A project of the Wisconsin Humanities Council in partnership with Centro Hispano, this exhibit shares personal stories of Latino immigrants who make their home in Wisconsin today
Immigrant Journeys from South of the Border [¡Mi travesía hasta Wisconsin!] exhibition will be open from Monday, Oct. 4, through Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021, at the T.B. Scott Free Library, 106 W. 1st St. in Merrill.
“While at the national level, immigration of people from Mexico and Central and South America is being hotly debated, here in Wisconsin many of us have had little opportunity to meet immigrants from these nations, and to add that kind of personal knowledge to our understanding of the policy discussion,” said Dena Wortzel, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Humanities Council (WHC). “The humanities help us deepen our understanding of individual lives and how each of us fits into the larger whole. That’s our goal with this exhibit, which shares stories of people whose lives may not be well understood or visible to many of their Wisconsin neighbors.”
To create the exhibit, the WHC worked with Centro Hispano who helped identify Latino immigrants willing to participate in the project. “We collaboratively invited respected journalist, Bill Berry, and photojournalist, Gary Porter, to join the team,” said Karen Menéndez Coller, Centro Hispano Executive Director. “Together with eight immigrants, we created this powerful exhibition, called: Immigrant Journeys from South of the Border ¡Mi travesía hasta Wisconsin! We couldn’t be more excited to share this wonderful and important work with residents of Dane County and beyond.”
Eight individuals (who emigrated from Mexico, Uruguay, Honduras, and Colombia) are featured in the exhibition. The exhibition will tour statewide in 2020. Tour information is available at www.WisconsinImmigrantJourneys.org.
Visitors to the exhibit have been moved by the stories. One commented, “I’m nearly in tears. Thanks for sharing these folks’ stories and messages.”
The Wisconsin Humanities Council was founded in 1972 as the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Its mandate is to support and create local and statewide public humanities programs of all kinds, and to help Wisconsin residents use the tools of the humanities to thoughtfully discuss public policy issues. The WHC’s matching grant program funds locally-designed humanities projects in libraries, museums, and other community institutions. The WHC also periodically develops its own programs, such as the Immigrant Journeys exhibit, to address topics of statewide interest.