MLS Graduate student Anna Ortega, who is pictured above, has been working on a community-based research project with Dr. Monica Tetzlaff and La Casa de Amistad. In honor of the celebration of the opening of the Dolores Huerta Pavilion within Pulaski Park in South Bend, Anna has been researching Dolores Huerta, a national Civil Rights activist who has played a major role in the Farmworkers Movement. Huerta is the co-founder of the United Farm Workers, originally the National Farmworkers Association.
Ortega’s sources include newspaper articles and oral histories, which she found through the IU South Bend library and the Civil Rights Heritage Center. In addition to researching how the local Farmworkers Movement connects to the National one, Anna has been gathering information to put together a history of South Bend’s Latinx community. To do this, she has been working with La Casa de Amistad, a hub for the Latinx community, as they have a large archive of documents relating to South Bend’s Latinx community and history.
To Anna, “community engagement is a great way to connect to what you are learning. It also helps to establish yourself as an active member of your community.”
Stay tuned for information on the official opening of the Dolores Huerta Pavilion in Pulaski Park this September.
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