Virginia has demonstrated outstanding leadership in building a sense of community and in fostering a diverse and inclusive campus community. She has completed three courses with me: HIST 051: The History of Things, HIST 141: The African Diaspora in Latin America, and HIST 195: The Movement of Enslaved People in Mexico. In each of these courses, Virginia critically analyzed the experiences of marginalized populations in the past and present. In HIST 141 and 195, for example, she demonstrated outstanding leadership skills during our class trips to Mexico City and Oaxaca City, respectively. She supported her classmates, guiding them to various sites and translating from Spanish to English for those who were not Spanish speakers. Likewise, on campus, Virginia has worked with and helped her classmates to learn highly technical skills such as Spanish paleography to better understand the slave trade and experiences of enslaved people in Latin America.
Virginia is the current president of the Historical Society at UC Merced. This student organization sadly fell through the cracks during the pandemic. Virginia has single-handedly revived the Historical Society, written its bylaws, and planned activities to create a sense of community among the History majors and minors at UC Merced.
Aside from this excellent leadership work, Virginia has actively contributed to advancing equity and justice at UC Merced. She has served as the SSI undergraduate intern to the Center for Africana Studies since Fall 2023. As an intern, Virginia has been involved in planning events, building a website, and maintaining a social media presence. All of these activities are focused on the study of African and African-descended people around the world, in the past and present. As a Latinx undergraduate student, Virginia acknowledges that she is not a member of the Black community, yet stands as a valuable ally in advocating for marginalized populations, such as African-descended people in Mexico, and in encouraging the study race, racism, and Black populations among her peers. She is also publishing a journal article in the History and CRES journal at UC Merced, specifically on the history of slavery in Mexico in Spring 2024.
