Latino Americans are one of the largest diasporas in the United States, and they play a significant role in the economy and politics of the state. Today, one can find successful Latino Americans in culture, art, politics, business, and any other field in the USA. However, episodes of the documentary showed me that the current status of Latino Americans is the result of many years of struggle for their rights and democracy in the United States.
The PBS documentary is the most informative and educational of all the documentaries that I saw, although it often puzzled me. I have known about many of the events of the episodes, for example, about the Mexican War, the expansion of the United States to the west and south. Other facts and events turned out to be new to me because I had never paid enough attention to the history of Latino Americans. For this reason, I do not know the answers to the many questions in the episodes. Most of all, I remember the stories of Seguín and Vallejo, who tried their best to protect their lands and raised many people to fight. In general, the history of the settlement of California for me is much more interesting than I expected because of the many details and examples.
Striking and shocking are also the episodes that show the struggle of Latino Americans for their rights, both in the 1960s and after the second wave of immigration. Firstly, although I know the history of the African American people’s struggle in the 1960s, I did not think that representatives of other ethnic groups also faced such discrimination and poverty. For this reason, the actions of Velásquez, Chavez, and other activists, I consider no less important for American history and the formation of American society. Another interesting fact is that the population of Latino Americans in the USA is so numerous, and this feature is their main strength. For example, the movement against bilingualism was defeated because thousands of people who represented the first, second, and third generation of Latino Americans in the US opposed it. Amusing and inspiring is the fact that one of the first leaders of the bilingualism movement is a Russian-born immigrant, Emmy Schafer. All these events in the struggle for the rights of Latino Americans show mutual understanding and common problems of any nation in the USA.
Moreover, the feature of this documentary is that it is detailed but, at the same time, not boring. Almost all comments and stories told by real people are touching and make historical facts real. For example, the history of deportation, during which Latino Americans, who made a considerable contribution to the development of the US economy, were forced to leave their property and their current lives. The episodes have many other real examples that are intertwined with real facts; for this reason, I believe that this documentary can be highly rated.
In conclusion, the educational content and structure of the film are ideal examples of a documentary that I enjoyed. I brought out a lot of useful knowledge and expanded my understanding of the history of the modern USA. In addition, these episodes showed me the importance of people’s standing on their position and fighting for their rights, which brings benefits to democratic societies.
Reference
Latino Americans | PBS. (2013). PBS. Web.