Latino History in the Pacific Northwest

Chicano/a Movement in Washington State History Project The Chicano/a Movement made an important impact on Washington state. Hispanic Americans had migrated through the Pacific Northwest since before statehood. Following an influx of “bracero” farm workers in Eastern Washington during World War II, their numbers grew steadily and had become significant in Washington State by the 1960s. The movement in Washington emerged in two locales: in the Yakima Valley, which was home to most of the state's Latinos, and in Seattle and especially the University of Washington, where Chicano students launched many new initiatives. Reflecting the split geography, the movement linked together campaigns to organize and support farmworkers with projects that served urban communities and educational agendas.

Historical Overview: Mexican Americans in the Columbia Basin The 1,200-mile long Columbia River drains a 259,000-square-mile basin that includes territory in seven states (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Wyoming, and Utah) and one Canadian province. The Columbia River Basin Ethnic History Archive project spotlights a variety of people who have migrated to this part of the Pacific Northwest over the past two hundred years, including African Americans, Chinese, German, Jewish, Japanese, Mexican Americans and others.

Oregon Public Broadcasting's Oregon Experience: The Braceros This site includes essays, photographs, and a video documentary about the international agreement between the United States and Mexico, an arrangement for American farms and railroads to contract with temporary Mexican workers. Officially named the Emergency Farm Labor Supply Program, it ultimately came to be known as the Bracero program.

“Latino Roots: in Lane County, Oregon/ Raices Latinas: del Condada de Lane, Oregon” is an online 33-page bilingual booklet that details the Latino presence in what is now the state of Oregon.

150 Years of Latino Contributions in OregonRemarks by Commissioner Marcela Mendoza detailing the accomplishments of r Latinos who settled in Oregon.

HistoryLink: Mexican American Women in Washington Mexicans first moved to Washington Territory in the 1860s, one family raising sheep in the Yakima valley and another operating a mule pack train. In the twentieth century, particularly after the start of World War II, Mexican migrants from the Southwest and immigrants from Mexico, including women, made up a large part of the labor force that brought in Yakima County's harvests. In the last half of the twentieth century, Mexican American women assumed prominent roles in communities and in politics. They have been an important part of the nearly 756,000 Latinos who now live in the state as of the 2010 census.

State of Washington Office of Superintendent's Center for the Improvement of Student Learning: History of Latinos in the Northwest CISL provides information to educators, parents and community leaders to assist them with navigating public education in our state. This brochure provides an overview of the history and movement of Latinos into the Pacific Northwest and specifically Washington. This history is intertwined with the Spanish explorations of the sixteenth century, continuing through the colonial period, followed by the migration of Mexicans in the nineteenth century and the settling out patterns of a larger Latino community in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Salem (Oregon) Online History: Latinos In Salem The Salem Public Library sponsored the creation of the Salem History Project. The Salem History Project takes an encyclopedia approach to providing access to Salem's history of culture, events, institutions and people which has led this community into the 21st Century.