Journalist Sonia Nazario Kicks Off Latinx Month at Wellesley with Keynote Speech

Award-winning author and journalist Sonia Nazario discussed the identities and journeys of immigrants coming to the United States as well as solutions to America’s immigration dilemma in her Latinx Month keynote address on April 2 in the Library Lecture Room. The lecture was sponsored by the Office of the Advisor to Latinx Students.

Nazario’s work as a journalist and activist has earned her two Pulitzer Prizes, including the 2003 prize for feature writing for the newspaper series that she later turned into her book Enrique’s Journey, about a Honduran boy’s odyssey to the U.S. in search of his mother. The book is now required reading for students in many high schools and colleges across the country, including Wellesley students in POL2 383: The Politics of International Migration.

She has been widely recognized for her recent efforts to provide lawyers to unaccompanied migrant children and has received the Don and Arvonne Fraser Human Rights Award and an American Heritage Award from the American Immigration Council. A graduate of Williams College and the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a master’s in Latin American studies, Nazario has worked for the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times.

Nazario’s keynote address was the first of many events celebrating this year’s Latinx Month at Wellesley. Upcoming events include:

Valeria Luiselli

Thursday, April 4 | 5pm | Newhouse Center, GH 237

A conversation with author Valeria Luiselli, whose recent book chronicles the struggle of Central American minors seeking asylum in the United States.

Latinx Culture Show

Friday, April 5 | 7pm | Jewett Auditorium

Join us for the 17th annual LCS: The Story of Us.

Latinx Employee Appreciation Dinner

Wednesday, April 10 | 6pm | Acorns House

Join us in celebrating our amazing unionized Latinx employees!

Latinx Alumnae Panel

Tuesday, April 16 | 6pm | Library Lecture Room

Meet Latinx alumnae and learn how they’ve managed their careers.

Raffi Freedman-Gurspan

Thursday, April 18 | 5pm | Library Lecture Room

Transgender activist Raffi Freedman-Gurspan discusses the trans ban and Latinx transgender people.

Film Screening: Undeterred

Monday, April 22 | 5:30pm | Library Lecture Room

This documentary film explores the resistance of a border community in Arizona for migrants’ rights; it will be followed by a week-long art installation at Lulu Chow Wang Campus Center.

Julissa Calderon: The Dream: An Afro-Latina in Hollywood

Thursday, April 25 | 5:30pm | Collins Cinema

Comedian, actor, and producer Julissa Calderon shares the journey that led her to work at one of the world’s leading independent digital media companies.

The Latinx Art Presence in Art_Latin_America

Friday, April 26 | 12:30pm | Davis Museum

Although Latinx art is often omitted from shows of “Latin American” art, this project features art by Chicano/a artists as well as those from Puerto Rico and the Cuban diaspora. Join us for the tour, with curator and professor James Oles, which will feature the stories behind the production and acquisition of these important works, some of them rare or iconic.

With reporting from Lucy Norton ’21