COLEGIO CESAR CHAVEZ 50TH ANNIVERSARY: CELEBRATING A COLLEGE WITHOUT WALLS
On August 26, 2023, PODER: Oregon’s Latino Leadership Network, hosted an incredible commemorative and celebratory event to honor the history and legacy of the Colegio César Chávez at the Father Bernard Youth & Retreat Center in Mt. Angel, Oregon, the original site of the Colegio. Hundreds of community members, including many who were a part of Colegio’s history, participated in the event!
In addition, the event and Colegio’s history were featured in an article by OPB: “Nation’s first four-year, independent Chicano university celebrates 50 years since founding in Oregon” by Meerah Powell and Emily Hamilton, as well as an article in The Oregonian “50 years later, a pioneering Chicano college in Oregon continues to inspire the fight for educational equity” by Sami Edge.
The OSU Special Collections and Archives Research Center’s Oregon Multicultural Archives (OMA) was honored to serve as a project partner and event planning committee member.
The OMA curated an exhibit to showcase the Colegio’s history and legacy, and also organized an archives tabling activity featuring the resources from the OMA’s Latino/a collections as well as from the Oregon Historical Society and the University of Oregon’s Special Collections and University Archives. And, the U of O’s Latino Roots exhibit was also displayed.
The Colegio exhibit will be available for viewing in the 5th floor of the OSU Valley Library mid-September 2023 – Summer 2024 and the panels are available as PDFs online; for more information about a potential loan of the panels contact natalia.fernandez[at]oregonstate.edu
Below are photos of the exhibit and tabling activity!
The full day of activities was amazing!
Below are photos from the morning program:
More about the event!
The day began with a morning program followed by an afternoon of family-friendly activities, viewing the exhibit, and workshops led by members of Colegio’s administration, staff, and students.
Below is information and photos shared by PODER via their newsletter:
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