Hispanic Americans

When a vastly undercounted Latino population decided to make itself impossible to ignore, thousands marched from Mount Pleasant to Kalorama Park on August 1, 1971, filling the streets with music, food, and colorful kioskos—an act of cultural pride that launched an annual festival and helped reshape Washington’s civic life.

A bold 1977 mural in Adams Morgan—painted by Chilean brothers who fled dictatorship—has survived fading, earthquake damage, restorations, and gentrification to remain the city’s oldest living Latinx public artwork and a vivid record of a changing neighborhood.

In May 1991, a police shooting in a predominantly Latino Mount Pleasant neighborhood ignited days of clashes, looting, and violence. The events exposed deep mistrust between residents and the Metropolitan Police, prompting a citywide curfew and a tense, citywide reckoning over policing, language, and a changing Washington.

Luis Araya, immigrated to Arlington from Bolivia as a young boy in 1966, when very few Latinos lived in the county. He's worked for the county government for 40 years and he also happens to be a Director at the Arlington Historical Society. So he brings an interesting perspective on the experience of Latinos in Arlington over time.