The Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Utah and Artes de México en Utah are excited to present Thrive 125: When Utah was Mexico. For educators and beyond, this program will tackle the history of Utah before statehood, when it was Mexican territory, focusing on the significance of this history and what it means to Utah today. We are pleased to welcome Dr. Armando Solorzano and Sherman Fleek to the conversation, and poets from Mentes Activas Utah to introduce the event.

Mentes Activas- Una organizacion sin fines de lucro, de Educadores Comunitarios Latinos, Especialistas en Demencia provocada por Alzheimer. Tenemos un solo objetivo: poner nuestro granito de arena para dar a conocer los sintomas de la enfermedad y como retrasar el desarrollo Descontrolado. Construimos relaciones productivas y duraderas, para tener un impacto positivo a través de todas nuestras actividades.

Moderator 

SCHOLARS

Armando Solórzano received a doctoral degree in Sociology in the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is currently a professor and researcher at the University of Utah. In 2004, he received the Utah Governor's Award in the Humanities. In 2008, a Latino newspaper in Utah recognized him as one of the most prominent Latino thinkers and activists in the state. In the same year, City Weekly granted Dr. Solorzano the award on the Best Political Art Exhibit to honor his photographic exhibit on the lives of Latino immigrants in the United States. This photographic exhibit documented the 2006 Dignity March in support of non-authorized workers in the state of Utah. Dr. Solórzano has published several books, among them, We Remember, We Celebrate, We Believe; Latinos in Utah (University of Utah Press. 2014). In 2015, he received the Utah Division of State History’s Meritorious Book Award. His most recent book The Day of the Dead in Zapotlan, was published by the University of Guadalajara Press in 2018. He is currently working on two books. One addresses the history of immigration in Utah and the Dignity March, and the second one traces the contribution of Chicanas and Latinas to the Beehive State.

Sherman Fleek retired from the U. S. Army in 2002, after a 25 year career, as a lieutenant colonel. He served as an aviator, Special Forces officer, and enlisted armor crewman, ending his career as Chief Historian of the National Guard Bureau. Lt. Col. A native of Layton, Utah, he holds a B.A. in English from Brigham Young University and a Master of Arts degree in American History from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. As a historian, he has more than thirty articles published on military, frontier army, Mexican War and Civil War history in national periodicals and historical journals. In 2006, his first book appeared, the award-winning History May be Searched in Vain: A Military History of the Mormon Battalion.
He served from 2002-2005 as historian for a Civil War preservation foundation, telling the Civil War story in the Shenandoah Valley. In 2005, the U.S. Army appointed Mr. Fleek as the historian to record and to write the Army’s official history of the reconstruction efforts in Iraq, then served in Iraq in early 2006. In May, 2007, he became the first ever historian for Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In 2009, he was appointed the command historian for the United States Military Academy, West Point, NY. Also Fleek has taught military history to cadets at West Point since 2013, and a graduate history course to Army officers affiliated with Columbia University’s Teachers College.

POETS

Guadelupe Herrera
Bertha Fernández
Ángeles Conejo

 

This event is made possible with support from The Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Utah, Artes de México en Utah, Mentes Activas, Consulado de Mexico, Utah Department of Heritage and Arts, and Utah Humanities.