Latino Legacy
Latino Americans have always played an active role in America’s history. They have been instrumental to the development of Washington state since the 1774 Spanish exploration of the Olympic Peninsula.
Latinos are not a homogenous group; they are a pan-ethnic group with roots in 19 Spanish-speaking Latin American countries and Spain. The majority of Latinos living in the United States today were born here, but a third are immigrants, and many more are the children and grandchildren of immigrants. Most speak English well, but also speak Spanish. Some don’t speak English, and others don’t speak Spanish.
Latinos are currently the largest minority in the United States at more than 18 percent of the population. During the past 40 years Washington State’s Hispanic population has increased dramatically from 120,016 in 1980 to 1,018,765 in 2010.
Many Latino Americans first came to Yakima County in the 1940s to work in agriculture. Some of those farm workers chose to stay in the valley, to raise families and build communities. A growing percentage of 2nd and 3rd generation Latinos have become professionals or entrepreneurs who provide services and jobs that strengthen our local economy.
Malavé, I., & Giordani, E. (2015). Latino stats: American Hispanics by the numbers. New York: The New Press.