Olivia Cadaval speaks on a panel during the fiftieth anniversary Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 2017.Photo by Joe Furgal, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives. Mexican American, Activism Olivia Cadaval 1943-2025 Olivia Cadaval was a scholar, activist, and mentor who exemplified the values of cultural democracy. Committed to public sector folklore, Cadaval mentored countless young scholars interested in […]
Albert J. Raboteau in his office at Princeton University in 2013. Photo credit Kyle Christy/Loyola Marymount University African American, Religion, History Albert Jordy Raboteau II (1943-2021) Albert J. Raboteau II was a founder of African American religious studies. His meticulous research and publications, anchored in the voices and historical documents of African Americans, dispel negative
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Photo from edmorales.net Puerto Rican, Sociology, Activism Juan Flores (1943-2014) Juan Flores, born John Martin Flores, in Richmond, Virginia, was a professor of social and cultural analysis and director of Latino studies at New York University. He earned his BA from Queens College New York, his MA and PhD in German Literature from Yale University,
Alan Jabbour in his office at the National Endowment for the Arts, Columbia Plaza, June 1974. Alan was the director for the new Folk Arts program. Photo by Carl Fleischhauer. Syrian American, Folklore, Music Alan Jabbour (1942-2019) Dr. Alan Jabbour’s public presentations, teaching, and the many initiatives he supervised, all championed cultural conservation, pluralism, ethnic
Photo courtesy of Porter’s wife, Joyce African American, Documentary Photography J. Nash Porter (1942-2007) J. Nash Porter was an award-winning documentary photographer of African American life in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the African Diaspora. J. Nash Porter was born and raised in New Orleans in an uptown neighborhood. After completing high school, he joined the
Photo by K. Kendall, Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa shown in 1990 at Smith College, via Flickr. Chicana, Cultural Theory, Philosophy, Poetry Gloria Anzaldúa (1942-2004) Dr. Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa had a deep and profound influence on Chicana Cultural Studies through her work as a philosopher, poet, essayist, children’s book author, theorist, and a self-described “tejana patlache (queer)
Photo from the Arhoolie Foundation Tejano, Folklore, Ethnomusicology Manuel Heriberto Peña (1942-2019) Dr. Manuel Peña contributed significantly to Greater Mexican ethnomusicology, folklore and cultural studies. Using historical, folkloristic, and ethnographic data, he provided a rigorous Marxist analysis of socioeconomic class formation and its implication for Texas-Mexican musical styles and working- and middle-class aesthetics. Manuel Peña
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John Blassingame, while he was a professor of history at Yale University. Photographer unknown. African American, History John Blassingame (1940-2000) John Wesley Blassingame transformed the scholarly knowledge and perception of the lives, cultures, and traditions of 19th century African Americans through his meticulous research examining documents that revealed the voices and thoughts of enslaved people.
Julius Lester speaks after receiving his Samuel Minot Jones Award for Local Literary Achievement. Photo courtesy of Jones Library, Amherst, MA African American, Literature, Children’s Folklore, Media, Documentary photography Julius Lester (1939-2018) Julius Lester was a dynamic writer whose career spanned multiple genres over several decades. He is especially acclaimed for his works about African
Photo by Joanne Rijmes, photo courtesy Santa Fe Living Treasures Native American (Pueblo), Ethnography Alfonso Ortiz (1939-1997) Dr. Alfonso Ortiz researched his own culture as a native anthropologist and was one of the earliest Native Americans to hold a faculty position in Anthropology. He studied ritual drama, myth, comparative traditional histories, and contemporary Indian Affairs