Antonio Ramirez directs the Chicagolandia Oral History Project, which documents the lives and work of Latinos in the Chicago suburbs.

On Wednesday, September 16, he will present “From Venezuela to Chicago: The History of a Mass Migration” for this year’s Sylvia Mendez Lecture, part of Elmhurst University’s observance of Hispanic Heritage Month.

An associate professor of history at Elgin Community College (ECC), Ramirez co-founded and directs ECC’s Center for Civic Engagement, a nonpartisan, student-led campus political education center. The Center’s work contributed to Elgin Community College’s designation by the Higher Learning Commission as one of 37 higher education institutions, including Harvard and Stanford universities, that lead the nation in civic learning and democratic engagement.

Ramirez also has worked as a historical consultant for the National Park Service, a journalist, a bilingual high school teacher, and an educator of agricultural migrant workers.

The Sylvia Mendez Lecture is named for the nurse and civil rights activist who, as a child in 1944, was at the center of a landmark federal court case that ended school segregation in California, paving the way for the nationwide Brown v. Board of Education decision. Mendez was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 for her civil rights work.

The Sylvia Mendez Lecture will be held on Wednesday, September 16, at 4:00 p.m. in the Frick Center, Founders Lounge. The public lectures and other cultural programming at Elmhurst University support community engagement and lifelong learning, and prepare our students to thrive as adaptive leaders. Admission is free but reservations are encouraged, at elmhurst.edu/Cultural.