MACRI Collection

In the news

macri featured in the news

Spurs give MACRI $20,000 donation
SA CURRENT

In November, the San Antonio Spurs commemorated Hispanic Heritage Night with a $20,000 donation to MACRI.

MACRI screens groundbreaking Dia de los Muertos documentary
TPR

In late October, MACRI partnered with Día de los Muertos at Hemisfair for a screening of Lourdes Portillo’s 1988 documentary La Ofrenda: The Days of the Dead.

MACRI Museum Site Feasibility Study Press Conference
KENS5

In September 2024, MACRI held a press conference for the completion of the site feasibility study for a permanent national museum, attracting heavy press coverage.

MACRI Museum Site Feasibility Study Press Conference
AXIOS

In September 2024, MACRI held a press conference for the completion of the site feasibility study for a permanent national museum, attracting heavy press coverage.

MACRI Museum Site Feasibility Study Press Conference
TPR

In September 2024, MACRI held a press conference for the completion of the site feasibility study for a permanent national museum, attracting heavy press coverage.

MACRI Museum Site Feasibility Study Press Conference
SA REPORT

In September 2024, MACRI held a press conference for the completion of the site feasibility study for a permanent national museum, attracting heavy press coverage.

MACRI Museum Site Feasibility Study Press Conference
SA EXPRESS NEWS

In September 2024, MACRI held a press conference for the completion of the site feasibility study for a permanent national museum, attracting heavy press coverage.

MACRI Museum Site Feasibility Study Press Conference
SA CULTURE

In September 2024, MACRI held a press conference for the completion of the site feasibility study for a permanent national museum, attracting heavy press coverage.

A Day Without a Mexican’ Director on How His Film is Still Relevant 20 Years Later
REMEZCLA

In September 2024, MACRI hosted a 20th anniversary screening of the classic mockumentary, A Day Without A Mexican.

New Exhibit Highlights Civil Rights Lawyer Alonso S. Perales
FOX SA

In June 2024, MACRI opened its first traveling exhibit. Providing an overview of the life and legacy of civil rights lawyer Alonso S. Perales, the exhibit’s debut at the MACRI Visitor Center included a selection of his personal artifacts and papers.

Fronteras: ‘We need to know who we are’— MACRI enters 5th year in highlighting Mexican American civil rights
TPR

Texas Public Radio interview with Executive Director, Dr. Sarah Gould.

Mexican American Civil Rights Institute celebrates 5 years with Symposium
NEWS4 SA

The Mexican American Civil Rights Institute (MACRI) celebrates its 5th anniversary and works to complete a permanent museum focused on Mexican American civil rights.

San Antonio seeks memorial way designation for journalist and civil rights activist Jovita Idár
SA REPORT

In March 2023, we partnered with City Councilwoman Teri Castillo to designate Jovita Idar Memorial Way along a stretch of the former Perez Street where she once lived.

Evolving History
CS MONITOR

In November, our Executive Director spoke with The Christina Science Monitor about how our understanding of the past continues to grow and evolve. While the evolution of our understanding of the past may make some uncomfortable, it is a growing pain that leads us to a fuller appreciation of our shared history. At MACRI, we understand there is always something new to learn about the past.

Dia de los Muertos: History + Culture
SAVEUR

In November, our Executive Director spoke with Saveur about San Antonio’s enduring historical and cultural connections to Mexico, and how those connections shape the way we celebrate Dia de los Muertos. At MACRI, we understand that history and culture are inextricably intertwined.

MACRI Visitor Center Opens
KENS5

In October, we held a ribbon cutting for our new Visitor Center. A huge milestone in our organization’s young history, the Visitor Center is the first step towards a permanent national Mexican American civil rights history museum! We also announced a site feasibility study for the permanent location.

MACRI Partners with Jovita Idar Quarter Launch
KSAT

In September, our partnership with the US Mint and the Smithsonian’s American Women’s History Museum to organize three days of community events to celebrate the release of the Jovita Idar quarter, received heavy media coverage.

MACRI Partners with Jovita Idar Quarter Launch
SA EXPRESS NEWS

In September, our partnership with the US Mint and the Smithsonian’s American Women’s History Museum to organize three days of community events to celebrate the release of the Jovita Idar quarter, received heavy media coverage.

MACRI Partners with Jovita Idar Quarter Launch
TPR

In September, our partnership with the US Mint and the Smithsonian’s American Women’s History Museum to organize three days of community events to celebrate the release of the Jovita Idar quarter, received heavy media coverage.

MACRI Plans Visitor Center
SA EXPRESS NEWS

In February, Elaine Ayala shared our plans to open a Visitor Center in San Antonio’s historic Westside as a first step towards a permanent national museum.

Emma Tenayuca Memorial Way
SA REPORT

Our collaboration with Congressman Joaquin Castro, Mayor Ron Nirenberg, and Councilwoman Teri Castillo to designate a section of Cevallos Street – where the 1938 Pecan Shellers Strike began – as “Emma Tenayuca Memorial Way” made headlines. We hope to pursue more of these honorary designations to highlight the Mexican American history that surrounds us!

Emma Tenayuca Memorial Way
KSAT

Our collaboration with Congressman Joaquin Castro, Mayor Ron Nirenberg, and Councilwoman Teri Castillo to designate a section of Cevallos Street – where the 1938 Pecan Shellers Strike began – as “Emma Tenayuca Memorial Way” made headlines. We hope to pursue more of these honorary designations to highlight the Mexican American history that surrounds us!

Crystal City 1969 student matinee
SA REPORT

In January, we were thrilled to partner with the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center and SWISD to sponsor tickets for a student matinee performance of a play about – you guessed it! – Mexican American civil rights history!

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Sarah Zenaida Gould, PhD
She | Her | Hers

Sarah Zenaida Gould, Ph.D. is Executive Director of the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute (MACRI), an emerging national museum collecting and disseminating Mexican American civil rights history based in San Antonio, Texas. A longtime museum worker and public historian, she has curated over a dozen exhibits on history, art, and culture. Before joining MACRI, she was founding director of the Museo del Westside, a community participatory museum housed at the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center’s Rinconcito de Esperanza in San Antonio’s Westside, the historic center of Mexican American San Antonio. In 2019, her visionary work for the Museo earned her the “crown” at the biennial Reimagining the Museum: Conference of the Americas held in Oaxaca, Mexico. Prior to launching the Museo, Gould was the lead curatorial researcher at the Institute of Texan Cultures, a museum dedicated to telling the stories of Texas’ diverse cultures. While at ITC she curated exhibits on a range of topics from fashion to folklife and toys to Tejanos, and guest curated Bexar County’s tricentennial exhibit “Nuestra Historia – Our History: Spain in Bexar County,” featuring maps and documents from the Archivo General de las Indias in Seville, Spain.

Outside of museum work, Gould is a noted preservationist. She is co-founder and former co-chair of Latinos in Heritage Conservation, a national organization that promotes historic preservation within Latino communities and advocates for the protection of Latino tangible and intangible heritage, at local, state, and national levels. She frequently speaks on topics related to historic preservation and representation of Latino histories, serves as an Advisor to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and is a member of the Westside Preservation Alliance, a coalition dedicated to promoting and preserving the working-class architecture of San Antonio’s Westside.  Additionally, she serves on the boards of the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission, the fundraising arm of Texas’ state historic preservation office, and Texans for the Arts, a non-partisan statewide arts advocacy organization. She formerly served on the boards of the American Association of State and Local History, El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association, San Anto Cultural Arts, and the South Texas Popular Culture Center.

Gould received a BA in American Studies from Smith College and an MA and PhD in American Culture from the University of Michigan. She also holds a certificate in Philanthropic and Fundraising Administration from NYU’s School of Continuing Studies. She is a former fellow at the National Museum of American History, the Winterthur Museum, and the American Antiquarian Society, and is an alumna of the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture Leadership Institute.

 Her publications include “Latinos in Heritage Conservation: Establishing a National Vision for American Latinos and Historic Preservation” in Bending the Future: Fifty Ideas for the Next Fifty Years of Historic Preservation in America (University of Massachusetts Press, 2016); “A Fair to Remember: HemisFair ‘68,” in 300 Years of San Antonio and Bexar County (Trinity University Press, 2018); and “Field Guide to the Westside,” in Vernacular Architecture of San Antonio and its Environs (Texas A & M University Press, 2021).

 Gould is a native Tejana and the descendant of farmers and farmworkers. Her maternal grandparents were active members of LULAC.