Now that the Census Bureau has officially declared the presence of 50.5 million Latinos in the U.S, a new television series reveals the story of how many of them got here. The 20-part documentary series is called The Children of the Revolución…How the Mexican Revolution Changed America. It’s being aired on KLRN, the PBS affiliate in San Antonio, on Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons and can be seen at KLRN.org or ChildrenoftheRevolucion.com.
“Almost a million people fled Mexico from the United Sates between 1910 and 1920 almost doubling the population of Texas and Latinizing much of the Southwest as well as large industrial cities such as Chicago, Detroit and places in the Midwest,” says executive producer and host Lionel Sosa. “Wealthy Mexicans were stripped of their land and possessions during those devastating years. Many intellectuals fled for fear they would be assassinated due to political or religious ties to one group or another. The poorer families fled simply to escape the instability of the times.”
Now the stories of the descendants of the brave souls who risked it all to make America their new home are being told for the first time. The idea originated with Kathy Sosa, Lionel’s wife, who recalls: “These stories are not in history books, our children don’t learn them in school, and they’ve never been shown in any museum or exhibition. So we took it upon ourselves to produce the series when KLRN CEO Bill Moll enthusiastically agreed to air it. Then with the expert help of Jesús Ramirez, Alejandro Maya and Jorge Conde [principals of My Story Inc.] the perfect team was in place to make it all a reality.”
Production was made possible with seed funding from the TDECU Credit Union in Lake Jackson, Texas, and the Elizabeth Huth Coates Foundation in San Antonio. But with so many other stories waiting to be told, Lionel and his team are travelling the country to secure sponsors for national distribution.
“These intensely personal stories of The Children of the Revolución are creating new role models for all children of today and tomorrow, whatever their cultural background might be,” Moll says. “We are pleased that the series is being shared with our fellow Public Broadcasters around the State of Texas.
Current stories feature prominent Texans including Dr. Henry G. Cisneros, former HUD secretary and now executive chairman of CityView; Dr. Ricardo Romo, president of UTSA; Charles Barrett, CEO of several car dealerships, including Barrett Jaguar; Dr. Robert Trevino, director of the Health and Research Center; Julian Castro, mayor of San Antonio and Joaquin Castro, Texas state representative; Sandra Cisneros, nationally acclaimed author; Dan Guerrero, California producer and director and some 55 others.
“The majority of U.S. Hispanics have roots in Mexico and these stories prove that people came, and still come with a burning desire to become productive, successful contributors to their families and the greater society,” Lionel says. “Like all other immigrants, the people who fled Mexico came here to find a better opportunity and the U.S. became the place to make it happen.”
