The library is excited to announce the addition of a new primary source collection, History Vault: Latino Civil Rights During the Carter Administration.
In the summer of 1979, the Carter Administration created the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs in order to address issues of critical importance to the Latino community. Major topics covered in Latino Civil Rights During the Carter Administration include inflation, bilingual education, police brutality, political unrest in Latin America, Haitian refugees, immigration (legal and otherwise), Puerto Rican self-determination, and the US Navy's use of Vieques Island.
The collection consists of digital archival documents from the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs and includes the Esteban Torres files and the Files of Gilbert Colon, Raul Robert Tapia, Miriam Cruz, Armando Rendon, and Hila Solis.
Esteban Torres was the head of the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs and a former UNESCO ambassador. The files inlude records of his travels across the United States and documents pertaining to the inner workings of many Latinx organizations, including La Raza, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Colon, Tapia, Cruz, Rendon, and Solis were Ambassador Torres's assistants in the Office.
This collection represents a full spectrum of issues affecting the Latinx community in the late 1970s and early 1980s and provides a fascinating look at the work of a newly formed White House office.
