he Ben­ito Juarez statue, the grand cen­ter­piece of Juarez Cir­cle which serves as the gate­way to the Kennedy Cen­ter for the Per­form­ing Arts, was a gift from the Mex­i­can peo­ple of their first, and most beloved pres­i­dent. The statue was ded­i­cated in 1969 in con­junc­tion with the Kennedy Center’s open­ing. Juarez, a Zapotec Amerindian orphaned at age three, worked in corn­fields until he was 12, when he walked to the city of Oax­aca look­ing to edu­cate him­self and find a bet­ter life. He arrived illit­er­ate and spoke no Span­ish, only Zapotec. Tak­ing a job as a domes­tic ser­vant, he eagerly made up for his lack of edu­ca­tion. He was admit­ted to the sem­i­nary, grad­u­ated, and pur­sued a law degree and grad­u­ated from the Insti­tuto de Cien­cias y Artes.

At a time when indige­nous peo­ples had lit­tle vis­i­bil­ity or say, Juarez edu­cated him­self despite all odds, becom­ing a leader, first as gov­er­nor of Oax­aca and finally a five term Pres­i­dent of Mex­ico end­ing in 1872. Ben­ito Juárez was the first Mex­i­can leader with­out mil­i­tary train­ing. He was the first full-blooded indige­nous per­son to serve as Pres­i­dent of Mex­ico, and only Amerindian to lead a West­ern Hemi­sphere nation in over 300 years. For resist­ing the French occu­pa­tion, over­throw­ing the Empire, and restor­ing the Repub­lic, as well as for his efforts to mod­ern­ize the coun­try, Juárez is often regarded as Mexico’s great­est and most beloved leader.

How fit­ting that the Kennedy Center’s three-week Open House Arts Fes­ti­val begin­ning Sep­tem­ber 11, com­mem­o­rates Mexico’s 200 years of inde­pen­dence with Cel­e­brate Mex­ico 2010. The Open House fea­tures artists from the Wash­ing­ton, D.C. region and Mex­ico in more than 20 per­for­mances, demon­stra­tions, and events. (See cal­en­dar). — FBN