BRATTLEBORO — Amherst College professor Ilan Stavans will consider the life of Latino activist Cesar Chavez in a talk at Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro on Oct. 7 at 7 p.m.
His talk, The Legacy of Cesar Chavez, kicks off the 2015-16 season of the Vermont Humanities Council's First Wednesdays lecture series, and is free and open to the public.
Chavez, arguably the most important Latino leader of the 20th century, has been marred by controversy. Stavans, editor of Chavez's collected speeches, will reflect on Chavez's influence and place in history.
Stavans is the Lewis-Sebring Professor in Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College. He is the editor of the first major collection of writings by the civil rights leader Cesar Chavez, An Organizer's Tale: Speeches. He is also the editor of The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature, a 2,800-page volume that was 13 years in the making, and is the author of Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language.
The Vermont Humanities Council's First Wednesdays series is held on the first Wednesday of every month from October through May in nine communities statewide, featuring speakers of national and regional renown. Talks in Brattleboro are held at Brooks Memorial Library unless otherwise noted.
Upcoming talks in Brattleboro include Face to Face with the Emotional Brain with Dartmouth professor Paul Whalen on Nov. 4; The Buildings of Vermont with Middlebury College professor Glen Andres on Dec. 2; and Vincent Van Gogh: What Influenced Him and His Influence on Art with art historian Carol Berry on Jan. 6.