Guiding Questions:
Is there such a thing as 'Latino' Identity, or is there too much diversity?
How did the legal promise of citizenship for Latinos differ from their lived experiences in the United States?
Does the US have a responsibility to Guatemalan people inside the US as well as those who stayed behind? (Only choose this question if your answer is “yes”, and if you want to write about US involvement in Guatemala: United Fruit Co, 1954 overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz, and the Guatemalan Civil War)
EXTRA RESOURCES
General
Hispanics in the United States: Origins and Destinies, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American Hsitory
The Chicano Movement
El Movimiento: The Chicano Movement and Hispanic Identity in the United States, from National Archives, 2021
How the Chicano Movement Championed Mexican-American Identity and Fought for Change, from History.com, 2023
VIDEO: How a 1968 Student Protest Fueled a Chicano Rights Movement, Retro Report, 2023
VIDEO: "Inside Allan Dulles' Reign as CIA Director, from '54 Guatemala Coup to Plotting Castro's Overthrow, Democracy Now! 2015
Mexican-Americans
Very readable academic article: Racial Identity and Racial Treatment of Mexican Americans, National Library of Medicine, 2012
VIDEO/Primary Source: Not Mexican or American Enough: Bicultural Identity Struggles, Ranchel Alvarado, TEDx, 2022
175 Years After Its Signing, the Treaty of Guadelupe de HIdalgo is on Display in Denver, PBS, 2023
VIDEO: Mexican Americans are still fighting for land they were promised generations ago, Nightline, ABC, 2020
School Segregation - Sylvia Mendez
VIDEO/Primary Source: Voices of History: Sylvia Mendez, Education Week, 2014
The Mendez Family Fought School Segregation 8 Years Before Brown v. Board of Ed from History.com, 2019
Cesar Chavez & Dolores Huerta / Bracero Program / UFW - United Farm Workers
UFW History, from United Farm Workers
VIDEO: Millions of Mexican men sustained U.S. agriculture and railroads through the Bracero Program, NPR, 2025
VIDEO: Cesar Chavez: American Civil Rights Activist, Scholastic, 2021
Dolores Huerta: The Civil Rights Icon Who Showed Farmworkers ' Si Se Puede' , NPR, 2017
Why We Must Look Beyond Cesar Chavez to understand United Farm Workers history, UC Berkeley News, 2023
Willie Velasquez
VIDEO: Willie Velasquez: Growing Up in the Segregated Southwest, PBS Learning Media
Puerto Rico & Puerto Rican Migration
Why Puerto Rican Migration to the US Boomed After 1945, History.com, 2023
Here's Why Puerto Rico is Part of the U.S. - Sort Of, History, 2018
Puerto Rico: A U.S. Territory in Crisis, Council on Foreign Relations, 2025
Antonia Pantoja and ASPIRA
Antonia Pantoja: Organizer and Activist for New York's Puerto Rican Community, Museum of the City of New York, 2020
Aspira of New York, aspirany.org
Young Lords
PRIMARY SOURCES/Text: Young Lords: The Young Lords in New York City, Museum of the City of New York, mcny.org
VIDEO (Featuring Original Members of Young Lords): The Young Lords: Exploring the Legacy of the Radical Puerto Rican Activist Group 50 Years Later, Democracy Now, 2019
Herman Badillo
Herman Badillo, Congressman and Fixture of New York Politics, Dies at 85, NYTimes, 2014
Cuban-Americans
Why is the Cuban Immigrant Story in the US So Different from Others, BU Today, 2022
Cuban Exiles in America/Waves of Cuban Immigration, American Experience, PBS
The Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, Library of Congress
Guatemala
Root Causes of Migration from Guatemala, Duke Center for International Development--Policy Paper
Central American Immigrants in the United States, Migration Policy Institute, 2023
Sunset Park's Guatemalan Population Growth Spurs New Businesses, NYCity, 2025
United Fruit Company
PODCAST+Transcript: Guatemala and the United Fruit Coup, Under the Shadow, Episode 2, The Real News Network, 2024
VIDEO: 1935 Archival Video: About Bananas, Castle Films: "Complete presentation of the banana industry from the clearing of the jungle and the planting to the shipment of the fruit to the American markets."
VIDEO: Chiquita Banana: The Original Commercial, 1940s Shown in theaters, according to this unvetted source
Colombia "Banana Massacre" 1928
Banana Massacre, Britannica
Colombia: A Photograph We Were Not Supposed to See, Visualizing the Americas, UToronto
1954 Coup /CIA /Arbenz
VIDEO: How CIA Created a Banana Republic - Guatemala 1954, Cold War, 2022
Guatemalan Civil War
Timeline: Guatemala's Brutal Civil War, PBS, 2011
Guatemala, The Center for Justice and Accountability,
Guatemala: Civil War, McGill University, Trauma & Global Health Program
VIDEO: Guatemala: Families of civil war missing fight for justice, France 24, 2016
Rigoberta Menchu
Rigoberta Menchu Tum: Biographical, TheNobelPrize.org
Rigoberta Menchu, SPLC Learning for Justice
1996 Peace Accords
Guatemala: 25 years later, 'firm and lasting peace' is nowhere to be found, Queen's Gazette, 2022
A United Nations-sponsored “Truth Commission” (1999)
Guatemala: Justice and IMpunity: Guatemala's Historical Clarification Commission 10 years on, Amnesty International, 2009
The Truth Commission in Guatemala, Minority Rights Group
CLASS RESOURCES (Pulled from Google Classroom Classwork)
30 - The Census
PRIMARY SOURCE: 1950 Census of Population & Housing
PRIMARY SOURCE: 1960 Census of Population & Housing
PRIMARY SOURCE: 1970 Census of Population & Housing
"Why is the US Census So Important?", PBS, 2019
PODCAST (Audio & Text) : "Latinos Are a Huge Diverse Group. Why Are They Lumped Together?", The Experiment Podcast, The Atlantic, 2021
28 - Willie Velasquez & The SVREP
Transcript for Latino Americans, Episode 5: Pride and Prejudice - Willy Velasquez
(16:20 - End)
PRIMARY SOURCE: Photographs
PRIMARY SOURCE: "An Interview with Antonio Gonzalez, President of the Southwest Voter Education Project", , June 2004
PRIMARY SOURCE: Willie Velasquez Obituary, NYTimes, 1988
27 - Herman Badillo & Voting Rights
VIDEO: "Herman Badillo" PBS
PRIMARY SOURCE: "Ed Diario-La Presnsa, Telegram to Lee White, March 16, 1965" from LBJ Presidential Library
PRIMARY SOURCE: "Herman Badillo Letter to President Lyndon B. Johnson, September 16, 1965", from LBJ Presidential Library
26 - Context and Implications of US Intervention in Central America
VIDEO: "What's Causing the Central American Migration Crisis?", History Channel
25 - Guatemalan Civil War
VIDEO: "Harvest of Empire: The Untold Story of Latinos in America" 11:45-19:20
23 & 24- 1954 Overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz
VIDEO/PRIMARY SOURCE: How America Overthrew Guatemala's Reformist President, BBC, 2019
"June 27, 1954: Elected Guatemalan Leader Overthrown in CIA-Backed Coup", + Harvest of Empire Excerpt: Bodies for Bananas, Zinn Education Project
22 - United Fruit Company, Creative Piece/ Banana Massacre
PRIMARY SOURCE (Political Cartoon): "Return from the Hunt"
"The United Fruit Company" by Pablo Neruda, 1950
21 - United Fruit Company
PRIMARY SOURCE: Bananaland: Middle America, 1958
VIDEO: "The Dark History of Bananas" TED-Ed, 2020
PODCAST: "There Will Be Bananas" NPR, 2020
PRIMARY SOURCE: Declassified Telegram, US State Dept, 1929
20 - President Clinton Apologizes to Guatemala
"Clinton Offers His Apologies to Guatemala", 1999, NYTimes
Guatemala, National Geographic
18 - Cuban Adjustment Act
Slides Comparing Cuban, Mexican, & Puerto Rican Wealth, Hardship, Etc.
Cubans: Special Refugees from the book Harvest of Empire, pp. 124-125
17 - Cuban Migration
VIDEO: "Cuban Exodus", PBS
PRIMARY SOURCE (Photograph) : "A Waiting Room in the Cuban Refugee Center", 1965, Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Libraries
PRIMARY SOURCE (Political Cartoon): “Creo que lo mejory es Buscar en Otra Parte"/ "I Think We Should Look Somewhere Else", 1965, Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Libraries
PRIMARY SOURCE (Letter): "Galis-Menendez Family, Letter to President Lyndon B. Johnson", 1965, LBJ Presidential Library
PRIMARY SOURCE (Flyer): "Sponsor Refugees . . . Fulfill Their Faith in Freedom" 1962, Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Libraries
PRIMARY SOURCE (Personal Story): "Excerpt from My Story by Guillermo Ricardo Paz Vasquez", Operation Pedro Pan Group, Inc.
PRIMARY SOURCE (Oral History): "Commisioner Bruno Barreiro, Excerpt from Oral History Internview by Aldo Regoaldo", 1999, Gregory Bush Florida Community Studies Oral Histories Collection, University of Miami Libraries
15 - The Young Lords
PRIMARY SOURCE: The Young Lords' 13 Point Platform, ICAA
X-Ray Truck II, 1970 (Pages 6 & 7), Museum of the City of NY: Activist NY
VIDEO: Takeover, Emily Francis-Snyder, NYTimes, 2021
14 - Antonia Pantoja and ASPIRA
PRIMARY SOURCE:Puerto Ricans Demonstrate for Civil Rights at City Hall, New York City, Al Ravenna, Library of Congress, 1967
VIDEO: "Antonia Pantoja: Grassroots Organizer & Activist", The New York Historical Society
13 - Puerto Rican Migration
PRIMARY SOURCE: "Puerto Rican Migrants Jam New York," LIFE Magazine, 1947 (Actual Magazine Piece / Layout w Pictures)
VIDEO 1: "Puerto Rico to New York", PBS
VIDEO 2: "Rita Moreno & West Side Story", PBS
TEXT: Video Transcripts, PBS
12 - The US Colony: Puerto Rico
PRIMARY SOURCE: (Cartoon) "School Begins", Dalrymple,1899, Library of Congress
11 - Puerto Rico's Relationship to the United States
"Puerto Rico: What Other Americans Should Know" , The New York Times Upfront, 2017
VIDEO: "Why Puerto Rico is not a US State", Vox, 2018
10 - 1960s Labor Movement: Cesar Chavez & Dolores Huerta
PRIMARY SOURCES: Photographs
VIDEO: "The Farm Worker Movement", PBS Learning Media
Transcript: “Latino Americans, Episode 5: Prejudice and Pride,” PBS, 2013
9 - School Segregation: Mendez v. Westminster
April 14, 1947: Mendez, et al. v. Westminster Ruling (Shorter read) Zinn Ed Project
Mendez v. Westminster Background (Slightly longer read, but broken down into sections)
In Pursuit of Equality (Short, less info, but has pictures), Smithsonian Museum of American History
8 - Mexican Americans & Citizenship
VIDEO: "The History of Racial Discrimination Against Mexican Americans", PBS Learning Media
Transcript: "A Class Apart", American Experience, PBS
7 - Mexican-American War
VIDEO: "The Mexican-American War", PBS Learning Media
TEXT & VIDEO: Summary: Mexican American War, History.com
6 - My Identity
List of Countries by Ethnic Group, Wikipedia
5- Spanish Colonization of Latin America & Race
VIDEO: "Finding Your Roots: Adrian Grenier, MIchelle Rodriguez, & Linda Chavez" - Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
“Native Born” from Latinoland by Marie Arana, 2024
Native Land Digital maps indigenous (native) territories and languages across the globe.
4 - Spanish Conquest of the Americas
“Here are the Indigenous People Christopher Columbus and His Men Could Not Annihilate”, Washington Post, 2019
Map of Spanish Colonial Empire, WorldHistory.org,
3 - What's the Difference Between Hispanic, Latino, & Latinx?
VIDEO: "What's the Difference between Hispanic, Latino, & Latinx?", Fig. 1 University of California,
I’m Latino. I’m Hispanic. They’re different, so I Drew a Comic to explain”, by Terry Blas, Vox, 2016
2 - Who Are Latinos Today?
VIDEO: "Who's Latino? Amid Growing Numbers The Definition is Expanding", NBC News
Interactive map of detailed ethnicities in the US and Puerto Rico, US Census, 2020
Map of Latin America, Library of Congress, 2006
Discrimination More Common for Hispanics with Darker Skin, Pew Research, 2019
Latinos’ Views of and Experiences With the Spanish Language, Pew Research, 2023
A Latinas Feel Pressure to Support Their Families or to Succeed at Work Pew Research, 2023
Key Facts About Hispanic Eligible Voters in 2024 Pew Research, 2024
The Ways Hispanics Describe Their Identity Vary Across Immigrant Generations Pew Research, 2020
Facts on Latinos in the US Pew Research, 2023