| Ortiz kicks off FVSU lecture series by exploring African-American and Latino relations |
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Historian Paul Ortiz addresses students about the shared struggles of Latinos and African-Americans on Sept. 26. October 3, 2012 - University of Florida associate professor Paul Ortiz kicked off the Fort Valley State University 2012-2013 John W. Davison Lecture Series with a talk about the united struggles of African-Americans and Latinos. His lecture was titled "Black and Brown Together: Latino and African-American History as a way to re-envision American history." "People ask me why I talk about African-American and Latino-American histories," Ortiz said, adding that his father lived in Houston, Tex. during a time when there were signs that read "No negroes and no Mexicans."
"I grew up with those stories from my father," Ortiz said. "Whites did not differentiate between people of color. You were 'non-white'." During his lecture, held on Sept. 26, in FVSU's C. W. Pettigrew Center, Ortiz gave examples throughout history of Latinos and African-Americans working together, supporting each other and complimenting each other's successes. He discussed how this process of support manifested itself during the Mexican American War, the battle to end slavery in the Americas, as well as during the African-American protests against U.S. military intervention in Latin America during the 1920s led by Black leaders such as Mordecai Johnson, James Weldon Johnson and others. A focus on African-American and Latino histories allows us to move beyond the 'black and white paradigm,' which is increasingly becoming outmoded in a global,multi-ethnic America, Ortiz said. Ortiz gave examples such as the United Farm Workers' grape boycott led by Cesar Chavez and other Latinos. The UFW's first congratulatory letter came from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., an African-American civil rights leader, Ortiz said. "King recognized [the group] was using a time honored tool: a boycott," Ortiz said. "King understood our separate struggle was really one." The Mexican-American War was opposed by African-Americans "because they saw it as a slave war," Ortiz said. "Mexicans abolished slavery in the 1820s. Mexico became a sanctuary for escaped slaved. If you could make it to Mexico you would have sanctuary. Frederick Douglas said Mexico was not just 'proclaiming liberty on her lips, like America.'" Toussaint L'Ouverture's Haitian revolution brought about the first anti-slavery country in this hemisphere, Ortiz said. Later when Simon Bolivar, the Hispanic liberator, fled to Haiti he was told, "We can show you how to defeat the Europeans in battle but you have to give something in return in Latin America. You have to agree to end slavery." Ortiz is director of the UF's Samuel Proctor Oral History Program and has published several books including Emancipation Betrayed, a history of the black freedom struggle in Florida, and Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans tell about life inthe Jim Crow South. Ortiz became interested cooperation between black and brown people when he one day stumbled upon a photograph of a Black Panther Party newspaper that featured a photograph of Emiliano Zapata. "I wondered: Why on earth would an African-American political organization feature a Mexican revolutionary on the cover of their magazine?" he said. "Soon after, I found a special issue of the United Farm Workers newspaper, 'El Malcriado' (the troublemaker) with a wonderful tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. published shortly after his assassination." Ortiz said the magazine's tribute offered a profound analysis of Dr. King's life and as he did more research he realized the histories of African Americans and Latinos have intersected repeatedly throughout the history of this country without scholars paying much attention to it. Established in 2002, FVSU's John W. Davison Lecture Series honors the life of John Wesley Davison, leader of the founders of Fort Valley State College and the first principal of the Fort Valley High & Industrial School. The next lecturer will feature actor Pooch Hall, at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24 in the Pettigrew Center. Hall is best known for his portrayal of Derwin Davis, a new and eager wide receiver for the San Diego Sabers, on the CBS Paramount Network Television comedy series "The Game" which originally aired on CW and now airs on BET. The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information about the lectures, please contact Alecia Livatt, interim development director and JWDLS coordinator, at (478) 825-6959. --FVSU-- Contact: Roger Barnes, Descriptive writer Marketing and Communications 478) 827-3110, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it |
