Hoosier Latinos: A Century of Struggle, Service and Success

Using oral history and archival records, Hoosier Latinos: A Century of Struggle, Service, and Success recognizes the impressive lineage of Latinos in Indiana across time and space.  Since the 1800's Latino residents comingled with the English and German families, Irish workers, and freed Blacks who made Indiana home.  The book explores how Latino Hoosiers navigated home and belonging in the Midwest from Northwest  Indiana to Indianapolis and south to Evansville.

Authors Nicole Martinez-LeGrand and Daniel Gonzales depict how Latino residents contributed to the larger economy through creation of their own ethnic economies.  By featuring stories about work and businesses in multiple Indiana areas, their book narrates how Latinos contributed to the state and national economy through their labor, entrepreneurship, and purchasing power.

Hoosier Latinos also addresses the hard facts of pain and violence faced by many Latinos, honoring Indiana's past by exploring its complicated reality.  It provides non-Latino Hoosiers a chance to explore the roles of Latinos in their towns and to examine more of the Hoosier experience, while recognizing Hoosier Latinos as contributing members of society.  Hoosier Latinos is a must read, especially for educators, who will find the rich interplay between primary materials and oral histories useful for classroom activities.

Paperback, 120 pages.  2022, Indiana Historical Society Press.  By Nicole Martinez-LeGrand and Daniel Gonzales, with foreword by Sujey Vega. 

Teacher Lesson Plans: 

Hoosier Latinos Lesson Plans V3.pdf