John Leguizamo's PBS series “American Historia” tells Latino stories

John Leguizamo is tired of Latino stories missing from American history. And he's doing something about it…again.

The award-winning actor and producer is the host and driving force behind the new PBS series “American Historia: The Untold History of Latinos,” premiering September 27.

Directed by Ben DeJesus, the three-part show follows the “Freak” comedian as he explores threads of Latin American history often drawn from textbooks.

With expert insights from historians, anthropologists, and authors—and narratives from actors such as Benjamin Bratt, Rosario Dawson, Edward James Olmos, and Rosie Perez—the series hopes to highlight the longstanding existence of Latinos in the United States and their contributions.

“This was a passion project of mine and my cultural contribution to Latinos in America,” Leguizamo tells the Times.

The first episode, “Echoes of Empires,” highlights indigenous communities before colonization.

“A lot of the story we hear about this is told from the perspective of the colonizers,” DeJesus said. “It’s almost like assuming we didn’t exist until the arrival of the Spanish on the shores of the Caribbean.”

In one example, the series highlights the wonders of ancient Inca trephination – a neurosurgical procedure in which the skull was drilled to relieve head pressure – which had a survival rate of 80%, compared to 50% for cranial surgery Performed 400 years later at the height of the American Civil War.

Leguizamo and DeJesus celebrate the medical achievements of indigenous civilizations before colonization and examine the predominant civil rights contributions of Latinos in the United States. They hope to reclaim the stories that are often glossed over or excluded from the mainstream.

“We’ve been here since 1492 and long before that,” said the Colombian-born, Queens-raised actor. “It's just disastrous for us to be so invisible, so erased and so excluded everywhere in America, in the media and in the corporations where decisions are made.”

Leguizamo believes American Historia can be the corrective, calling it a “vaccine” to address the lack of representation in textbooks.

He points to a 2023 report from the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy and UnidosUS that found this 87% of key themes in Latino history were omitted from US textbooks or mentioned in five sentences or less. The only Latino breakthrough story mentioned in the six textbooks analyzed over the past 200 years was the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court.

And there are consequences, Leguizamo said, pointing to Latino students who don't see themselves reflected in the story they read, considering they're going to make up a story One third of the public school population by 2030.

“They can abuse and exploit us and take away our political power,” Leguizamo said. “It allows people to 'other' us because they didn't see that we contributed to the creation of this country.”

The actor is no stranger to taking a critical look at Latino-influenced history.

His Tony-nominated one-man Broadway show and Netflix special “Latino History for Morons” was a comical attempt to pack 3,000 years of Latino history into a 90-minute lesson. He was inspired to make it after he realized his teenage son wasn't learning about his own Latino heritage in school.

“When John was working on 'Latin History for Morons,' he said something that resonated with me,” said DeJesus, who chronicled the second-year comedian's return to the Theater District in the 2018 documentary “John Leguizamo's Road to Broadway.” held on.

“He said, 'Can you imagine how other people would look at us if they knew what an incredible contribution we made to the founding of this country?' DeJesus added.

The two are long-time creative partners when it comes to Latin American storytelling. They appeared on PBS's “American Masters: Raúl Juliá,” which honored the legacy of the late “Addams Family”-loving patriarch, and on the series special “Lights, Camera, Acción,” which spotlighted Latino creatives in the entertainment industry . Last year, the duo explored Latino communities, histories and cuisines across the U.S. on their six-part MSNBC series “Leguizamo Does America.”

“I really appreciate that John put his own career on the line because he's not afraid to speak his mind [the lack of Latino representation]said DeJesus.

Two years ago the actor wrote an open letter in the Times calls for greater representation of Latinos in the industry, where only 2.6% of Latinos starred in shows, according to a 2022 report on Latinos in the media by the Latino Donor Collaborativedespite reconciliation 19.1% of the US population.

“We need a better pipeline for Latinos in films, TV shows and plays. We need a system for our stories and our projects. We need leaders to give the green light,” Leguizamo wrote.

During this year's 76th Emmy AwardsLeguizamo gave a lighthearted speech about the changing landscape of Latino representation entertainment and teased his “grievance” in June Advertisement in the New York Times The push for more diverse nominations ultimately paid off.

“But the advertising worked because Hollywood changed overnight. Okay, not really. But what I see here tonight makes me, well, almost happy and certainly less angry because tonight is part of it Most diverse nomination list in Emmys history” he said.

The premiere of “American Historia: The Untold History of Latinos” on September 27th will be followed by the second and final episodes on October 4th and 11th, respectively.