The National Museum of the American Latino, in the works for decades, is finally becoming a reality

The Latino museum’s journey in fact stretches back decades. “The first Congressional bill was introduced in 2003 by former Reps. Xavier Becerra (D-CA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) to create a commission to study the feasibility of a future museum,” the office of New York Rep. José Serrano said earlier this year. “In 2008, that legislation was signed into law and a 23-member commission was formed soon after,” with members presenting their final report to former President Barack Obama in 2011.

Nearly a decade later, Serrano, now in his final term in Congress after announcing his retirement due to Parkinson’s disease, cosponsored legislation that passed the House this past July by voice vote, marking the first time the museum has been approved by either chamber. 

“I am incredibly proud that, during my final term in office, I have been able to lead the effort in the House to make the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino a reality,” he said at the time. “Today, we reached an important milestone for the Hispanic community with passage of this legislation. After nearly 20 years of work, the National Museum of the American Latino Act was finally considered and approved with overwhelming bipartisan support.”

With growing bipartisan support in the Senate, legislators hoped the measure would see similar approval through unanimous consent. That process, however, can be thwarted by a single senator. That’s exactly what Lee did—and not just to the Latino museum either, but to the women’s museum as well, despite it being introduced by a member of his own party. 

NBC News reported at the time that Lee’s reasoning for opposing a museum for Latinos but not other groups is because “museums for African Americans and Native Americans were built because those groups were subjected to systemic racism and their stories in history were erased.” Like I noted at the time, that’s some pretzel logic when a 1994 Smithsonian Institution Task Force on Latinos called the lack of such an institution “a pattern of willful neglect” toward Latinos.

Lee’s blockading lasted a little under two weeks before Menendez was able to secure the measure’s inclusion in the must-pass spending bill. “500 years of the American Latino experience cannot be erased by one man,” Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino president and CEO Estuard tweeted following Lee’s shenanigans. “We have come a long way in this campaign, working closely with Republican and Democrats, and we will work around Sen. Lee and his outdated xenophobia.” And they did. The National Museum of the American Latino, as well as the American Women’s History Museum, will happen.

“And with that, the National American Latino Museum is signed into law,” tweeted the main account for Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino. “Amen y hallelujah! Thank you to our amazing champions on Capitol Hill, our board, our national partners and friends around the nation!! The work continues until we open the doors.”