April 3 – October 16, 2009

Honoring the Bicentennial of U.S. Latino Journalism

A collaboration with the City College Department of Journalism

and Accion Latina of San Francisco.

Voices for Justice:

Latino newspapers have been the voices of their communities across the United States for 200 years.

Drawing from the experiences of the early Mexican and Spanish press, the presence of Spanish-language journalism in the U.S. began in 1808 with the publication of El Misisipí in New Orleans.

By the late 19th century, Spanish-language newspapers had spread across the nation.

These newspapers gave voice to early Cuban and Puerto Rican exiles on the East Coast, to Mexicans who lost their land and country in the annexation of the northern half of Mexico, and to the growing Latino populations, both immigrant and U.S. born.

Today’s Latino media, spanning the Internet, broadcast and print, are building on this legacy, their strength and influence can be seen in the massive national turn out for the Spring 2006 Immigrant Rights marches.

Voices for Justice: The Enduring Legacy of the Latino Press in the U.S. is a project of Acción Latina, a non-profit educational and cultural Mission District organization. It is a national multi-platform project that will bring this hidden history to light in a comprehensive fashion to a wide audience.

The public phase of the project, which encompasses this exhibition, a television documentary, a companion book and interactive website, began August 2008 with the call for a national campaign to celebrate the bicentennial of the first Latino newspaper in the United States.

Images from the exhibition, from the archive of El Tecolote newspaper, a project of Accion Latina–El Tecolote has been documenting Latino life for close to 40 years, including detailed coverage of the Mission District in San Francisco, where the paper is located.

Latino Press Bibliography