Who Speaks: Poetry, Performance & the Parsley Massacre of 1937 with Jasminne Méndez

Join Holocaust Museum Houston for the fourth lecture in their 2020 Latinx Heritage Month Virtual Lecture and Film Series. This month, Holocaust Museum Houston will be hosting authors and scholars who have contributed to highlighting Latinx history, identity, culture, and cross-cultural collaborations.

The 1937 Haitian Massacre was a mass killing that took place October 2 - 5 1937 against Haitians living along the Dominican Republic's northwestern frontier and in certain parts of the contiguous Cibao region. Dominican Army troops known as la guardia came from different areas of the country and carried out the massacre on the orders of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo. In this multimedia presentation and poetry reading, author, educator and performer Jasminne Méndez will discuss the history of the events leading up to the Haitian Massacre and the devastating physical and psychological impact it left on both Haitians and Dominicans in its aftermath. Jasminne will also discuss her own connection to the massacre and her creative process while writing and assembling her forthcoming book Machete which uses persona poems and performance techniques to tell the story of the massacre.

Jasminne Méndez is a poet, educator and award-winning author. She is the author of two poetry/prose collections Island of Dreams (Floricanto Press, 2013) which won an International Latino Book Award, and Night-Blooming Jasmin(n)e: Personal Essays and Poetry (Arte Publico Press, 2018). She is an MFA graduate of the creative writing program at the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University and a University of Houston alumni. Her second YA memoir, A Bucket of Dirty Water: Memories of my Girlhood, and her debut picture book, Josefina’s Habichuelas (Arte Público Press), will be released in 2021.

Admission is free and open to the public. Donations are welcomed. Advance registration is required, as guests will receive a private Zoom link.

Register here.