This exhibit explores the communication practices of US Latine activists throughout various movements from the 1960s to the early 2000s. By focusing on specific methods and strategies in media communications—sound bites, flagging, and hooking—the project argues that these practices offer new meaning to civil, labor, and LGBTQ+ movements. US Latine activists utilize these media methods symbolically in a way that can be traced and connected throughout multiple civic efforts and media. This includes sound bites in recorded interviews covering unionization and police brutality; flagging in newspaper clippings concerning the rights of Texas farm workers; and hooking in pins, stickers, pamphlets, zines, and many other materials.
Civil, labor, and LGBTQ+ movements are broad categories which encompass a variety of activist efforts. Civil rights efforts, for instance, include LULAC’s push for equality for Latine American citizens and justice in the school system, especially regarding admissions. Labor movements include efforts such as the United Farm Workers Movement’s marches across the country, and the Texas Farm Workers Union's marches for equitable pay in the state. And, in terms of LGBTQ+ movements, this project includes lesbian and gay rights in Austin, Texas, and other parts of the US, such as New York City, New York, and Latine reproductive health and rights across the country. These movements are all components of US Latine activism which will be reviewed and analyzed throughout this exhibit.
The project’s goal is to offer new meaning to US Latine movements. How movements become connected to audiences through communication practices is significant to this goal. Developing this claim requires navigating through nearly 50 years of communications artifacts, hours of recorded broadcasting, and contextual information from various sources. Central to this exhibit is GLAAD’s “MediaEssentials Training Manual,” which is located in LLILAS Benson’s “The National Latina/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Organization" collection. “MediaEssentials” outlines how Latine activists can effectively communicate the goals of their respective movements through certain media strategies, which offers valuable insight into US Latine activists’ techniques. Use of this artifact requires examination of information from multiple angles, in a variety of formats, and during certain historical moments. Therefore, the project uses sound bites, flagging, and hooking as organizational tools which steer through all of the materials in question.