Interview with Hillary Ramirez

Interview with Hillary Ramirez

4/5/17

HI251C: History of Latinx in the U.S.

Hilary speaks about what being a Dominican American, a black woman, and a Latinx woman means to her and the way her identities shape her experience.

English

Hilary Ramirez is a Dominican American and was raised in the Bronx, New York in a community that included Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Black Americans and others. In our interview, Hilary speaks to the formation of her racial identity and the racial fault lines that she has encountered in her family and in Dominican Culture more broadly. She describes the comradery and community she grew up knowing in the Dominican Salons of the Bronx and a tells of a personal journey that led her to embrace her natural hair texture. Hilary also tells the story of her family’s migration to the United States and her father’s escape from the oppressive rule of Joaquin Balaguer. Hilary is a chemistry major at Skidmore College.

Catalano, Deven

Hilary Ramirez