From scholars to advocates, members of the nonprofit Latinos in Heritage Conservation (LHC) work to support Latinx preservation efforts across the United States.
The group recently took a two-week road trip last month across the Southwestern U.S.
Stops in the “Untold Stories of the Borderlands” trip included West Texas cities like Marfa, Valentine, and El Paso, as well as Nogales, Tucson, and Phoenix in Arizona.
Hillary Morales Robles, LHC’s historic preservation officer, explained how less than 1% of heritage sites across the nation are protected on a federal level.
“Our goal is identifying what are the places that our community finds so much value [in from] the oldest part of the shared history of our nation.”
Many of the sites visited during the tour were recipients of Nuestra Herencia grants, the first grant program in the nation dedicated to funding Latinx heritage projects.
Asami Robledo-Allen Yamamoto, LHC’s director of education and outreach, said the group was to gather oral histories at each stop and talk with community members.
“We’re able to create a very authentic relationship,” she said. “Even though we're here conducting research, we’re not researching them — we’re learning from them, and it’s a really beautiful exchange of knowledge.”
LHC invites the public to share their own unique stories via the Abuela Project, which encourages storytelling and acts as a historical registry for significant Latinx sites across the U.S.
Click here to share your own piece of Latinx history.
View a video from the road trip below:
