— Six-Hour Documentary Features More Than 500 Years of Latino History, Including Key Civil Rights Moments & Interviews with Nearly 100 Latinos, Premieres Fall 2013 —
Dolores Huerta
Washington, DC — An exclusive preview of the new groundbreaking documentary series Latino Americans, which features Dolores Huerta and César Chávez among nearly one hundred other Latinos, will be showcased at the Plenary Session of the Voto Latino Power Summit 2013, taking place in Washington D.C. April 12-15, 2013. The session, held on Sunday, April 14, is the centerpiece of Voto Latino’s second annual summit to educate, empower, and engage American youth to create positive change in their communities, and will focus on immigration reform and feature speakers Maria Teresa Kumar, President and CEO of Voto Latino and an MSNBC contributor; America Ferrera, actor and Voto Latino Co-Chair; and Dolores Huerta, the legendary labor leader and civil rights activist who is interviewed in Latino Amercans.
Latino Americans, a landmark documentary series that will air nationally on PBS this fall, is particularly timely as it chronicles the evolution of a new “Latino American” identity from the 1500s to the present day, providing historical background and offering prominent voices on the issues that impact Latinos today, such as immigration reform, community political power, and voting rights.
The three-part, six-hour series features interviews with close to 100 Latinos from the worlds of politics, business and pop culture and also includes deeply personal portraits of Latinos who lived through key chapters in American history, including the fight for civil rights in the ‘60s, the school walk-outs in Los Angeles to demand better education opportunities for Latinos, and the steps that led to their empowerment in the political process.
Maria Teresa Kumar
In line with Voto Latino’s mission and belief that Latino issues are American issues and American issues are Latino issues, Latino Americans tells the stories of Latinos as an integral part of the U.S., documenting the immigrant experience, and how, throughout the centuries, the American population was reshaped by the influx of people from all parts of the world, sparking a debate that remains open to this day.
Beyond the broadcast, the documentary is supported by a public engagement campaign, a major bilingual public education campaign, a bilingual website with user-generated digital content, social media platforms (#LatinosPBS on Twitter) and the development of a school-based curriculum, along with a companion book by Ray Suarez, Senior Correspondent for PBS NewsHour.
About Latino Americans
Latino Americans is a production of WETA Washington, DC; Bosch and Co., Inc.; and Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB); in association with Independent Television Service (ITVS). The series executive producers are Jeff Bieber and Dalton Delan for WETA, Sandie Viquez Pedlow for LPB, and Sally Jo Fifer for ITVS. The series producer is Adriana Bosch. The supervising producer is Salme Lopez. The producers are Nina Alvarez, Dan McCabe, Ray Telles and John Valadez. The associate producers are Sabrina Avilés, Yvan Iturriaga and Monika Navarro. For the re-enactment sequences, the producer is Cathleen O’Connell and the directors are David Belton and Sonia Fritz.
Major funding provided by Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Ford Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations and The Summerlee Foundation. ~Funding for outreach is supported by a grant from The New York Community Trust.
About Voto Latino
Founded in 2004, Voto Latino is a dynamic and growing organization whose civic engagement campaigns have reached an estimated 55 million Latino households nationwide. United by the belief that Latino issues are American issues and American issues are Latino issues, Voto Latino is dedicated to bringing new and diverse voices into the political process by engaging youth, media, technology and celebrities to promote positive change. To learn more, visit www.votolatino.org. Find Voto Latino on Facebook at www.facebook.com/VotoLatino and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/VotoLatino.
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