Genealogies of Empowerment and the Makings of Home: Puerto Rican/Latina Activism at the University of Illinois, 1970–90

This project historicizes the experiences of Puerto Rican women and other Latina student activists at a large research university, from 1970-1990. The oral histories and archival research will challenge monolithic readings of higher education and gender, by centering the activism, physical labor, and legacy of Puerto Rican women and other Latinas in creating spaces to meet the diverse needs of students. The creation of La Casa Cultural Latina and one of the first Latina/o Studies academic programs in the country was led by women activists, who similarly contented with the racial and gender politics of the era while navigating higher education. The history of Latina/o/x students in higher education is part of a larger genealogy of activism that continued for decades and offers higher education scholarship a much-needed discussion on how to best support the population today. From Chicago to Champaign Illinois, Latina/o students in the 1970s began to challenge their limited status in institutions of higher learning, across the state, led by first-generation Puerto Rican women and other Latina students. The history of the creation of campus cultural houses and ethnic studies programs is grounded in the political, social, and cultural identities of populations who emerged as students in the post-Civil Rights era. Their lives as students mirrored the context of their lives in their communities as is evident in the activism they engaged in on campuses across the country, not prepared or at times not interested in meeting their needs.