The Latinx American Cultural Center and the Libraries invited the campus community to learn how to dance the Bachata and Merengue to kick off Latinx Heritage Month in September on the Du Bois Library deck.
Students, faculty, staff, and community members of many backgrounds came together to teach, learn and dance under the motto “Live, Learn and Embody Our Cultures.” The sounds and rhythms drew in passersby. A transfer student from Holyoke said that hearing the music was the first time he felt at home at UMass. The activity also served to highlight the Libraries’ rich and extensive Latin American Collection, the third largest collection of its kind in New England (after Harvard and Yale), and the largest in a public university library in the Northeast of the United States.
The event was co-sponsored by the Center for Multicultural Advancement and Student Success, the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latinx Studies, and the new student group Contagio.
