MILWAUKEE — When Alberto Maldonado was a student at UW-Milwaukee, he relied on the Roberto Hernandez Center to help him navigate college classes and life.
"I am personally a product of the center. I walked into the center in 1990 as an immigrant, as an English language learner, and you know, folks walked me through. And we see that story repeats itself in so many other ways," said Maldonado, who is now the director of the center.
When planning for the center's 50th anniversary a few years ago, the idea of a podcast exploring its history came up. In October of this year, that podcast launched as a collaboration between UWM archives and the Roberto Hernandez Center. It's called the HOLA Archives Podcast Project.
"We want folks to be educated on how one act of advocacy has helped pave the way for so many and has transformed a community," Maldonado said of the mission behind the podcast.
The first two episodes, now online, tell the story of the inception of the Spanish Speaking Institute on campus, which would eventually become the Roberto Hernandez Center. It started when students marched to and occupied the chancellor's office in 1970 demanding more resources for Latino students. At the time, there were just 12 Latino students on campus. Today, Maldonado said there are 2,600.
On Wednesday, Maldonado and his partner producing the podcast, Ann Hanlon, interviewed Fela Salinas.
Salinas, while not a student at the time, was part of the protest in 1970. Her full interview will be available online.
Maldonado and Hanlon hope to release more episodes soon but are currently looking for more funding and grants to keep the project going. New episodes will include Salinas' perspective on the 1970 events.
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