distinguished Alumni of The University of Texas at El Paso, Inductee into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame, the Valley Forge Freedoms Foundation Award, the LULAC Arts and Humanities Award, the NEA Human Civil Rights George T. Sanchez Award, and the Mexican Consulate OHTLIBAward for her work with the Mexican Americans and other minorities Her awards have been many, but she credits the support of her family for her achievements. Guerrero’s husband of 60 years, Sergio, three children, and five grandchildren, are strong figures in her life. She said everything she has wanted is to make her family proud. She is grateful for her parents and said she is thankful for anyone who has been a part of her life. “God put you here and your parents give you your life, the rest is up to
you.” After years of dedication dancing, she was a high-school teacher for more than twenty years and during the 1970s developed the first curricula in multicultural education implemented in El Paso’s public schools. Though retired from choreography and musical direction, with eighty-three years, she is currently artist-in-residence in the Chicano Studies Research Program at the University of Texas, El Paso. Being the first Hispanic woman in El Paso to have a school, Rosa Guerrero Elementary, named in her honor, has been a huge influence for El Pasoans and students attending the school. Guerrero Elementary School is a co-ed elementary, Pre-K through fifth grade, campus located on the west side of El Paso. The campus exemplifies a tradition rooted in Guerrero’s high expectations in the area of academics and the arts, in which the students demonstrate the campus’s exemplary state. “I have so many dreams. I have so many goals…And every day is a new horizon and every day a new dream.” “Mrs. G.,”or Rosa Guerrero, influences our community by creating cultural harmony and getting others to understand the different backgrounds of many people. She is the live example that shows how anyone can make a difference to unite a community where there are many different cultures and backgrounds. It becomes clear that she united our community when you see how our city is highly influenced by Mexican culture and background. Her mission has always been to share cultural diversity, and to show how it is woven, with all people. Today she continues her mission of love, peace, and cultural understanding, as an educational consultant giving presentations and lectures.
Selena Quintanilla was born on April 16,1971 in Lake Jackson,Texas. She died on March 31,1995 in Corpus Christi,Texas. Selena Quintanilla was only twenty-three years old when she died. Her death was a big impact on life,music, and history. Selena Quintanilla had an amazing journey in life and it’s so sad it had to end so early. Finally, this is the story of Selena Quintanilla from start to the end.
Sonia Sanchez is an African-American writer regularly connected with the Black Arts Movement. She has composed over twelve books of poems, and in addition short stories, essays, plays, and kids' books. She was a beneficiary of 1993 Pew Fellowships in the Arts. In 2001, Sanchez was the recipient of the Robert Frost Medal for her poem and has been compelling to other African-American female artists, including Krista Franklin. Sanchez was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on September 9, 1934. Her mom died when Sanchez was just two years old, so she stayed with different family members for a while. One of those was her grandma, who passed when Sanchez was six. In 1943, she moved to Harlem to live with her dad, her sister, and her stepmother, who was
There were many quotes throughout the book, In the Country We L1ove, that had an impact on me because I either learned something new about Diane Guerrero that I did not already know, I could relate to a few parts of her book, and my perspective of supporting undocumented immigrants grew stronger. The first quote that I decided to use is when Guerrero describes Colombia, the country where her parents are from. “The entire scene was chaotic. Colorful. Exotic. Wild. And, because of the straight-up poverty, it was also a bit unsettling… I was stuck with a realization: This could have been my life (Guerrero 111).” In making this comment, Guerrero is informing the reader that her parents grew up
These events are of course, an accurate reflection of what similar groups were going through in other parts of the country such as Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico, which have been historically highly populated by Hispanics as well. One of the advantages of the video is that viewers are able to listen to first hand accounts of leaders and participants of this important social movement in Colorado. It is especially touching to see and hear Dr. Priscilla Falcon’s recollection of events when she was informed of her husband’s assassination. No doubt, the actions of leaders such as Ricardo Falcon, Corky Gonzales, Lalo Delgado, and Juanita Herrera greatly improved working conditions as well as education opportunities for Chicanos not only in Colorado, but throughout the United
To start with, Rosie Perez or Rosa Marie Perez was born on September 6, 1964 in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York City, United States. She is a actress, dancer, choreographer, director, and community activist. Her parents are Lydia Perez, a singer and Ismael Serrano, a merchant marine seaman. Her aunt had been raising and catering her until her mother, Lydia Perez took her away and put her in Foster Care when she was 3. It wouldn't be much of a surprise if Rosie was to detest her parents after all they put her through. Rosie stayed there until she moved in with another aunt when she was 12. Later on she joined a high school in Rightwood, Grover Cleveland High School. Now most of the confusion and sadness had culminate.
Dolores Clara Fernandez was born on April 10, 1930, in Stockton, California where she was raised in a single parent home. She gained her strong work ethic from her mother who worked multiple jobs to support her children and also had them partake in cultural activities. Growing up, Dolores dealt with racism, which only prompted her to work twice as hard and help those who cannot speak up for themselves. Huerta’s distraught encounters with her students ignited the fire in her to begin her career as
She explains how Mexican and Chicano literature, music, and film is alienated; their culture is considered shameful by Americans. They are forced to internalize their pride in their culture. This conflict creates an issue in a dual culture society. They can neither identify with North American culture or with the Mexican culture.
Ruiz, Vicki L. From out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-century America. New York:
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks historically known as Rosa Parks, was born February 4,1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama and past away from natural causes at age 92, on October 24,2005 in Detroit, Michigan. Parks lived with her mother Leona McCauley and her father James McCauley. Ater on in 115 her brother was born Sylvester Parks her only sibling.Both of park’s parents worked, her mother was employed as a teacher and her father was employed as a carpenter . Some time later after Parks’s brother was born her mother and father separated. Once the separation was final, Parks moved with her mother to Pine Level, Alabama while her brother and father moved to Montgomery, Alabama. parks was homeschooled by her mother until age 11 and attended Industrial
The popular revolutionary poem “I am Joaquin” by Rodolfo Corky Gonzales influenced many Chicana/os to embrace their heritage in the Chicano Movement in the 1960s. The poem created psychological work for the Chicano identity. Moreover, this poem developed and promoted social consciousness, commitment to activism, and cultural pride for many Chicanos. However, Gonzales primarily focuses on the identity and struggles of a Mexican-American male which excludes other narratives. Thus, the lack of inclusivity influenced me to recreate the popular poem, which centers on women from Central America who are rarely acknowledged in Chicano Studies. Therefore, our poem “I am Dolores” is focused on these three main themes: empowerment of women of color, resistance
Williams, Norma. (2009). The Mexican American family: tradition and change. New York: General Hall. (Primary)
To help me understand and analyze a different culture, I watched the film Selena. The film tells the life story of the famous singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. Not only does it just tell personal stories from her life, it also gives insight to the Mexican-American culture. Her whole life she lived in the United States, specifically in Texas, but was Hispanic and because of that both her and her family faced more struggles than white singers on the climb to her success. Even though the film is a story about a specific person, it brought understanding into the culture in which she lived. Keeping in mind that these ideas that I drew about the Mexican-American culture is very broad and do not apply to every single person in the culture, there were very obvious differences in their culture and the one that I belong. Mexican-American culture identifies with their family rather than individualized or spiritual identities and the culture has gone through significant changes because of discrimination and the changing demographics of the United States.
The film, Mi Vida Dentro (2007) by Lucia Gaja, is a documentary detailing the imprisonment of a young Mexican woman Rosa Jimenez. Rosa is an undocumented immigrant who illegally crossed the Mexican border to Texas in order to search for a better life. In order to support herself, she took up a job as a nanny. That job ended in disaster when a young boy Rosa was taking care of, ended up dying while in her care. She was charged with his murder, even though she states that it was an accident. Rosa must now live the rest of her life behind bars, while her two children have to grow up without her.
“In some ways, the heartache we feel for our loved ones is deeper, rawer, than any we could feel for ourselves,” stated Diane Guerrero, the author of the biography In The Country We Love. From experience, Guerrero tells that we will always love our family more than we will ever love ourselves. Diane Guerrero is an actress starring in the famous television shows Orange is the New Black and Jane the Virgin. At the age of fourteen Guerrero’s parents were taken away; deported while she was at school. 14 with no family. Luckly, she was born in America so she was able to stay in U.S. to continue her education. She relied on the help of her family friends, who gave her a home away from home and helped her create a life for herself. Along with a life-changing
Whether it is the fire dances of the native Hawaiians, or the Tango from Spain, dance is a part of every culture. This event is not an event I would usually attend. I am not into art of any kind except music. At first, there were two reasons I went to this performance.