#lnacc

Los Bailadores Zapatistas and the Latino Native American Cultural Center

Last week, the Latino-Native American Alumni Alliance (LANA3) gathered on campus to celebrate more than 50 years of the Latino Native American Cultural Center (LNACC) at the University of Iowa.

In 1971, three students—Rusty Barceló, Ruth Pushetonequa, and Tony Zavala—founded the the Chicano Indian American Cultural Center, later renamed the Latino Native American Cultural Center (LNACC). In it’s five-decade history LNACC has hosted events like cookouts, powwows, and dances; published literary magazines and newsletters; held rallies, boycotts, and protests; and sponsored a variety of other educational and social programs.  

The Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives recently acquired new materials from LNACC, including these beautiful dresses handmade by students in Los Bailadores Zapatistas, a baile folklórico troupe on campus. Baile folklórico encompasses many different types of traditional folk dance stemming from various regions of Mexico and cultural traditions, often with Indigenous and Spanish influences.

Los Bailadores Zapatista’s was formed at University of Iowa in the mid-1970s and aimed to “increase the education level and understanding of mestizo dancing and music, and to share our mestizo culture with the university and community population.” Los Bailadores performed on campus and throughout Iowa and the Midwest, often accompanied by the singing group El Conjunto Chicano. They visited other campuses and performed at community events and festivals. In 1978 they attended the National Ballet Folklórico festival in Kansas, and six students traveled to Mexico that summer to learn traditional dances.

Celina Espinoza, the groups instructor, taught the other members how to sew costumes, which are representative of traditional dance attire worn in different regions of Mexico. The group performed dances from the states of Jalisco and Veracruz, as well as from northern regions of Mexico and what is now the Southwestern United States.

Los Bailadores Zapatistas was just one of several student organizations affiliated with LNACC that brought Chicano art, music, and culture to audiences on the University of Iowa campus and beyond. To learn more about Los Bailadores and the Latino Native American Cultural Center, visit us in person or online at the Iowa Digital Library, check out our past blog posts on LNACC, and see the full finding aid to this collection here.

--Anne M, Olson Graduate Research Assistant

(Image taken from the History of LNACC libguide)

It's Hispanic Heritage month!

As such, we're looking at one of our collections in the University Archives: The Latino-Native American Cultural Center Records (LNACC). Some of the materials also hail from our vertical file on the center.

In 1970, the Daily Iowan, the student newspaper, reported that the Chicano and Indian American Student Union (CIASU) applied for chartered org status, saying they hoped to unite Chicanos and Indigenous people and to preserve their heritage and identity. They also wanted to recruit more individuals like them to become students at the University of Iowa.

CIASU organized and implemented a recruitment program where they attended community events and visited high schools to "convince Chicano and Indian young people that they can get a chance to realize their potential at a university." However, the organization soon realized that bringing the students wasn't enough, they needed a central hub. This is how LNACC, (though at the time called the Chicano Indian American Cultural Center), was created.

(An image of the original founders of CIASU / LNACC)

In the summer of 1971, three students: Tony Zavala, Ruth Pushetonequa, and Nancy "Rusty" Barceló were fundamental in securing the campus building for the cultural center, and were its founders.

In her opening remarks at an April 1973 conference on campus, Barceló stated that "It was because of the Cultural Center that I and others survived as students. It was a space 'which embraced' who we were without explanation." The rest of her remarks can be read in the newspaper below:

According to their website, " The center was founded as a “friendship” house formed by students for students. In 1994, it was renamed the Latino-Native American Cultural Center. Over the years, this center has become the home to many students and student organizations that sponsor conferences, pow-wows, study groups, community educational programs, boycotts, and rallies to address community and campus issues. This center is a “home away from home” to all that walk through our doors. The center very much operates as a home and hub as it includes: study and game rooms, a library, internet and computers, printers, games, a kitchen, and more.

Below are a few snapshots from the Latino-Native American Cultural Center Records housed in Special Collections & Archives.

LNACC, like many of the other cultural centers on campus, are still important to maintaining a comfortable, safe, and inclusive environment to the marginalized students that have called UIowa their home. Visit Special Collections & Archives to see more materials from the collection!

The University of Iowa’s Latino and Native American Cultural Center