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DR. LUCILE GAJEC / DRA. LUCILE GAJEC

Program
Michigan History Center
Subject
People
Location
4000 Vernor Hwy, Detroit, MI 48209, USA
Lat/Long
42.321935036434, -83.092109016495
Grant Recipient
Michigan History Center
Historic Marker

DR. LUCILE GAJEC / DRA. LUCILE GAJEC

Inscription

DR. LUCILE GAJEC

Inscription Side B

DRA. LUCILE GAJEC

DR. LUCILE GAJEC

In 1991 historian and community organizer Dr. Lucile “Luci” Cruz Arellano Gajec, Ed.D, (1926-2008) founded Museo Indigenista, a community space for Indohispanic history and culture, on this site. Born in Texas, Gajec moved to Detroit in 1959, where she worked for the Michigan Employment Security Commission. She became a founding member of Latin Americans for Social & Economic Development (LA SED) in 1968, and Detroit’s Mexican Festival in 1969. Gajec authored numerous articles on Latino history and culture for the bilingual newspaper EL CENTRAL. For more than a decade, her free public museum invited all visitors, particularly children, to learn about the Indigenous roots of Mexican people through traditional costumes, pottery, instruments, masks, dolls, Indigenous sculptures, and an aerial-view replica of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan.

DRA. LUCILE GAJEC

En 1991, la historiadora y organizadora comunitaria, la Dra. Lucile “Luci” Cruz Arellano Gajec, Ed.D (1926-2008), fundó en este lugar el Museo Indigenista, un espacio comunitario dedicado a la historia y cultura Indo hispánica. Nacida en Texas, Gajec se mudó a Detroit en 1959, donde trabajó para la Michigan Employment Security Commission. Contribuyó a fundar Latin Americans for Social & Economic Development (LA SED) en 1968 y los Festivales Mexicanos en 1969. Gajec escribió numerosos artículos sobre la historia y cultura latina para el periódico bilingüe EL CENTRAL. Por más de una década, su museo gratuito invitó al público, especialmente a los niños, a conocer las raíces indígenas del pueblo mexicano a través de: trajes tradicionales, instrumentos musicales, artesanías, y una maqueta aérea de Tenochtitlán.