Latinx peoples are the largest U.S. minority group. How and why did so many different peoples come to be seen as like one another and as not “American”? Although often perceived as “aliens” or foreigners, Latinx peoples have lived in North America since before the nation existed. In the words of historian Vicki Ruiz, “Our America is American history.” As we move across Nuestra América from precolonial times to the present, we will examine diverse cultural practices, social movements, processes of community formation, intellectual trajectories, and responses to U.S. empire and white supremacy. We will also consider how race, class, gender, sexuality, and indigeneity have shaped belonging and inclusion within Latinx communities.

Today, Latinx peoples make up the largest ethno-racial minority group in the United States. How did this come to be? And how have terms like “Latina/o,” “Latinx,” or “Hispanic” come to stand in for so many diverse peoples? Taking up these questions, this class examines the historical experiences of Mexican Americans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans, and other Latin American communities in the United States. Although often perceived as “aliens” or foreigners, regardless of citizenship, Latinx peoples lived in what we now call the United States long before the nation spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific and beyond. Over the past 100 years, Latinx migrations have greatly shaped the United States and transformed ethnic identities from rural to urban places. Latinx histories allow us to understand how colonialism, imperialism, migration, and exclusion have shaped Nuestra América from precolonial times to the present. As historian Vicki Ruiz importantly put it, “Our America is American history.” Understanding the full complexity of this history requires that we center the experiences of historically marginalized communities across the United States from the Mexico border to Florida, Michigan, Louisiana, and New York. As we move across these different regions, we will examine Latinx cultural practices; migrations; social movements; processes of community formation; intellectual trajectories; and responses to U.S. empire, xenophobia, and white supremacist violence. Finally, because “Latinx” is a politically useful but also exclusionary term, we will consider how race, class, gender, sexuality, and indigeneity have influenced belonging and inclusion within Latinx communities. To this end, our course is organized around the following themes: 1) An introduction to Latinx Histories; 2) Roots; 3) Race and Nation; 4) Sugar; 5) Labor, Migration, and Citizenship; 6) Movidas; 7) Cold War América; 8) Ourselves/Our Histories; 9) Latinx in the New Millennium.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills