The Mexican American Civil Rights Institute (MACRI) is pleased to announce that Dr. Cyn-thia E. Orozco, preeminent scholar of Mexican American civil rights history, will be visiting San Antonio for a series of public educational events.
Dr. Orozco is author of the first comprehensive biography of Alonso S. Perales (1898-1960), principal founder of LULAC, pioneering civil rights attorney, public intellectual, and US diplomat who was based in San Antonio, and her visit will occur just before Perales’ birth-day on October 17th. Dr. Orozco’s Perales biography, Pioneer of Mexican-American Civil Rights: Alonso S. Perales (Arte Publico, 2022) will be the basis of a forthcoming traveling exhibit produced by MACRI.
While in San Antonio, Dr. Orozco will participate in a panel at the Western Historical Association conference on the Chicana History Project, Thursday, October 13th at 10:15am. This project led by Dr. Lorena Chambers is documenting the experiences of the first one hundred Chi-cana historians in the US. Later that day, she will participate in two public talks at Incarnate Word University, one at 1:30pm and the other at 7pm. On Saturday, October 15th, Dr. Orozco will have two presentations, at 10am the public is invited to join her at the Mission Library at 3134 Roosevelt Ave. and at 1pm the public is invited to book talk at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center’s Latino Bookstore. A birthday cake for Perales will be shared at the afternoon event. She will be joined by Perales family members at the latter two events.
Dr. Cynthia E. Oro-zco is an award-winning best-selling author, public historian, and educator. She currently teaches at Eastern New Mexico University in Ruidoso where she recently received the ENMU-Ruidoso President’s Award for Teaching and Service. Her book publications include: Pio-neer of Mexican-Ameri-can Civil Rights: Alonso S. Perales (Arte Publico Press, 2022), Agent of Change: Adela Sloss-Vento, Mexican Ameri-can Civil Rights Activist and Texas Feminist (University of Texas Press, 2020), and No Mexicans, Women, or Dogs Allowed: The Rise of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement (University of Texas Press, 2009). She is the co-editor of Mexican Americans in Texas History (Texas State Historical Association, 2000), an associate editor of Latinas in the United States: An Historical Encyclopedia (Indiana University Press, 2006), and served as Research Associate at the Texas State Historical Association where she wrote 80 articles on Texas history for the New Handbook of Texas. She previously taught at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
A two-time Ford Foundation recipient, Governor Bill Richardson appointed her to the New Mexico Humanities Council. The Texas State Historical Association named Orozco a fellow in 2012 and New Mexico LULAC named her Educator of the Year in 2012. She served as campaign manager for Leo Martinez for Congress in the early 2000s. Orozco earned a BA in History from the University of Texas at Austin and an MA and PhD in History from the University of California at Los Angeles.
“Dr. Orozco has been an audience favorite at MACRI’s virtual talks. Her research and publications have made Mexican American civil rights history far more accessible to the public and we’re thrilled to have multiple opportunities for San Antonians to learn from her in person this October,” said Dr. Sarah Zenaida Gould, Executive Director.
Founded in 2019, the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute (MAC-RI), formerly the National Institute of Mexican American History of Civil Rights, is a national organization dedicated to collecting and sharing Mexican American civil rights history. For more information, contact Dr. Sarah Zenaida Gould at (210) 810-4093.