American classical scholar
Dan-el Padilla Peralta
(also
Dan-el Padilla
) is an associate professor of classics at
Princeton
who researches and teaches the Roman Republic and early Empire, as well as classical reception in contemporary American and Latin American cultures.
[1]
An immigrant from the
Dominican Republic
, he rose from poverty and
homelessness
to show promise, according to one faculty member, as "one of the best
classicists
to emerge in his generation."
[2]
Childhood and early education
[
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]
Padilla and his family entered the United States legally in 1989, when Padilla was four years old.
[2]
[3]
Padilla's father returned to the Dominican Republic while his mother remained, raising Padilla and his infant brother in
homeless shelters
in
New York City
.
[4]
Padilla's younger brother, Yando, is a United States citizen by virtue of his birth in the United States.
[5]
In 1994 Padilla, then living with his family in a shelter in
Bushwick, Brooklyn
, met photographer
Jeff Cowen
, who took an interest in the young boy.
[2]
With Cowen's tutelage and encouragement Padilla won a scholarship to Cowen's
alma mater
high school,
Collegiate School
in
Manhattan
.
[2]
At Collegiate, Padilla learned
Greek
,
Latin
, and
French
, participated in debate tournaments, and was described by an administrator as "one of the most powerful intellects" to ever attend the school.
[2]
[6]
University education and career
[
edit
]
Padilla applied for
early admission
to Princeton and was accepted in December 2001.
[5]
He admitted on his application that he did not have legal status in the United States. Princeton awarded him a full scholarship out of its own funds because his immigration status made him ineligible for federal aid programs.
[2]
At Princeton Padilla earned a 3.9
grade point average
and was named salutatorian of his class. He majored in classics, studying ancient Rome and Greece. He often took twice the normal course load.
[2]
He was the 2006
Latin salutatorian
of
Princeton University
, and at the
commencement
ceremony he delivered the traditional address in Latin.
[6]
[2]
In early 2006 Padilla won a two-year scholarship for a second bachelor's degree at
Worcester College
of
Oxford University
[2]
[6]
Attending Oxford would require Padilla to leave the United States, upon which he would likely be unable to return legally due to having no
visa
. Due to his having been in the United States unlawfully, if discovered, he would have been unable to apply for ten years. Further, without a work visa he would be unable to find work in the United States as a scholar and professor, his intended occupation.
[2]
Padilla raised $10,000 from his friends for legal support and, in early April 2006, applied for a visa under a United States program allowing visa grants to undocumented immigrants under "extraordinary circumstances".
[2]
Despite personal appeals from Senator
Hillary Clinton
(whose husband,
Bill Clinton
called President
George W. Bush
on the subject),
Charles Schumer
,
Charlie Rangel
,
Jane Harman
,
Mark Dayton
, and other members of the
United States House of Representatives
and
Senate
, the deans of the
Harvard Law School
and the
Woodrow Wilson School
, asking
Michael Chertoff
and
Emilio Gonzalez
to personally review Padilla's file,
Citizenship and Immigration Services
(the agency now responsible for issuing visas) declined to consider his application.
[7]
[8]
In April 2007 Padilla was issued a one-year
H-1B Visa
allowing him to work as a
research assistant
at Princeton while attending Oxford.
[9]
[10]
He worked at Stanford also, before becoming a professor at Princeton.
[11]
Padilla successfully defended his Stanford Ph.D. dissertation in Classics in June 2014, and that Fall became a Fellow in the
Society of Fellows in the Humanities
at
Columbia University
. As a Fellow he was a lecturer in classics at Columbia. Padilla Peralta was featured in the
New York Times Magazine
on February 2, 2021, in the article "He Wants to Save Classics From Whiteness. Can the Field Survive?".
[8]
Immigration advocacy and memoir
[
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]
Along with his academic and political supporters Padilla campaigned unsuccessfully in 2006 for passage of the
DREAM Act
, which would have allowed high school graduates who had been undocumented immigrants since childhood, to become legal residents if they agreed to attend college or served in the
United States Armed Forces
.
[7]
The bill had been introduced several times since 2001, but never obtained enough support to overcome
filibusters
.
Padilla's story attracted the attention of Hollywood, leading to interest in
movie rights
and a
book deal
.
[7]
Padilla's memoir,
Undocumented: A Dominican Boy's Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League
, was published by Penguin Press on July 28, 2015.
[11]
Writings
[
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]
Books
[
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]
- Divine Institutions: Religions and Community in the Middle Roman Republic
. Princeton University Press. 2020.
- Undocumented: A Dominican Boy's Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League.
Penguin Books, 2015.
Edited volumes
[
edit
]
- Rome, Empire of Plunder. The Dynamics of Cultural Appropriation
, ed. by Matthew P. Loar, Carolyn MacDonald, and Dan-el Padilla Peralta. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
Articles and book chapters
[
edit
]
- "Some thoughts on AIA-SCS 2019"
.
Medium
. January 7, 2019.
- Peralta, Dan-El Padilla (Fall 2018).
"Ecology, Epistemology, and Divination in Cicero
De Divinatione
1.90?94'
"
.
Arethusa
.
51
(3): 237?67.
doi
:
10.1353/are.2018.0011
.
S2CID
166722471
.
- Loar, Matthew P.; MacDonald, Carolyn; Padilla Peralta, Dan-el, eds. (2017). "Circulation's Thousand Connectivities".
Rome, Empire of Plunder. The Dynamics of Cultural Appropriation
. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 261?70.
- "From Damocles to Socrates: The Classics in/of Hip-Hop"
.
Eidolon
. 2015.
- "Barbarians Inside the Gate: Fears of immigration in ancient Rome and today"
.
Eidolon
. 2015.
- "The worst of US immigration policy is reflected in the Dominican Republic"
.
The Guardian
. July 24, 2015.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Dan-el Padilla Peralta"
.
scholar.princeton.edu
.
Archived
from the original on March 15, 2019
. Retrieved
February 27,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
Jordan, Miriam (April 15, 2006).
"Illegal at Princeton"
.
Wall Street Journal
.
Archived
from the original on February 28, 2019
. Retrieved
February 27,
2019
.
- ^
"Undocumented by Dan-el Padilla Peralta"
.
Penguin Randomhouse
.
Archived
from the original on February 2, 2021
. Retrieved
March 10,
2019
.
- ^
Pearce, Katie (March 30, 2017).
"From undocumented immigrant to Princeton professor"
.
The Hub
.
Archived
from the original on February 28, 2019
. Retrieved
February 27,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Dwosh, Sophia Ahern; Epstein, Jennifer (April 28, 2006).
"American dream: Padilla '06 rose from poverty to the top of his class. Now he has one more goal: a visa"
.
Daily Princetonian
. Archived from
the original
on October 7, 2008.
- ^
a
b
c
Eric Quinones (May 25, 2006).
"Study of past sets salutatorian on course for future"
. Princeton University.
Archived
from the original on April 13, 2016
. Retrieved
March 31,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
c
Lau, Tatiana (September 15, 2006).
"Padilla's future remains uncertain: Sachs scholar leaves for Oxford, still an illegal"
.
Daily Princetonian
. Archived from
the original
on September 28, 2008.
- ^
a
b
Poser, Rachel (February 2, 2021).
"He Wants to Save Classics From Whiteness. Can the Field Survive?"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
.
Archived
from the original on February 2, 2021
. Retrieved
February 2,
2021
.
- ^
Diana Furchtgott-Roth (May 18, 2007).
"Give This Law an 'A'
"
. New York Sun.
Archived
from the original on February 9, 2009
. Retrieved
July 14,
2008
.
- ^
Juel-Larsen, Michael (April 27, 2007).
"Beyond the Gate:Padilla '06 receives one-year visa"
.
Daily Princetonian
. Archived from
the original
on October 10, 2007.
- ^
a
b
Peralta, Dan-el Padilla (2015).
Undocumented: A Dominican Boy's Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League
.
ISBN
978-1594206528
.
External links
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