Jairo Javier Morales is a mixed-media artist and student affairs professional who notably came out as a DACA student at his college graduation ceremony in 2019 upon revealing custom-made fabric monarch butterfly wings attached to his robe. In this oral history, Morales shares stories of his childhood in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, the roles education and community-based activism played early on in his life, what the process of getting DACA was like for him and his family, and social justice efforts he led in college through organizations like La Unida and Queer Student Alliance. He also speaks at length on political activism through art, building bridges amongst different student groups in college, the process of creating custom-made monarch butterfly wings, memories leading up to crossing the stage on graduation day, and embracing his own intersecting identities as a gay Mexican immigrant.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Access and use of born-digital audio materials available in the Archives Center reading room or by requesting copies of materials at RightsReproductions@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Undocumented Organizing Oral History Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg; Judith Kern and Kent Whealy; Tommie L. Pegues and Donald A. Capoccia; Clarence, DeLoise, and Brenda Gaines; The Stoneridge Fund of Amy and Marc Meadows; Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker; Catherine and Michael Podell; Mark and Cindy Aron; Lyndon J. Barrois and Janine Sherman Barrois; The Honorable John and Louise Bryson; Paul and Rose Carter; Bob and Jane Clark; Lisa R. Davis; Shirley Ross Davis and Family; Alan and Lois Fern; Conrad and Constance Hipkins; Sharon and John Hoffman; Daniel and Kimberly Johnson; John Legend and Chrissy Teigen; Eileen Harris Norton; Helen Hilton Raiser; Philip and Elizabeth Ryan; Roselyne Chroman Swig; Josef Vascovitz and Lisa Goodman; Michele J. Hooper and Lemuel Seabrook III; The Skylark Foundation; Cleveland and Harriette Chambliss; Anna Chavez and Eugene Eidenberg; Carla Diggs & Stephen M. Smith; Danny First; Peggy Woodford Forbes and Harry Bremond; Stephen Friedman Gallery; Sean and Mary Kelly, Sean Kelly Gallery; Jamie Lunder; Joff Masukawa and Noëlle Kennedy Masukawa; Derek McGinty and Cheryl Cooper; Robert and Jan Newman; The Raymond L. Ocampo Jr. and Sandra O. Ocampo Family Trust; Julie and Bennett Roberts; Paul Sack; Gertrude Dixon Sherman; Michael and Mary Silver; V. Joy Simmons, MD; Andrea Lavin Solow and Alan P. Solow; John Sykes; Galerie Templon; Henry L. Thaggert III
