When Rogelio Villegas took a field trip to the Chicago History Museum in 2019, he was not inspired but disappointed.

He and his classmates from Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy saw almost no representation of the Latino community, which accounts for 30% of Chicago’s population.

“Growing up, it’s like you go to museums and you see all these different histories, but a big part of the country is Latinx people,” said Villegas, 24, of Pilsen. “Why isn’t there something that talks about us? Why isn’t there something that really explains the creation of the country? It was created by all types of people, and I felt like other people were getting credit.”

Villegas and his high school peers sprang into action, staging a social media protest , meeting with museum leaders and demanding the

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