Chicanas Changing History: The First 100 Symposium

Chicanas Changing History: The First 100 Symposium at the University of Michigan was a two-day event that explored how Chicana historians have transformed the way we do and understand history, as well as who is included in U.S. history. The symposium highlighted the challenges Chicana historians have faced and continue to confront in the academy and celebrated their outstanding accomplishments and contributions to the field of history, with a particular focus on alumni and faculty from U-M. At this convening, we celebrated the official launch of the digital archive of The First 100: Chicanas Changing History, which is maintained at the University of Michigan Library in Ann Arbor. The digital oral history archive is complemented by the project’s material artifacts, which are housed at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

The Chicanas Changing History symposium featured opening remarks by Dean Rosario Ceballo, a keynote lecture by U-M alum Dr. Natalia Molina, panel discussions, public receptions, an exhibition tour of La Raza Art and Media Collective, 1975 – Today, at the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA), and a ribbon-cutting to officially launch the digital archive at the U-M Library.

Through oral histories, data collection, exhibitions, and public programs, this project honors the contributions of the first 100 Chicanas to earn doctoral degrees in any field of history. It is also an intervention: interrogating the academy’s organizational culture that systematically excludes Chicanas is at the core of this initiative. The First 100: Chicanas Changing History was founded by Dr. Lorena Chambers, who received her doctorate from the History Department at the University of Michigan.

Participants included John Carson, Rosario Ceballo, Lorena Chambers, David Choberka, Elizabeth Cole, Raevin Jimenez, Jim Leija, Earl Lewis, Natalia Molina, Edras Rodriguez-Torres, George Sánchez, ToniAnn D. Treviño, and Félix Zamora Gómez.

Chicanas Changing History: The First 100 Symposium was organized by the Inclusive History Project, the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies, the U-M Library, the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA), and UMMA’s exhibition, La Raza Art and Media Collective, 1975-Today. It was presented in partnership with the LSA Latina/o Studies Program, LSA Department of American Culture, Stamps School of Art & Design, and the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies.

Recordings of the symposium’s events will be uploaded to this webpage in the coming weeks.

Event Schedule

Day 1

Thursday, February 20, 2025, 4:00pm – 7:00pm at University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA), 525 South State St., Ann Arbor, MI, USA 48109 (View map)

4:00pm – 5:30pm

• Welcome, opening remarks, and introductions by Elizabeth Cole, Jim Leija, Dean Rosario Ceballo, and John Carson
• Documenting Our Place in History keynote lecture by Natalia Molina
• Q&A

5:30pm – 7:00pm

• Reception with light fare in the Vertical Gallery
• Exhibition tours of La Raza Art and Media Collective, 1975–Today by co-curators David Choberka and Félix Zamora Gómez

Day 2

Friday, February 21, 2025, 10:30am – 2:00pm at Hatcher Graduate Gallery, Hatcher Library North, First Floor, Room 100, 913 S University Ave, Ann Arbor, MI, USA 48109 (View map)

10:30am

• Opening remarks by Earl Lewis

10:35am – 11:45am

• Session 1: Panel discussion
  • Building Archives, Documenting Our History – Why is it Critical?
    • Panelists: Lorena Chambers, Raevin Jimenez, Natalia Molina, and ToniAnn D. Treviño

11:45am – 12:15pm

• Lunch (served onsite and open to all)

12:15pm – 1:15pm

• Session 2: Presentations
  • The Significance of The First 100 Oral History Project to Our Future
    • Presenters: Edras Rodriguez-Torres and George Sánchez
• Ribbon Cutting Ceremony to officially launch the opening of the digital archive at the U-M Library

1:20pm – 1:30pm

• Closing remarks by Elizabeth Cole

1:30pm – 2:00pm

• Closing reception