Smithsonian Latino museum takes big steps, but top question remains: Will it be on the National Mall?
The National Museum of the American Latino is still at least a decade away from getting its own home in Washington, D.C., but two milestones, one recent and one just months away, are turning what was a dream for so many into reality.
A Smithsonian Institution search committee last month named the museum's first permanent director, HistoryMiami Museum's Jorge Zamanillo, and the Smithsonian will unveil the Molina Family Latino Gallery, the first museum space on the National Mall dedicated to the U.S. Latino experience, in the National Museum of American History in June. The gallery will offer an idea of what to expect when the Museum of the American Latino opens.
And the museum's location, perhaps the biggest question mark of all, is supposed to be decided by the end of the year. Advocates are pushing for one of the few remaining spots on the National Mall, where many other Smithsonian museums, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Museum of the American Indian, are located.
The American Women's History Museum, which was approved by Congress along with the Latino museum in late 2020, also aims to be located on the mall, where four spots are potentially available and all pose logistical challenges. The Smithsonian Board of Regents will ultimately select the locations.
Zamanillo, who assumes his post on May 2, said the new museum will underline that Latino history is American history and that the culture is broad and deep, not the monolithic stereotype some mistakenly assume.
The museum, planned to be more than 300,000 square feet in size, will be "about all these things that we share in common, including immigration, origin stories, our presence here in North America, in what became the United States," he said. It will examine "the stereotypes that we've all had to deal with in the process of living here, but at the same time it's also the flip side of that, where it's celebrating the accomplishments of Latinos, the cultural history, educational advancements, scientific contributions and that resiliency that we all share."
The museum's mission will be expansive. "When I say the history of Latinos, I mean everything – the history of the culture, the art, the music, the food, all these different components that make up our culture," Zamanillo said.
This year's advancements mark major steps in a long journey that began with a damning admission, a 1994 Smithsonian-commissioned report that found the institution guilty of "willful neglect" toward the nation's Latino people, who pre-dated the British in the Americas and now account for nearly a fifth of the U.S. population.
In 1997, the Smithsonian Latino Center was created to spotlight Latino art, history and culture. A bipartisan Congressional coalition introduced legislation to create a commission to study the feasibility of a museum in 2003. In December 2020, Congress approved the museum.
Former U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-FL, who joined California Democrat Xavier Becerra – now U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary – as lead sponsor of the 2003 commission legislation in the House of Representatives, said the long wait has been worth it.
"When I first got to Congress in 1989, I had my kids there and I'm thinking, 'Wow, there's no museum that even has a little section for Latinos.' And I was shocked by that," said Ros-Lehtinen, who represented a South Florida district until 2019 and serves on the chairman's advisory council of Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino, a museum advocacy organization.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers worked on legislation leading to the museum's creation, Ros-Lehtinen said, "never thinking that we could really, really, really pull it off. And, by God, we're so excited to see this almost come to fruition. It's been a wonderful bipartisan and bicameral act of love. I'm really excited about what's going to happen."
Although the full museum's opening still is estimated to be 10 to 12 years away, the Molina gallery will give the public a taste of what is to come and a test lab for ideas that will fully flower in a permanent structure, said Eduardo Díaz, director of the Smithsonian Latino Center since 2008 and interim director of the Museum of the American Latino.
"When Molina opens and people see something physical on the mall, I think it's going to generate a lot of excitement because they'll see what's possible in a new museum later on, a decade away. But right now is when we need them to start buying in," he said.
The 4,500-square-foot space will open with “¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States,” which Díaz described as "kind of like a Latino 101 because we wanted to give people a bigger picture of who we are as a community, our history, our culture, some of the issues that have impacted us over the years."
All exhibits will be presented in English and Spanish.
The gallery, supported by a $10 million donation from the five children of Dr. C. David Molina and his wife, educator Mary Molina, will be in the American History museum for at least 10 years, with rotating exhibits every couple of years.
"It anchors the museum on the mall. While this won't be the future site, at least it gives a place for people to go on the mall and learn about Latino art, culture and history. A lot of people will visit and you'll get a lot of exposure. It will be a way for people to start thinking about what's next," said J. Mario Molina, a Molina family member who has advocated for a permanent museum spot on the mall.
Molina, who serves on a Museum of the American Latino board of trustees that includes actors Eva Longoria and Sofia Vergara, chef José Andrés, musician Emilio Estefan and journalist Soledad O'Brien, said his family's gift and the gallery itself could inspire others to contribute the private money needed to help build the permanent museum. A 2011 Congressional report estimated the museum would cost $600 million, paid for by an even split of government appropriations and private donations made through the Smithsonian, but that number could be higher.
The gallery "will create higher visibility. I think as we try to raise the funds to build a new museum, it would be really helpful to take people somewhere and say, 'This is a preview of what's going to happen,'" said Molina, the great-grandson of a Mexican immigrant who once worked as a Colorado River deckhand and son of a doctor who founded Molina Healthcare, a Fortune 500 company.
As to why the Latino story can't just be fully incorporated into the American History museum, experts said there isn't the space to do it justice, an argument also made in support of the African American and Native American museums.
A dedicated museum also highlights the significance of a long-neglected history. "It puts our story at a national level," Zamanillo said. "When a Latino visits this museum, this will be the first time for many of them that they see their story being told in a museum. That's important."
Ros-Lehtinen initially heard criticism from some who said the Latino story should be told in the American History museum, not in its own dedicated building.
"When we first started with our effort, people were saying, 'You're going to be dividing the country, you're hyphenating Americans.' And I said, 'No, this is part of the great mosaic that is the United States of America. This is really to bring our country together.' And I think it has," Ros-Lehtinen said.
The museum's location carries practical and symbolic significance, said Estuardo Rodriguez, president and CEO of Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino. A number of spots are being considered, but only a few are on the mall, the historic park that runs from the U.S. Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial.
"The understanding is America's history is told on the National Mall. From one building to the next, you piece together the narrative (from) our nation's founding to the present day. And to have the Women's History and the American Latino museum housed somewhere beyond the mall is to send a clear message that it's not as important to the narratives of American history (as) it truly is," Rodriguez said. "So I think there’s going to be broad support from the American Latino community and allies … that these buildings should be on the mall."