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Category: Hispanic American History

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Chicago Ethnic Arts Project Goes Online

Posted by: Stephen Winick

The following guest post by Ann Hoog is part of a series of blog posts about the 40th Anniversary Year of the American Folklife Center. Visit this link to see them all! The American Folklife Center is pleased to announce a new online presentation of the Chicago Ethnic Arts Project Collection.  The photos and audio …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Spooky Stories for Halloween

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

As some of our readers may remember, tomorrow is the second anniversary of Folklife Today, and our very first post was about Halloween.  Last year, we did a series of posts about collecting Halloween and Day of the Dead photos through a special hashtag.  You can see some of the results here and here and …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

The Poet Laureate Joins an AFC Workshop on Corridos

Posted by: Stephen Winick

At AFC, we’re excited about the Library’s new Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, Juan Felipe Herrera. He’s a fascinating person and a great poet, and he has a deep interest in folk culture. All this led him to join an AFC workshop, and to perform the result during his inaugural reading this September.  We’d like …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Collection Spotlight: Anthony D. Lopez

Posted by: Megan Harris

Due in part to the well-known HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, which profiled the 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, the accomplishments and bravery of World War II paratroopers are well known. And deservedly so—I can’t imagine hurling myself out of a plane under the best of conditions, let alone while dodging enemy bullets …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Corridos of the Texas Border Collected by John and Ruby Lomax

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

On September 15 and 16, 2015, AFC will be featuring a lecture and workshop with Juan Díes, and a and concert with Sones de México Ensemble, presenting the corrido, a type of narrative song native to the Texas-Mexico border region. In honor of these events, I thought I would introduce our readers to some of …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Farewell to the Holidays

Posted by: Stephen Winick

On this snowy January day, I’d like to wish the readers of Folklife Today a happy end to the holiday season.  Many people take down their Christmas decorations immediately after the day itself, and others use New Year’s Day as the end of their holiday. But among many communities, the Christmas season culminates after Twelfth …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Gracias por su servicio!

Posted by: Lisa Taylor

The Veterans History Project (VHP) joins the nation in recognizing September 15 through October 15 as National Hispanic Heritage Month. In so doing, VHP celebrates the heritage and culture of Hispanic- and Latino-American veterans, who number an estimated 1.4 million. A few years ago in an Experiencing War Web Feature, VHP highlighted the digitized collections …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Share Your Photos of Halloween

Posted by: Stephen Winick

The following is a post I wrote jointly with Trevor Owens of the Library’s Office of Strategic Initiatives, with input from many colleagues throughout the Library of Congress. Share your photos of Halloween, Día de los Muertos, and related holidays with AFC and the World! #FolklifeHalloween2014 Halloween, All Souls Day, All Saints Day, Día de …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Symposium Spotlights Interracial and Interfaith Coalitions

Posted by: Kate Stewart

On September 25th, the American Folklife Center and the Library of Congress’s Hispanic Division brought together eight scholars and activists for a day-long symposium titled Organizing Across the Boundaries: Strategies and Coalitions in the Struggle for Civil Rights and Social Justice. It was the last event for this fiscal year in our public programs series, …