Civic Season

This cookbook shares the story of the Priscilla Art Club in Dallas, Texas, and shares its COVID-19 pandemic experiences.

The club, founded in 1911, is a group of up to 25 Black women who meet monthly to make art together and to support the arts. During the pandemic, the group met virtually; one of its projects was creating this cookbook.

Money raised from the sale of the cookbook funds grants for Black women artists in the region. The Priscilla Art Club is part of a national Black women's club movement that dates to the late-1800s. These clubs—which often were part of local, state, and national federations—supported a wide range of African American activism, both locally and nationally.

This sign hung outside Mary’s Center, a Washington, D.C.-based community health center, at its location in the Adams Morgan neighborhood. Mary’s Center was founded in 1988 by nurse Maria Gomez, a Colombian immigrant, to serve pregnant Latina immigrants. In many cases, the women had become pregnant as a result of sexual assault during their migration journeys. Over time, the center has expanded to serve children, families, and a diverse patient population by providing health care, education, and social services. Initially housed in a basement in Adams Morgan, the center has grown to multiple locations in Washington, D.C., and Maryland and serves more than 65,000 patients a year. The logo on this sign was retired in 2018 and has been replaced with an abstract image representing its expanded mission and diverse patient population.

This small pillow is an is an example of the pillows given to migrants being served by the Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley near the U.S.-Mexico border. It was made by an older female volunteer at the center. The Humanitarian Respite Center was founded in 2014 by Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of the Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, the charitable arm of the Diocese of Brownsville. Out of a belief in supporting the dignity of vulnerable people, Sister Norma established the center at a time when a surge of Central American migrants caused a humanitarian crisis and great political controversy in the United States. The center shelters and cares for migrants for a day after their release by the Border Patrol before they travel to the homes of sponsors, typically family or friends, as part of their immigration process. Among the center’s supporters are members of the predominantly Mexican American local community who donate clothing, toys, and other necessary supplies to help the newcomers. Between 2014 and 2021, the center assisted over 100,000 refugees.

These boots were used in fundraising for the "I'm from Driftwood" oral history project of LGBTQ-identifying persons. Over a five-month period, from September 2010 to January 2011, the project, founded by Nathan Manske, toured the United States to conduct oral histories to help LGBTQ youth realize they are part of a vibrant, supportive community. The story crew used these boots to collect donations for the project at LGBTQ community centers, bars, and student unions. The project resulted in the book I'm From Driftwood; True Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Stories from All Over the World, edited by Nathan Manske; a website; and a collection of oral histories now housed in the National Museum of American History’s Archives Center.

Civic engagement can take time to bear fruit. Since the 1990s, members of the LGBTQ+ community and their allies have gathered on the first Saturday in June at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, an event known as Gay Days. The yearly event was a way to raise visibility of LGBTQ+ families and friends taking part in an American tradition just like their heterosexual counterparts. The quiet persistence slowly changed hearts and minds from begrudging acceptance to celebration. By 2005 Disney was releasing items like this pin in June to unofficially mark Pride month; in 2019 Disney began selling official rainbow merchandise marketed for Pride.

Reinterpreting traditional American symbols can expand thinking about what it means to be an American. Chaz Bojorquez worked with the Walt Disney Company to interpret Mickey Mouse through his own lens as a Chicano graffiti artist, bringing his personal background to the classic idea of Mickey Mouse to create a character with which he could identify.

You are participating in civic life even when you aren’t thinking about it! Visits to places like historic sites, theme parks, and sports events all teach us what it means to be an American—even when we think we’re just having a good time.