ORANGEBURG COUNTY, S.C. — "Celebrating Hispanic Diversity, Language, and Culture" is the vision behind one South Carolina State University professor's virtual presentation series.
“It is the largest minority group in this country and there are so many stereotypes so this whole purpose of this series is to enlighten the public to let them know more about the Hispanic population," said associate professor of Spanish Dr. Margaret Morris.
She says her passion for Hispanic culture runs through her veins. She has Iberian ancestry and has been learning Spanish since the age of 10.
“The world does not just revolve around English. If you look at Europe, and look at how close those countries are geographically, you see they go to school and if they are born in Germany they know English, they know Spanish, they know French, and they know Italian," she said.
Her goal with the series is to broaden people's perspectives of the Spanish language and Spanish-speaking countries. A $2,000 mini grant from South Carolina Humanities will support several virtual presentations covering topics dealing with the Spanish language, customs, and Afro-Hispanic history.
“If you look around South Carolina State, we don’t have many Hispanic students. They as a group are underrepresented in colleges so hopefully this grant will help them overcome many other obstacles some of them have about learning English and increase the enrollment of South Carolina State.”
The series begins during Hispanic Heritage Month in September with a presentation on the economic impact of knowing how to speak Spanish on the job.
The last presentation for the Fall Semester will be done in October and it will coincide with the end of Hispanic Heritage Month. This presentation will discuss the meaning of Hispanic gestures.
The final presentation takes place in March.