University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth professor Frank Souza will offer a free, public presentation on the Portuguese-American immigrant experience at California State University, Stanislaus.

The 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. April 20 presentation, slated for room 118 of the CSU Stanislaus Faculty Development Center, will focus on the life of Alfred Lewis (1902-1977). Lewis emigrated from the Azores, Portugal to Atwater, where he learned English, studied law, and eventually became a municipal judge in Los Banos. Lewis also authored two novels: “Home is an Island” and “Sixty Acres and a Barn,“ both of which discuss how Portuguese immigrants made lives for themselves in the Central Valley.

Souza, a Turlock High graduate, now serves as a professor of Portuguese at UMass-Dartmouth. He also directs both the university’s Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture and Taugus Press. The presentation will include the launch of a new Taugus Press edition of “Home is an Island.”