Maria Varela

Last updated

Maria Varela (born January 1940) is a Mexican-American civil rights photographer, community organizer, a writer, and a teacher. She has been actively involved in Civil Rights movements, advocating rights for indigenous communities and protects cultural heritage within African-American, Native-American, and Mexican-American in rural communities. She created and supported several non-profits organizations to help many minority groups, especially Native-American and Mexican-American. She won a MacArthur Fellowship in 1990 for her endeavor to help with the Native-American communities in northern New Mexico, southern Colorado, and northeastern Arizona to develop economic opportunities and preserve their human rights.

Contents

Early life and education

Maria Varela was born in Pennsylvania and lived in many different places in her younger days, but spent most of her time in the upper Midwest. [1] Raised Catholic by her Mexican father and Irish mother, she grew up in a rigorous Catholic environment. [1] She went to the St. Louis Academy for Girls in Chicago, [2] and then to Alverno College. [1] In college, she joined the national Young Christian Students (YCS) program where she was given the position to travel the country to encourage young students to support Civil Rights Movements.

In 1963, Varela went deep in the south to support the Civil Rights Movements where she began working with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Alabama and Mississippi. [1] She later graduated from University of Massachusetts. [3]

She married Lorenzo Zuniga Jr. [4] She now lives in Albuquerque. [5]

Career

From a young age, Maria Varela has been actively involved in various civil rights movements and organizations, from the Young Christian Student (YCS) program to Latinx Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which sets a foundation for her later work in the Civil Rights movement and in helping Native-American and Mexican-American communities [6] She helped organize rural development [7] and find Tierra Wools co-op. [4] She was also photographer for Black Star (photo agency) that works to include African-American representations for voters education, capturing critical moments in the Civil Rights Movement. [8]

She was also a visiting professor at Colorado College, [1] and was adjunct professor at University of New Mexico. [9]

Civil rights movement

Since college, Maria Varela has been actively involved in the civil rights movement t. She believed in what is called “the great leader” theory: in order to have a powerful social movement, the movement needs a powerful leader. [6] She not only supported the people she believed to be great leaders in supporting the Civil Rights Movement, but she also functioned as a critical figure behind the camera to capture the significant moments in the Civil Rights Movement. [10]

Varela recognized the urgent issue of how the images provided for voter education materials excluded African American community and lacked diversity in racial representation. [10] Thus, her works focused on documenting the significant steps made by African American leaders and captured the progression and evolvement of the Civil Rights Movement.

Literacy works

Maria Varela's literacy work is one of the most under-recognized and almost unstudied literacies in the U.S. [11] However, her multimodal works, collaboratively produced by Varela and the African American community, make the important argument about community activism, which is crucial and novel but seldom discussed. [11] Her work plays a critical role in those communities developing a new ethos of place: an imagined and embodied relationship between local and national communities that offers a new identity and sense of participatory agency. [11]

Rural communities

In 1962, Maria Varela was invited to start agricultural cooperatives and community health clinics in New Mexico. [12] Since then, she has been working with indigenous leaders to help them develop economic opportunities and protect cultural heritage within African-American, Native-American, and Mexican-American rural communities. [12] Varela co-founded Ganados del Valle in 1981, a nonprofit, economic development corporation that dedicates to predominantly help Hispanic and Native-American communities in northern New Mexico, southern Colorado, and northeastern Arizona to preserve their pastoral cultures, lands, and water rights. She helped created a wool-growers cooperative that included a weaving and spinning enterprise, training in small business development, and cultural reaffirmation. [12] She spent years trying to create and enable nonprofit organizations and viable enterprises to build upon and add to existing local resources, and was awarded was an MacArthur Award in 1990. [12]

More works

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernice Johnson Reagon</span> Musical artist

Bernice Johnson Reagon is a song leader, composer, scholar, and social activist, who in the early 1960s was a founding member of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee's (SNCC) Freedom Singers in the Albany Movement in Georgia. In 1973, she founded the all-black female a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock, based in Washington, D.C. Reagon, along with other members of the SNCC Freedom Singers, realized the power of collective singing to unify the disparate groups who began to work together in the 1964 Freedom Summer protests in the South.

"After a song", Reagon recalled, "the differences between us were not so great. Somehow, making a song required an expression of that which was common to us all.... This music was like an instrument, like holding a tool in your hand."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee</span> Activist organization during the US civil rights movement

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emerging in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Nashville, Tennessee, the Committee sought to coordinate and assist direct-action challenges to the civic segregation and political exclusion of African Americans. From 1962, with the support of the Voter Education Project, SNCC committed to the registration and mobilization of black voters in the Deep South. Affiliates such as the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and the Lowndes County Freedom Organization in Alabama also worked to increase the pressure on federal and state government to enforce constitutional protections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Christian Leadership Conference</span> African-American civil rights organization

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., who had a large role in the American civil rights movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ella Baker</span> African-American civil rights activist

Ella Josephine Baker was an African-American civil rights and human rights activist. She was a largely behind-the-scenes organizer whose career spanned more than five decades. In New York City and the South, she worked alongside some of the most noted civil rights leaders of the 20th century, including W. E. B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, A. Philip Randolph, and Martin Luther King Jr. She also mentored many emerging activists, such as Diane Nash, Stokely Carmichael, and Bob Moses, as leaders in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Forman</span> American civil rights leader (1928–2005)

James Forman was a prominent African-American leader in the civil rights movement. He was active in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Black Panther Party, and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers. As the executive secretary of SNCC from 1961 to 1966, Forman played a significant role in the Freedom Rides, the Albany movement, the Birmingham campaign, and the Selma to Montgomery marches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Moses (activist)</span> American educator and activist (1935–2021)

Robert Parris Moses was an American educator and civil rights activist known for his work as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) on voter education and registration in Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement, and his co-founding of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. As part of his work with the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), a coalition of the Mississippi branches of the four major civil rights organizations, he was the main organizer for the Freedom Summer Project.

Gloria Richardson Dandridge was an American civil rights activist best known as the leader of the Cambridge movement, a civil rights action in the early 1960s in Cambridge, Maryland, on the Eastern Shore. Recognized as a major figure in the Civil Rights Movement, she was one of the signatories to "The Treaty of Cambridge", signed in July 1963 with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and state and local officials. It was an effort at reconciliation and commitment to change after a riot the month before.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doris Derby</span> American photographer (1939–2022)

Doris Adelaide Derby was an American activist and documentary photographer. She was the adjunct associate professor of anthropology at Georgia State University and the founding director of their Office of African-American Student Services and Programs. She was active in the Mississippi civil rights movement, and her work discusses the themes of race and African-American identity. She was a working member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and co-founder of the Free Southern Theater. Her photography has been exhibited internationally. Two of her photographs were published in Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC, to which she also contributed an essay about her experiences in the Mississippi civil rights movement.

Victoria Jackson Gray Adams was an American civil rights activist from Hattiesburg, Mississippi. She was one of the founding members of the influential Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Freedom Singers</span> American musical group

The Freedom Singers originated as a quartet formed in 1962 at Albany State College in Albany, Georgia. After folk singer Pete Seeger witnessed the power of their congregational-style of singing, which fused black Baptist a cappella church singing with popular music at the time, as well as protest songs and chants. Churches were considered to be safe spaces, acting as a shelter from the racism of the outside world. As a result, churches paved the way for the creation of the freedom song. After witnessing the influence of freedom songs, Seeger suggested The Freedom Singers as a touring group to the SNCC executive secretary James Forman as a way to fuel future campaigns. Intrinsically connected, their performances drew aid and support to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the emerging civil rights movement. As a result, communal song became essential to empowering and educating audiences about civil rights issues and a powerful social weapon of influence in the fight against Jim Crow segregation. Rutha Mae Harris, a former freedom singer, speculated that without the music force of broad communal singing, the civil rights movement may not have resonated beyond of the struggles of the Jim Crow South. Their most notable song “We Shall Not Be Moved” translated from the original Freedom Singers to the second generation of Freedom Singers, and finally to the Freedom Voices, made up of field secretaries from SNCC. "We Shall Not Be Moved" is considered by many to be the "face" of the Civil Rights movement. Rutha Mae Harris, a former freedom singer, speculated that without the music force of broad communal singing, the civil rights movement may not have resonated beyond of the struggles of the Jim Crow South. Since the Freedom Singers were so successful, a second group was created called the Freedom Voices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Smith (D.C. Council)</span> American politician and activist

Frank Smith, Jr., is a civil rights activist and politician in Washington, D.C.

Colia L. Liddell Lafayette Clark was an American activist and politician. Clark was the Green Party's candidate for the United States Senate in New York in 2010 and 2012.

The Free Southern Theater (FST) was a community theater group founded in 1963 at Tougaloo College in Madison County, Mississippi, by Gilbert Moses, Denise Nicholas, Doris Derby, and John O’Neal. The company manager was Mary Lovelace, later Chair of the Art Department at U.C. Berkeley. The company disbanded in 1980.

Fay D. Bellamy Powell was an African-American civil rights activist.

Faith Holsaert is an American educator and activist during the Civil Rights Movement.

McCree L. Harris was an American educator and political activist leader. Harris worked at the all-Black Monroe Comprehensive High School, where she taught Latin, French, and Social Studies. She is best known for her participation with the Freedom Singers and for encouraging her students' involvement in the Civil Rights Movement through voter registration marches and by leading groups of students to downtown Albany, Georgia, after school hours to test desegregation rulings at local stores and movie theaters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African-American women in the civil rights movement</span>

African American women played a variety of important roles in the civil rights movement. They served as leaders, demonstrators, organizers, fundraisers, theorists, formed abolition and self-help societies. They also created and published newspapers, poems, and stories about how they are treated and it paved the way for the modern civil rights movement. They were judged by the color of their skin, as well as being discriminated against society because they are women. African American women faced two struggles, both sexism and racism. Womanism fully encompasses the intersectionality between these two social barriers, thus encompassing African American female involvement in the civil rights movement. African American women led organizations and struggles for their suffrage, anti-lynching laws, full employment and especially against the Jim Crow Laws. They had to constantly fight for equality and needed to have a voice in what they can do in society. Black women served a special role as "bridge leaders," forming connections between those in formal positions of power and political constituents. They were the middle person going back and forth between the two groups and provided information to them. African American women actively participated in community organizing and took on informal leadership roles, making substantial grassroots contributions to the movement. They were essential in energizing the neighborhood, planning activities, and building relationships between neighbors. Black women provided crucial safe spaces for activists to plan, strategize, and discuss important problems by hosting meetings and gatherings in their homes. When coordinating activities was not safe or feasible in public locations, this kind of grassroots involvement was especially crucial. The experiences of Black women during the CRM were more nuanced due to the confluence of gender and race. They had to navigate issues of race and gender, and they occasionally encountered prejudice inside the civil rights movement as well as in larger society. Notwithstanding these obstacles, African American women persevered in their endeavors, making a substantial contribution to the movement's eventual triumph. Their leadership and activity opened doors for later generations and demonstrated how important it is to acknowledge and value the diverse roles that Black women have played in the struggle for racial justice and equality. A major turning point was the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955, which followed Rosa Park's bold move of not giving up her bus seat. Several notable African American female activists and organizations emerged from this movement, making essential gains in the civil rights agenda, despite restricted access to power and the Cold War atmosphere pushing for silence within the United States.

Jean Smith Young is an American psychiatrist, writer, and civil rights activist. She was an organizer with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the 1964 Freedom Summer.

Muriel Tillinghast is an American civil rights activist and former Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) field secretary. Her efforts include volunteering for the Freedom Summer Project in Mississippi where she helped start the famed 1964 Freedom School and led Mississippi's Council of Federated Organizations (COFO).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Bond, Julian; Carson, Clayborne; Herron, Matt; Cobb, Charles E. (2011). This Light of Ours: Activist Photographers of the Civil Rights Movement. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN   978-1-61703-171-7. JSTOR   j.ctt24htrq.
  2. ↑ Miller, Maya (March 21, 2017). "Activist-Turned-Photographer Sharpens Focus on Social Movements". WTTW . Retrieved November 10, 2022.
  3. ↑ "Department of Anthropology | College of Arts & Science - Miami University".
  4. 1 2 Chu, Dan (January 14, 1991). "Macarthur Grant Winner Maria Varela Shepherds a Rural New Mexico Community Toward Economic Rebirth". People. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  5. ↑ Contreras, Russell (August 27, 2013). "Latinos inspired by 1963 march to push for rights". AP. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  6. 1 2 Chasteen, Abigail. "UGA lecture: Latina photographer recounts experiences during 1960s civil rights movement". The Red and Black. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
  7. ↑ "Take Stock: Maria Varela". www.takestockphotos.com. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
  8. ↑ "Many Paths to Freedom: Looking Back, Looking Ahead at the Long Civil Rights Movement -- bios (The American Folklife Center, Library of Congress)". www.loc.gov. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
  9. ↑ Frederic O. Sargent; Paul Lusk; Jose Rivera; Maria Varela (October 1, 1991). Rural Environmental Planning for Sustainable Communities. Island Press. pp. 12–. ISBN   978-1-61091-319-5.
  10. 1 2 "Maria Varela | Black Culture Connection Explorer | PBS". Maria Varela | Black Culture Connection Explorer | PBS. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
  11. 1 2 3 Dimmick, Michael (December 18, 2020). "Maria Varela's Flickering Light: Literacy, Filmstrips, and the Work of Adult Literacy Education in the Civil Rights Movement". Community Literacy Journal. 14 (2). doi: 10.25148/14.2.009036 . ISSN   1555-9734. S2CID   234666495.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "Maria Varela". www.macfound.org. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.