Equity & Difference
Define American: My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant
Thurs. Oct 6, 2016 7:30 p.m.
Kane Hall 130, UW Campus
Jose Antonio Vargas
Journalist, Filmaker and Activist
Admission: $5
A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and undocumented immigrant, Jose Antonio Vargas has simultaneously lived a life in the shadows and in broad daylight. Join Vargas as he shares his personal journey, from arrival in America to his role as an activist.
Jose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and filmmaker whose work centers on the changing American identity. He is the founder of Define American, a non-profit media and culture organization that seeks to elevate the conversation around immigration and citizenship in America. In 2015, MTV aired “White People,” a television special he directed on what it means to be young and white in America as part of its Look Different campaign. In February 2016, Vargas launched #EmergingUS, a multimedia news platform he conceived focusing on race, immigration and the complexities of multiculturalism.
Vargas has covered tech and video game culture, HIV/AIDS in the nation’s capital, the 2008 presidential campaign for the Washington Post and was part of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize for covering the Virginia Tech massacre. In 2007, Politico named him one of 50 Politicos to Watch. His 2006 series on HIV/AIDS in Washington, D.C. inspired a documentary feature film, “The Other City,” which he co-produced and wrote. It world premiered at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival and aired on Showtime. He has appeared on an array of television and radio programs, including: “Good Morning America,” “The O’Reilly Factor,” “The Colbert Report,” Univision’s “Aqui y Ahora,” and Filipino Channel’s “Balitang America.”
In June 2011, The New York Times Magazine published a groundbreaking essay he wrote in which he revealed and chronicled his life in America as an undocumented immigrant. A year later, he appeared on the cover of TIME magazine worldwide with fellow undocumented immigrants as part of a follow-up cover story he wrote. He then wrote, produced, and directed “Documented,” a documentary feature film on his undocumented experience. It world premiered at the AFI Docs film festival in Washington, D.C. in 2013, was released theatrically and broadcast on CNN in 2014, and received a 2015 NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Documentary.
Among other accolades he has received are a Public Service Award from the National Council of La Raza, the country’s largest Latino advocacy organization; the Salem Award from the Salem Award Foundation, which draws upon the lessons of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692; and the Freedom to Write Award from PEN Center USA.
Brought to you by the UW Graduate School and the UWAA, Equity & Difference is a series of talks that expose and explain transgressions and struggles—both systematic and personal—experienced by too many in our communities today, featuring thought leaders from our campus and around the world who are working to open our eyes to the consequences of prejudice, and seeking solutions for change. The Autumn 2016 lectures focus on the issues and intersection of privilege and politics.
UWAA and UWRA members receive advance registration for lectures.
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For more information, contact the UW Alumni Association at 206-543-0540 or uwalumni@uw.edu.
