In recognition of Latino Heritage month, Dr. Tom Barry, sociology professor, opened a viewing of the film Latino Americans: The 500-Year Legacy That Shaped A Nation for students at COCC.
Barry decided to show this PBS film in hopes of getting students to relate with how our nation evolved and grown over time – showing where we came from, to where we are now. Several students who attended the lecture came with hopes to gain more information and compare their new knowledge with their current knowledge on this matter, while getting the perspective of Anglo-Saxon and other Latino perspectives.
Latino Americans chronicles the personal struggles and rich history of Latinos, who have helped shape our nation and have become, with more than fifty million people, the largest minority in the United States. Episode 1: Foreigners in their Own Land explores the first Spanish explorers enter North America.
In this episode, the Mexican American War, as the Gold Rush flooded California with settlers, communities were overwhelmed, and the elites lost their land. Mexicans and Mexican Americans were treated as second-class citizens, facing discrimination and racial violence. Resistance to this injustice appeared in New Mexico as The Whitecaps, a group active in the New Mexico and Southwest American territories, responsed to Anglo-American farmers and ranchers settling they burned Anglo ranches and cut through barbed wire to prevent Anglo encroachment. At the same time, New Mexicans managed to transform themselves through education, managing to preserve Hispano culture in New Mexico and are standing in the midst of an era of conquest and dispossession.
As latino heritage month came to an end, students, staff, and faculty were welcome to explore the Latino American heritage throughout the month of October.
Bobbie Towery | The Broadside
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