Fronteras

San Antonio's Mexican American Civil Rights Institute (MACRI) works to advance forgotten chapters of Mexican American civil rights in Texas and beyond. It will host a free symposium May 17 & 18 at the Central Library downtown.

Holy Cross of San Antonio educator Eddie Vega was selected to serve as the city's seventh poet laureate. He began his three-year term in April and will hold the position until 2027.

"Indigenous Foodways of Texas and Northern Mexico" will highlight the food traditional, techniques, and histories that have been passed down by Mexican and Indeginous peoples from generation to generation.

The FBI and CIA surveilled the Latino civil rights movement and its leaders in the 1960s and '70s at the height of the communist panic. Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro and his mother, activist Rosie Castro, talk about the effort to establish a clear historical record of the movement.

The United Farm Workers of America became a target of FBI surveillance during the communist scare of the 1960s and '70s. Arturo Rodriguez spent over 50 years with the UFW. He talks about working alongside civil rights leader Cesar Chávez and about government surveillance of their movement.

Musician Lisa Morales has released six albums as part of the duo Sisters Morales and three as a solo artist. She discusses her introduction to music growing up in Tucson, Arizona, the death of her sister Roberta in 2021, and more about her influences ahead of her April 13th Creekside Sessions Concert at TPR.

Thirty Talks Weird Love confronts mental health issues, the growing pains of young adulthood, and the ongoing violence against women in Cuidad Juárez. Author Alessandra Narváez Varela discusses her inspiration behind the book and what she hopes readers take away.

Todos Agua is a three-day celebration at San Antonio's Esperanza Peace & Justice Center that honors the community's spiritual and cultural connections to water. Three of its featured artists include poet Carmen Tafolla, musician Azul Barrientos, and activist María Berriozábal.

Howard Campbell spent over three decades in Cuidad Juárez speaking to victims and perpetrators of ongoing violence in the city. He includes their stories and an analysis of the violence in the book, "Downtown Juárez: Underworlds of Violence & Abuse."

Cuidad Juárez — a sister city to El Paso, Texas — had once been dubbed the "murder capital of the world." Anthropologist Howard Campbell breaks down the complex causes of the violence in the book "Downtown Juárez: Underworlds of Violence & Abuse."

The Jan. 24 panel discussion used the reissue of the book "West of the Creek: Murder, Mayhem and Vice in Old San Antonio" as a launching point for a broader conversation about the importance — and misconceptions — of San Antonio's historic West Side.

Texas Public Radio and Trinity University Press hosted a book club discussion on the reissue of "West of the Creek: Murder, Mayhem and Vice in Old San Antonio." Local activists, historians, and writers used the book as a launching point to a broader conversation about the significance of San Antonio's West Side.

The massive multidisciplinary project stemmed from a large-scale painting of the same name by New Mexico-based artist, James Drake. The performance features themes of conflict, suffering, and healing.

A recent analysis from the MPI examines Biden's presidency at its three-year mark. Two of its co-writers discuss how despite accusations of inaction at the border, legal immigration numbers have gone back to Pre-Trump and pre-COVID normal.

San Antonio's Centro Cultural Aztlan presents the 47th annual "Segundo de Febrero" exhibit to commemorate the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This year's exhibition, "Seguimos" or "we go on," explores themes of migration, adaptation, and the duality of the Mexican American identity.

Seventeen students and 10 teachers under the CAST Schools network in San Antonio visited Mexico City last month as part of a diplomacy program that aims to strengthen the cultural and diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Mexico. Some of those students joined Fronteras to talk about their experiences.

The drug war in Mexico has claimed thousands of lives in the country over the span of three presidents. Alexander Aviña — an expert on immigration and state violence in Mexico — discusses the drug war, the 2024 Mexican presidency, and the ongoing militarization of both Mexico and the Texas-Mexico border.

Alexander Aviña, associate professor of history at Arizona State University, discusses the historical precedent of drug violence in Mexico, the United State's role, and possible solutions moving forward.

Our Lady of the Lake University associate professors Christopher Carmona and Valerie Martínez take Fronteras on a tour of the panel exhibit "Life & Death on the Border: 1910-1920." The exhibit explores topics ranging from the militarization of the border, to Juan Crow laws, to artistic and literary contributions to the Latino civil rights movement.

The exhibit is on display at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio through March 31 and was arranged by Refusing to Forget, a group of historians who work to bring awareness to the period of state-sanctioned violence against Mexicans in Texas.