When Rogelio Villegas took a field trip to the Chicago History Museum in 2019, he was not inspired but disappointed.
He and his classmates from Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy saw almost no representation of the Latino community, which accounts for 30% of Chicago’s population.
“Growing up, it’s like you go to museums and you see all these different histories, but a big part of the country is Latinx people,” said Villegas, 24, of Pilsen. “Why isn’t there something that talks about us? Why isn’t there something that really explains the creation of the country? It was created by all types of people, and I felt like other people were getting credit.”
Villegas and his high school peers sprang into action, staging a social media protest, meeting with museum leaders and demanding they create an exhibition about Latinos’ contributions. Six years later, their dreams have been realized with “Aquí en Chicago,” which opened Saturday and runs through Nov. 8, 2026.
“It’s just unbelievable,” said Villegas, now a father who plans to visit with his small children. ”I never imagined it would happen.”
Presented in English and Spanish, the colorful exhibition features artwork, items from entrepreneurs, instruments, costumes and snippets of oral histories — including some highlighting indigenous languages. There is also educational text about Latino resistance movements. Reflecting on the current immigration enforcement raids across the Chicago area, curators, students and community members described the exhibition as a timely reminder of the impact of protest.
“I want everyone to understand that it is within our power to make change,” said Elena Gonzales, the museum’s curator of civic engagement and social justice. “It is within our power to affect institutions, create socially just communities and create a future that we want to see. And that’s exactly what the students who started this off were doing. So everyone should feel empowered in this moment.”
(From left) Elizabeth Lopez-Jimenez, Rogelio Villegas and Esvin Cortez, students in Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy’s history class, “Chicago: A Struggle for Equity,” discuss their campaign to push for more Latino representation at the Chicago History Museum in 2019. The current exhibit is a testament to their persistence and dedication.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file
Having long since graduated, the Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy students didn’t help build the exhibition. But they helped establish advisory committees that kept the work going forward. And the museum hired other young people as interns to assist Gonzales, curator Rebekah Coffman and digital humanities fellow Jojo Galvan Mora.
Some of the standout items include a bedazzled quinceañera gown from My Quince World in Little Village; a bomba drum made by performer Rubén Gerena; a paletero’s cart from Paleteria Reina de Sabores in Ravenswood; and a red cooler from Chef Claudio Vélez, who is known throughout the city as “the tamale guy.”
Gonzales said it was important to show both the cultural importance and widespread impact of “everyday items.”
Also on display are the posters made in 2019 by the Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy students.
“It’s because of them that our school will continue to be recognized,” said Maribel Arellano, who is the principal at the Pilsen alternative high school. “I am very proud of them for that and very thankful. Our current staff and students now have to fill in those big shoes.”
The student protesters were supported by the school’s former history teacher, Anton Miglietta, who said he employed a “student-centered” curriculum that allowed the young people to have agency in the classroom.
“I’m just extraordinarily humbled by their dedication and commitment to make this change and call attention to what they felt they had been robbed of,” said Miglietta, 53, of Uptown. ”I’m just extremely proud of them for stepping up to actually address their own miseducation.”
Back during that 2019 field trip, the students’ main focus was the museum’s permanent exhibition, “Chicago: Crossroads of America.” They said they didn’t see Latinos included in the stories presented.
Building off their efforts, current high school interns created “interventions” now on view in the area. Visitors will find Latino history displays with labels written by the students.
Ana Romero, of Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy High School, used her display to describe Latinos’ contributions to baseball.
“A lot of Latinos don’t get the recognition that they deserve,” said Ana, 17, of Hegewisch. “We’ve always been here. It’s really sad that we’re getting our recognition only now, but I’m really happy that this is a time where we get to speak up, especially with the political environment we are in.”
The exhibition helps change the narrative about immigrants, said Nez Castro, a former intern and University of Illinois Chicago graduate who helped work on “Aquí en Chicago.”
“The government’s been portraying us as criminals and people who are taking advantage of government programs,” said Castro, the 24-year-old grandson of the late Raymond Castro, Chicago’s first Latino Democratic ward committeeperson. “I feel like this exhibition really stands counter to that. You can see the hard work people have put into the city to maintain their own cultures and build something for future generations.”
As for the next generation of students, Rogelio Villegas hopes his protest inspires them to take action “in a peaceful way.”
“Keep fighting,” he said. “Make your voice be heard.”