Month in Michigan
By Jacob Makowski
Detroit Institute of Arts
Celebrating National
In 1968, Congress authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson
to designate the week of September 15 as Hispanic Heritage
Week, a time to commemorate the contributions of Hispanics
throughout U.S. history. Twenty years later, President Ronald
Reagan expanded that observation so that it would continue
through October 15 each year.
The dates chosen for National Hispanic Heritage Month
correspond with many Latin American holidays. September 15
is Independence Day in countries such as Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Chile and Mexico
also celebrate their respective independence days within that
week, and many Hispanic people celebrate El Dia de la Raza
(Day of the People) on October 12.
As of 2010, 4.4 percent of Michigan’s population claimed
Hispanic heritage. Not surprisingly, the state is home to many
important and interesting places with a connection to Latin
heritage. While celebrating the month-long observance, you
might consider visiting one of the following sites.
DIEGO RIVERA’S DETROIT
INDUSTRY MURALS, DETROIT
In April 1932, muralist Diego Rivera arrived in Detroit to
paint a mural for the Detroit Institute of Arts. It would take
11 months to complete, but the Detroit Industry murals would
become a point of conversation about the city’s labor force
during the time period. The murals connect to both communist
and capitalist ideas, and can be interpreted to show the impressive power of capitalism or how capitalism can dehumanize
the worker.
While the 27 panels are regarded as an important piece of
artwork today, it still had its critics. In his autobiography “My
Art, My Life,” Rivera recalled that his detractors considered
the piece to be everything from immoral and sacrilegious to
obscene and communistic. But he also had his supporters. One
day, while working on the murals, Rivera was approached
by a group of 200 men representing various Detroit factories
and political parties. They informed him that there had been
rumors that there were those that planned to destroy his frescoes. They then told him that as the state constitution permits
citizens to band together in order to protect part of the state’s
commonwealth, they had organized a guard of more than
8,000 volunteers to protect his work.
Rivera later wrote that the gratifying ovation “was of a
kind which made me feel that none of my efforts—even those
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I had believed wasted—had been in vain…And until all the
sound and fury had passed, my army of eight thousand, working in shifts, guarded my work from destruction.”
CITY SPIRIT MURAL, DETROIT
From the mosaic of Cesar Chavez on the Latin Americans
for Social and Economic Development building to a largerthan-life portrait of the Chilean folksinger Violeta Parra, the
murals throughout Detroit’s MexicanTown are evidence of
the community’s strong cultural backbone. One of the neighborhood’s most well-known murals is City Spirit, located at
the intersection of Saint Anne and Bagley streets. Painted by
Martin Moreno and George Vargas in the summer and fall
of 1979, the artwork pays tribute to the diverse racial and
ethnic population of Detroit’s MexicanTown. The mural
depicts two hands— one made of metal and the other made of
flesh—touching a tree. The symbolism calls to the modern and
traditional worlds that influence the lives of Latin Americans
on a daily basis.
Several years after its creation, the significance of this mural
to the community became evident when the building on which
the mural was painted was to undergo a massive renovation
project—one that entailed the tearing down and rebuilding
large sections of the building. But, conscious of the community’s connection to the mural, architects and contractors were
able to complete the renovations and still keep the mural both
aesthetically and structurally preserved.
After 18 years of withstanding Michigan weather, City
Spirit underwent restoration to revive its fading colors and
surfaces in 1997. With the aid of old photographs and advice
from Moreno and Vargas, Detroit artists Vito Valdez and Kelly
Callahan soon returned the mural to its former glory. City
Spirit is the only outdoor public mural from the 1970s Latino
Mural Renaissance that remains standing in Detroit today.
ST. JOSEPH CATHOLIC CHURCH
AND SHRINE, CAMBRIDGE
Originally established in 1863, St. Joseph Catholic Church
is listed on the National and State Historic Registers for
multiple reasons. It claims one of the earliest surviving church
edifices in the region and is associated with a pioneer Catholic
parish and cemetery. It also features the elaborate Via Dolorosa
pathway, which was designed in the Trabajo Rustico style.
Kendra Schaedig
Jacob Makowski
Corey Seeman/Flickr
(Developed by Mexican artists living in Texas during the 1920s,
Trabajo Rustico seeks to have the appearance of rope, wood,
and other materials in a concrete medium.)
The outdoor Via Dolorosa, which contains the Stations of
the Cross, was created by Mexican artists Dionicio Rodriquez
and Ralph Corona under the supervision of Leo Ouelette. The
project, which began in 1932, took six years to complete and
the Hispanic influence of its makers is evident. As noted on
the National Park Services website, “The artisans employed
native themes, colors and decorative motifs, exploring Mexico’s
rich Indian past for themes. A winged devil, a common motif
throughout Latin America, is used in the place of a gargoyle at
Saint Joseph’s.”
Since the style medium for Trabajo Rustico is concrete, it
has had a difficult time surviving Michigan’s weather. With the
frequent freeze and thaw cycles, four of the 14 stations were
destroyed in the early 1980s, and preservation has become a
highly important issue for the church. Today, the church is a
fully functioning parish that provides a wide range of services
to the local community.
QUERÉTARO FOUNTAIN, HOLLAND
The fountain that stands in Holland’s Kollen Park is more
than just a simple piece of architecture. It represents a shared
connection between the community and the people of Santiago
de Querétaro, Mexico. In February 1996, the Holland City
Council approved a sister-city relationship between the two cities, which has brought about the exchange of different cultures
between the two cities. Delegates from Holland—where, today,
23 percent of the population identifies as Hispanic—have visited Querétaro, and representatives of Santiago de Querétaro
have attended the city’s famous tulip festival.
The cities have also made considerable donations to each
other. Holland has held fundraisers to help purchase playground equipment for a park and collect books for a new
children’s library in Querétaro and, in 1999, Santiago de
Querétaro donated the aforementioned Querétaro Fountain.
The Mexican city also made and donated six park benches
bearing its city seal. They were dedicated in 2006 and are
located in the fountain plaza.
CELEBRATING HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH
Grand Rapids Hispanic Festival
Grand Rapids, September 7–8
The 35th Annual Hispanic Festival at the Calder Plaza
in Grand Rapids celebrates different Latin American
cultures through the unifying Spanish language. The festival will have many different activities along with food,
music and much more. For more information, visit www.
grhispanicfestival.com.
2012 Tulipanes Latino Art & Film Festival
Holland, September 1–October 28
The Tulipanes Latino Art and Film Festival hosts artistic
events designed to educate and promote understanding
of the important role Latino culture plays in the Grand
Rapids community. Visitors will be able to enjoy a wide
variety of events, art scholarship opportunities, workshops and other celebrations. For more information, visit
www.tulipanes.org.
Grand Rapids Mexican Independence Day Festival
Grand Rapids, September 14–16
The Mexican Independence Day Festival is one of the
oldest and largest festivals in Grand Rapids. The festival
will highlight the diverse culture, food, and music of
Latin America and Mexico. For more information, visit
http://mexican-heritage.org.
University of Michigan’s Hispanic Heritage Month
Ann Arbor, September 15–October 15
The Hispanic Heritage Month Planning Committee is
a student-run organization dedicated to educate the
student body, alumni, faculty, staff, and the community
at large about the history, values and customs of the
various Latin American communities. They host a wide
variety of activities including film screenings, dancing
and cooking classes, and presentations about Hispanic
history and current issues. For more information, visit
www.facebook.com/hhmmichigan.
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