The first Velada Hostosiana | Hostos Culture Talk of 2021, marked the birthday and legacy of Don Eugenio María de Hostos with a presentation by Professor Emeritus Orlando J. Hernández and poet and critic David Cortés Cabán (’76). Doubling on the College’s namesake, the Hostos Culture Talks validate the importance of community engagement and learning.
Professor Hernández is a prominent champion of keeping Hostos’ political, educational, and cultural legacy alive. One of a few scholars who has engaged in the translation of the Puerto Rican educator and philosopher’s work into English, Hernández and Cortés Cabán traveled to Chile in April of 2019 to recover Hostos’ original work. The work recovered will be published by Hernández as part of a book on Hostos’ journalism in Latin America.
Though his legacy has been obscured by centuries of suppressing Puerto Rican history, Hostos was ahead of his time as a proponent of the scientific education of women, an abolitionist, and an advocate for the progress of Argentina, Chile and the South American continent via the construction of a railroad that would advance society. Welcomed by Interim President Daisy Cocco De Filippis and Rad Tech student and SGA Budget and Finance Commissioner Brian Carter, scholars Hernández and Cortés Cabán brought this and more to the forefront in an engaging evening of historical learning.
The Veladas Hostosianas | Hostos Culture Talks event series looks forward to more relevant and inspiring works by people from across the globe, who make up the college community of Hostos.
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