Smithsonian Latino Center to open new gallery

The Smithsonian Institution is working towards providing a spotlight for the Latine American story for everyone to see at the nation’s capital.

In 2022 The Smithsonian Institution will take the next big step in creating a gallery that will provide a spotlight to Latine history and the stories that they as a collective culture have been waiting to tell. The Molina Family Latino Gallery will be a gallery within the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, showcasing Latin American culture and the Latin American experience in America.

The gallery itself is being helmed by the Smithsonian Latino Center, established in 1997, a place that is working towards making sure that Latin American culture is being shown and taught to everyone. The Latino Center strives to achieve this through supporting various projects such as exhibitions, collections or web-based content, all aimed at celebrating and preserving Latine history.

The Molina Family Latino Gallery has been named after it!s lead donor!s, the family of Dr. C David Molina, founder of Molina Healthcare Inc., and is being described by the Latino Center as the “Smithsonian’s first museum space dedicated to the Latino experience on the National Mall”. There has yet to be a place for Latine history on a stage as big as the Smithsonian and the Latino Center is helping rectify that by creating a space where Latine stories will be told loud and clear for thousands of visitors to see.

“Overall the gallery will provide a history 101 if you will, it’ll give context for how Latino history is American history,” stated David Coronado, Senior Communications Officer for the Latino Center.

The gallery will display historical objects, digital content and also the various stories that encompass what it means to be Latine in America. Visitors to the gallery will be able to hear first hand what it means to be Latine and an immigrant and/or what it means to be a Latine born in the U.S. These different perspectives show that Latin American identity in America is diverse and not just a single easy, pathway one can follow.

“I think thats one of the things we want people to take away whether it’s Latinos and non Latinos alike, that we’re often living under this one umbrella, under this one massive label and there is some inconsistency to what it is,” expressed Coronado.

The Molina Family Latino Gallery will also serve as the precursor to the National Museum of the American Latino, an entire museum committed to providing an extensive look to the American Latine life. Currently, plans for the museum have only just started to pick up, with it only receiving authorization from U.S. congress in late 2020. While the museum is being built and created, the gallery is sure to deliver a look into what an entire museum for Latine’s could hopefully look like in the near feature.

The importance of having a gallery and museum is more important now than ever as it is clear that American society is made up of more than just one culture and instead made up of a wide range of heritages. Having a chance to put on display what others may not see, know or may not have experienced personally, gives people a chance to recognize that the U.S. is more than what it seems and has been for years.

“Remembering that Latino history is American history, you can’t tell that story without us. That’s why it’s important that we’d be included in that. We’re foundational to this entire endeavor as a significant chunk of our country would not exist if it weren’t for what came before it,” explained Coronado.

The Molina Family Latino Gallery’s inaugural exhibition will be¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States where it will show the contribution of Latine’s to the story of U.S. history. Visit latino.si.edu to learn more about the Smithsonian Latino Center and the Molina Family Latino Gallery.