When John Leguizamo walks out at the beginning of VOCES American Historia: The Untold History of Latinos, one of the first things you see is a chalkboard with the message “Decolonize Your Mind.” After centuries of Americans being taught a Eurocentric – and false – account of United States history, the actor, producer, comedian, and writer has made it his mission to teach Latinxs how critical we have been in the creation and success of the land we reside on today. And one of the ways Leguizamo is doing this is through Ben DeJesus’ three-part docuseries. Let’s dig in.
The Olmecs Invented Rubber
In the first episode of VOCES American Historia: The Untold History of Latinos, entitled “Echoes of Empires,” we learn about the Indigenous excellence of the Tainos, Olmecs, Mayans, and Incas. For example, 3,000 years ago, the Olmecs, known as The Rubber People, created rubber from latex extracted from trees. Imagine all the things we use today because of the Olmecs’ innovation – erasers, tires, hoses, balloons, and much more.
The Incas Were More Successful at Skull Surgery Than Europeans
After the docuseries mentions that only 7% of American doctors today are Latino, Leguiizamo wonders if more of us would pursue medical degrees if we knew how innovative our ancestors have been in that field. John Verano, Biological Anthropologist at Tulane University, shares that the Incas in Peru practiced trepanation – a surgery where a hole is cut into the brain to allow it to expand when more room is needed. For the Incas, Leguizamo mentions, patients had an 80%- 90% survival rate for this procedure, while in Europe, up into the early 20th century, it was only about 10%. And Americans didn’t get to the Incas’ level until after the Civil War. There it is – Indigenous medical excellence.
The Mayans Had Toilets Before The White House Did
We have an ingrained, colonized habit of automatically assuming that anything “advanced” must have come from Europe. In our defense, that’s what they teach in schools (that’s why the rewriting of history, as this docuseries does, is so important!). So imagine learning that the Maya “had one of the most advanced water systems” in the world. In fact, while we erroneously give Thomas Crapper the credit for creating the toilet, the Mayans built toilets with stones. To drive the point home, Leguizamo shares that “the White House didn’t get indoor plumbing until 1804.”
Dominican Juan Rodriguez Was New York’s First Immigrant
It’s always cool to find out historical firsts, especially when they have to do with Latinxs. According to Dominican Cultural History Researcher Anthony R. Stevens-Acevedo, Juan Rodriguez was “the first non-Native-American, first Black person, and first Latino person to have resided in what is now the New York metro area.” In 1613, he left Santo Domingo on a Dutch merchant ship. fur trading with the Natives. When it was time for the ship to return to the Netherlands, Rodriguez refused to go back.
Thomas Jefferson Spoke Spanish and Thought Americans Should Too
Imagine a President showing how important it is for Americans to know Spanish. In American Historia, historical writer and actor Enrique Castillo shares that Thomas Jefferson did just that when he said that half of U.S. history is written in Spanish, and so, it was important for Americans to speak it. Granted, Jefferson was thinking about the continent’s continued relationship with Spain, but this also highlights the fact that US history has always been more than just Anglo and spoken in more than one language.
