AUSTIN, TX – #metoo, #blacklivesmatter and the inequities amplified by the pandemic have put gender and racial justice in Austin in the spotlight. Yet, Austin has decades long history of female changemakers championing diversity and equity in education, social justice, media, technology and public leadership decades before it was trending – de-segregating higher education, UT athletics, even Barton Springs and so much more.
Austin Public Library will present Legends Mosaics: Austin’s Courageous Female Leaders of Color, six commemorative mosaic portraits produced in a collaboration between Latinitas, Austin’s only bilingual STEM nonprofit for 20 years and six Austin female artists of color outside the central library branch (710 W. Cesar Chavez) on its east patio on Thursday, October 7, 2021 at 10:30 am.
Honored through art:
Dr. Martha Cotera, founding member Chicana Caucus
Dr. Teresa Lozano Long, educator, philanthropist
Dr. Bertha Sadler Means,
educator, social justice advocate
Sylvia Orozco, founder Mexic-Arte Museum
Cathy Revilla Vasquez, founder La Prensa newspapers
Peggy Vasquez, producer, journalists, social justice advocate
There will be a special acknowledgement to Ana Sisnett, pioneer for tech access in marginalized communities who is immortalized in a permanent mural at Holly Commons, 2400 E. East Cesar Chavez.
The mosaic art pieces were central to Latinitas 2021 Purple Party for Chica Power Rock the Block Party in June, at Holly Commons, where the 7th mosaic of Ana Sisnett, Austin’s “Technomama” is on display permanently.
Latinitas empowers all girls to innovate through media and technology and has a vision to create courageous leaders. Two decades old in 2022, Latinitas has delivered over 100s of thousands of hours of free STEAM education in Austin schools, libraries, community centers and public housing serving more than 40,000 girls, teens and their families with lessons in everything from filmmaking, podcasting, magazine publishing to web design and coding, virtual reality storytelling, robotics and more. Latinitas has partnered with Austin Public Library on 7 East Side campuses since it’s origin providing digital media, tech and other STEM education to girls and their families.
Austin City Council Members Vanessa Fuentes and Natasha Harper Madison will be presenting the mosaics. Each rendition was sponsored by corporate partners eBay, Dell, Inc., Siete Foods, HEB and Deloitte.