In the spring of 2019, LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections—a formal partnership between the College of Liberal Arts and the University of Texas Libraries—partnered with the Urban Teachers Program at the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education to develop and provide free, online access to K-12 curriculum that incorporates the historical perspectives of underrepresented groups, current scholarship, and digitized holdings of the Benson Latin American Collection. The underlying principle for these teaching materials is that students are able to understand, and then subvert dominant historical narratives in Latin American, U.S. Latinx, and African Diaspora history given the marginalized perspectives the lesson plans highlight. This site was designed to facilitate access to these pedagogical materials.

The collaboration has broadened to include other disciplines, teaching audiences, and learning objectives. LLILAS Benson Digital Scholarship staff is partnering with faculty and graduate students in Latin American Studies, Art & Art History, Spanish & Portuguese, Mexican American Studies, and History to design Digital Humanities-focused lesson plans and assignments for undergraduate teaching. Work is also ongoing to publish technical capacity-building teaching and learning resources for graduate students, digital humanists, and archival professionals.

The interdisciplinary collaborations and site’s development are generously funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Title VI Program and the LLILAS Benson’s Excellence Fund for Technology and Development in Latin America. This resource site is managed by LLILAS Benson’s Digital Scholarship Office.

This resource was conceived, designed, and launched in 2019 by: 

  • Rodrigo Leal, Website Designer & Student Technician (Spring 2019), LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections
  • Lindsey Engleman, Public Engagement Coordinator (2014-2019), LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections
  • Albert A. Palacios, Digital Scholarship Coordinator, LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections
  • Cinthia S. Salinas, Professor & Chair, Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education
  • Delandrea S. Hall, Doctoral Candidate, Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education

Curriculum Contributors

LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections
  • Rachel E. Winston, Black Diaspora Archivist (Spring 2021)
  • Daniel Arbino, Head of Collection Development & U.S. Latino/a Librarian (Spring 2020, Spring 2021)
  • Ryan Sullivant, Language Data Curator, Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America (Fall 2020)
  • Jennifer Isasi, CLIR-Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow for Data Curation (Fall 2018-Present)
  • Dylan Joy, Latin American Archivist (Spring 2020)
  • Joshua Ortiz Baco, Digital Scholarship Graduate Research Assistant (Fall 2018-Present)
  • Albert A. Palacios, Digital Scholarship Coordinator (Fall 2018-Present)
College of Education
  • Scott Cook, Graduate Student, Department of Curriculum and Instruction (Spring 2020)
  • Kurt Kirkman, Graduate Student, Department of Curriculum and Instruction (Spring 2020)
  • Anna Lee Carothers, Graduate Student, Curriculum and Instruction (Spring 2020)
  • Adam Opiela, Graduate Student, Curriculum and Instruction (Spring 2020)
  • Maria Jose Ramirez, Graduate Student, Curriculum and Instruction (Spring 2020)
  • Cinthia S. Salinas, Professor & Chair, Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education (Spring 2020)
  • Delandrea S. Hall, Doctoral Candidate, Curriculum and Instruction (Spring 2019-Present)
  • Emma Ensign-Church, Graduate Student, Curriculum and Instruction (Spring 2019)
  • Emiliano Guajardo, Graduate Student, Curriculum and Instruction (Spring 2019)
College of Liberal Arts
  • Abisai Perez, 2021 LLILAS Benson Digital Scholarship Fellow & Doctoral Candidate, History (Summer 2021)
  • Erika M. Bsumek, Associate Professor, History (Fall 2021)
  • Brittany Erwin, Doctoral Candidate, History (Summer 2020)
  • Alexandrea Noel Perez Allison, Doctoral Candidate, English & Center for Mexican American Studies (Spring 2019)
  • Tania García-Piña, Doctoral Candidate, Spanish and Portuguese (Spring 2019)
  • Marcus Golding, Doctoral Candidate, History (Spring 2019)
  • Kelly McDonough, Associate Professor, Spanish and Portuguese (Fall 2018)
Community Partners
  • Erica Williams-Connell, Founding Curator, Eric Williams Memorial Collection Research Library, Archives & Museum, Trinidad and Tobago (Spring 2021)
  • Cassie Smith, Doctoral Candidate, Anthropology, University of New Mexico (Fall 2018)