Celebrando Hispanic Heritage: Amid gaps in Michiana’s Hispanic History, communities work to preserve their own stories
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated from September 15 to October 15. It's a time to honor the histories, cultures, and contributions of the Hispanic and Latino communities across the nation.
Today, Hispanic communities serve as catalysts in our economy and enrich our communities as entrepreneurs, entertainers, activists, leaders and so much more. The stories of how these cultures came to Mishima how these cultures came to Michiana dates back to the 1950.
ABC57 News reached out to major historical museums in South Bend, Elkhart and Benton Harbor and they all gave similar responses of not having a formal record of Hispanic history in our area. While there may not be several written accounts of Spanish history, we found there are people in our community trying to preserve past legacies and keep their stories alive.
"What's happening within our Latino, Hispanic and immigrant community in South Bend and throughout the region is an example of what's possible in any city in the United States of America" says Juan Constantino, the CEO of La Casa de Amistad - a local non-profit founded in the 1970's to address the needs of migrant farmworkers.
And as the Hispanic community flourished, so did the resources of the La Casa de Amistad, and they soon found they had to adapt to meet more needs. With people needing education, legal and health services, La Casa de Amistad shifted to serve those needs.
“We have social services for our community, educational programs for our preschoolers and k-12 students, adult education, an immigration legal clinic, as well as some advocacy programs such as our no human being is illegal campaign,” Constantino says.
La Casa de Amistad now provides 18 services, and Constantino says the majority of people come here for immigration services. Constantino says their bilingual attorney is the number one service requested right now.
"January 20th of 2025, we officially brought on a full-time immigration attorney and expanded the immigration legal clinic to really see the signs of the times,” Constantino shares.”
“Federal policy was changing, immigration enforcement has been on the rise and we've got a lot of families that either loved ones have been detained [and] want to know their rights, [or] still need representation for their case,” he says.
U.S. immigration data shows for Mexicans alone, the median number of years spent waiting on citizenship is nearly 11 years and for Salvadorians it's 10 years.
The National Archives reports in general, that process in the early 1900s took a minimum of five years for all immigrants.
Jenifer Blouin Policelli, the education curator at the Elkhart County Historical Museum provided insight into the history of Hispanic communities, saying, "There was a first wave of Hispanic migration into this area in the 1950s and 60s, and many of those people coming at that time were migrant farm workers. Those numbers stayed the same until we get to about the 1990s and we saw a bigger influx of migration of Hispanic people coming into this region, drawn mostly by industry, factory jobs."
The RV industry was one of the biggest draws for a lot of Hispanics moving to Elkhart County in the 1990s.
The Elkhart County Museum is passionate about preserving and portraying Latino history in the area and one method they have achieved this is through oral storytelling.
Blouin Policelli says the Elkhart County Historical Museum has partnered with Goshen College students on an oral history project where they have the opportunity to meet with Latino community members for oral history interviews. Through sitting down and recording their stories, the Elkhart County Historical Museum is able to preserve and amplify Hispanic history.
Today, Venezuelan immigrants like Diana Isabel Raggio shares her own experience of starting over and building a life in Michiana as the owner of Glow Obsession.
“Los mayores desafíos que he tenido es que el tema de no saber cómo funcionan las leyes en este país, de pronto no saber el idioma. Yo pensaba que yo sabía hablar inglés hasta que yo tuve que enfrentarme a todo esto,” Reggio says.
Translation: "The biggest challenges I've had are not knowing how the laws work in this country, and sometimes not knowing the language. I thought I knew how to speak English until I faced all of this."
The Latin Chamber of Commerce supports small businesses in the area and often supporting these owners looks like breaking barriers of negative self-talk.
President of Latin Chamber of Commerce, Paula Gudelia Sowers says “There are silos that we put ourselves in, because 'I can't,' 'I never will.’ That mindset that we're putting ourselves in because they haven't ventured out and they don't know. We need to break those silos, the barriers, and so we welcome everybody in."