About Us

The Chicano & Latino History Project was founded in 2013 to help correct the limited presence of local Chicano & Latino history and culture in Colorado histories and school curriculums.  The project focused initially on Boulder County but in 2017 began expanding to other parts of the state:

• to help communities gather information about local people of color;
• to make this material readily available in convenient online formats;
• to work with PreK-12 teachers on how to use such information into their classrooms.

Boulder County Latino History Project interns with Prof. Marjorie McIntosh

In 2013 in Boulder County,  a 15-person Advisory Committee composed mainly of local Latinos/as mobilized nearly 100 community volunteers and interns to gather a great deal of information about the local Chicano/Latino Community.  Under the guidance of Professor Marjorie McIntosh, the materials that were gathered included 75 oral history interviews or family biographies, hundreds of family photos, newspaper articles, and information from school and Census records.  All 1,600 sources were digitized and put onto a website that can be searched in many different ways.

As the project grew, members gave presentations to community groups and schools, and Prof. Marjorie McIntosh wrote a pair of books about what had been learned (Latinos of Boulder County, Colorado, 1900-1980, Vols. I and II, available through local bookstores and online sellers like Amazon).  Three students at the University of Colorado wrote and illustrated a bilingual children’s book about an important community leader who founded the Clinica Campesina and after whom an elementary school is named (Mi Mamá, Alicia Sanchez, by Baeza-Breinbauer, LeNard, and Mook, available at Amazon).

With a wealth of information and resources, the project began to run workshops for PreK-12 teachers and has prepared our websites with valuable material for educators, including Primary Source Sets, Lesson Plans written by the participating teachers, and many other resources.

After the initial success of the Boulder County project, our work continued to grow.  After expanding into multiple communities across Colorado including the San Luis Valley, Trinidad/Las Animas County, Pueblo, Denver, the North Metro area and Weld County, the project was renamed to The Chicano & Latino History Project to more accurately reflect the people and communities we continue to partner with.  Most recently, the project has started gathering a wealth of resources related to Colorado’s Chicano Movement and will eventually expand to include struggles that took place throughout Aztlán.

The Chicano & Latino History Project believes that; all people need to realize the foundational role of Chicanos/Latinos in Colorado, Chicano/Latino students gain a greater sense of pride in their own heritage and a more positive identity when they learn about the struggles and contributions of people who are like them and their earlier relatives, and that there is still much work to be done historically and contemporarily to accurately represent the Chicano & Latino communities of Colorado.

The Chicano & Latino History Project is currently being supported by the BUENO Center for Multicultural Education, the CU-Boulder School of Education and the Office of Outreach and Engagement.  Tax-exempt deducation may be made to the University of Colorado Foundation.