The Latino Student Union hosted a discussion about the “Hidden History of Latino Americans” at their general meeting Wednesday night.
The presentation was hosted as part of International Education Week, a week of events aimed at raising awareness of international culture and students.
Juan Pimiento, president of LSU, said the event was hosted to teach Latino students about events in Latino-American history that are not generally talked about.
“Latinos have a place in U.S. history, but for most people it’s not popular knowledge,” Pimiento said. “The purpose of tonight is to let people know that Latinos have a hand in American history.”
Topics during the presentation included generally unknown Latino involvement in major U.S. wars and the social conditions that Latino Americans have had to deal with.
Ray Plaza, co-advisor for LSU and associate director for the department of multicultural affairs, said part of why the presentation was important was because it provided a different perspective on history.
“We often see [history] through a modern lens,” Plaza said. “For me, it provides a more vivid picture and when we don’t have that picture, we don’t know the true facts.”
Dan Medendorp, treasurer of the Latino Student Union, said the event has been in the works for some time.
“We basically started to brainstorm different ideas for what we could do for this event,” Medendorp said. “We eventually decided that [this presentation] was a great way to increase awareness about the different Latinos in U.S. history that people might not know about.”
International Education week includes events hosted by many other organizations throughout campus. Plaza said the presentation was hosted in order to work alongside some of those organizations.
“We asked ourselves, ‘how do we, as an organization, be collaborative and supportive of other groups?’” Plaza said. “This was our way of doing that.”
Every general meeting for LSU starts with “familia time,” which Medendorp said is their weekly bonding session. To go along with International Education week, familia time for Wednesday showcased members’ international Latino heritage through a “show and tell.”
“We’re going to talk about our traditional heritage, our traditional dresses or traditional costumes or customs,” Medendorp said. “We’re going to talk about the symbolism and what our culture means to us.”
Plaza said this showcase of culture and generally unknown history helps students see the entirety of a culture.
“It’s like when you look at a masterpiece,” Plaza said. “You only notice one part because the other parts have diminished over time, but as you start to clean it, you start to realize, ‘hey, there are other parts.’”
