‘The Untold Story’: How Latino migration and resilience shaped the nation’s past and present

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Nearly 50 people filled the Delaware History Museum this week, looking towards a broader, more inclusive future by learning more about the nation’s history. They came from diverse backgrounds to learn, relive and educate themselves about the untold Latino history during a presentation by award-winning journalist and author Juan González.

“Latinos and Migration to the United States: The Untold Story” was hosted by Delaware250 as part of the state’s efforts to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It was held as a pair of events in Georgetown and WIlmington, inviting communities to reflect on how the country’s founding and evolution has been shaped by people from all walks of life.

González, a senior fellow at the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois Chicago and co-host of “Democracy Now!”, opened by emphasizing how Latino stories are essential to understanding the nation’s roots.

“There is a huge Latino population in the United States — over 68 million people today,” González said. “But there’s very little knowledge by most Americans as to how and why the Latino community of the United States developed because it’s a very complex community, more than 20 different nations and ethnic groups.”

He explained that events like this help provide “some context, some facts and some understanding of the development and the contribution of the Latino community.”

Migration then and today

Speaking from his book and documentary “Harvest of Empire,” González discussed how the economic and political actions of the U.S. in Latin America led to migration waves that shaped the nation.

“You cannot really understand the presence of so many Latinos in the United States unless you first understand the role of the U.S. empire in Latin America,” he said. “The actions that our government took and that our business leaders and military leaders took in these various countries destabilized those countries and created a situation where people had to flee, and they fled to the United States.”

He added that Latino labor, both abroad and in the U.S., has long fueled the nation’s prosperity.

“These companies went to Latin America, employed Latino laborers, and the profits from their investments came to the U.S., but didn’t stay in Latin America,” González said. “So basically, Latinos both in the U.S. and in Latin America have a big part of the role in the prosperity that most Americans take for granted.”

Throughout the event, he also highlighted how Latino influence is embedded in the country’s geography and culture –– from state names like Florida, a Spanish term meaning “feast of the flowers”; Nevada, which is Spanish for “snow-covered”; in addition to Montana and California, which are both drawn from Spanish origins. He reminded attendees that Latino history stretches back more than 200 years, long before the modern immigration story began.

“Most Americans just think that Latinos are newcomers, that they just came recently or five or 10 or 15 years ago,” he said. “No, over 200 years ago there were Latino communities in this country and I think that’s important to understand.”

Among those moved by the presentation was Carmen Guerrero, an Indigenous activist born in Mexico who lives in Pennsylvania. Her family roots trace back to her Mayan ancestry, specifically to the Chiapaneca Maya Tzeltal community. Guerrero said the experience gave her a deeper sense of empowerment and to learn.

“Hemos sido colonizados y parte de la colonización es que nos ha negado el derecho humano a la educación. Venir a estos eventos es una forma de educarnos”, ella dijo. 

“We have been colonized, and part of the colonization is that we have been denied the human right to education. Coming to these events is a way to educate ourselves,” she said.

Later, she reflected on how learning this history helps her advocate for her community.

“Lo que me hace estar aquí es tomar más fuerza, tomar más conocimiento para saber defenderse ante este sistema”, ella dijo. “Para tomar herramientas de cómo llegar a mi comunidad, a mi familia, a mis vecinos, para poder explicarles que nosotros tenemos que organizarnos”.

“What keeps me here is gaining more strength, gaining more knowledge to know how to defend myself against this system,” she said. “To gain tools on how to reach my community, my family, my neighbors, to be able to explain to them that we have to organize ourselves.”

As the discussion turned toward education, González’s message resonated with current realities. Latino youth made up 28.7% of U.S. public schools in fall 2022, and 19% of  Delaware’s student population, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. In districts like Indian River, that number rises to 37.5% and 29.6% in Red Clay Consolidated.

For many, those numbers underscore why education and representation matter. González reflected on his own upbringing and how his schooling excluded Latino and Indigenous history — a gap that events like this aim to fill.

As Delaware prepares to mark its 250th year, González’s message and Guerrero’s voice carried a shared theme: that America’s story is incomplete without the histories, struggles and resilience of the Latino and Indigenous people, who have been part of it for centuries.