The exhibit also reflects longstanding tensions around immigration, including the Bracero Program, a guest worker initiative that brought hundreds of thousands of Mexican laborers to the United States during World War II and the following decades, and 1954\u2019s Operation Wetback, a large-scale U.S. government deportation campaign that sought to expel undocumented Mexican immigrants, including some who had arrived legally through the Bracero Program.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this exhibition, we talk about so-called Mexican repatriation,\u201d said Elena Gonzales, the museum\u2019s curator of civic engagement and social justice. \u201cWell, 2 million people were pushed out of the United States to Mexico during that time, and 60% of them were U.S. citizens. \u2026 Operation Wetback took place during the Bracero Program, when people were being brought here to work, and then at the same time, thousands of people were being expelled.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Curator](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ctc-l-history-museum-58_245369940.jpg\")
Curator Elena Gonzales stands in front of students\u2019 protest posters from 2019 in the \u201cAqu\u00ed en Chicago\u201d exhibition at the Chicago History Museum, Oct. 22, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
Connecting the exhibit with the present-day targeting of immigrants by President Donald Trump\u2019s administration, museum exhibition adviser Ester Trujillo sees mixed emotions in immigrant communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that Latinos have been in Chicago for a very long time,\u201d Trujillo said. \u201cAnd there are these ebbs and flows of joy and pain. \u2026 What we wanted to do was to capture the core elements of that journey of historical presence and then also permanence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trujillo said her favorite display features Quiroz\u2019s lunchbox, apron and keys.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy favorite part of it is the way it\u2019s mounted, because when you look at the piece, you see a reflection, and it could be any of us wearing that apron,\u201d she said. \u201cJust looking at the stains and the weathering of the lunch pail, understanding that part of Chicago\u2019s history is really interesting because it\u2019s been here since the 1940s.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ctc-l-history-museum-44_245369890.jpg\")
The lunch pail, worker\u2019s apron, and set of metal keys of former Pullman worker 89-year-old Alfonso Quiroz are on display in the \u201cAqu\u00ed en Chicago,\u201d exhibition at the Chicago History Museum on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
Quiroz still lives in the Pullman neighborhood. He worked at Pullman-Standard from 1959 until the rail car manufacturing plant closed in 1981, and he gathered hundreds of items as they were being discarded at that time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe apron was made (of leftover fabric) from ripped up mattresses (on Pullman train cars),\u201d said Quiroz, who started working there at age 23.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m proud to be Mexican,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m proud of the Mexican people who worked and lived in Pullman.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the exhibit has been in the works for several years, Trujillo believes it is a gift to share it in this moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is bringing us together,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a reminder that we\u2019ve been here before. We\u2019ve gone through this before. And we will get through it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Gonzales, it\u2019s not hard to carry \u201cAqui\u0301 en Chicago\u201d beyond the Latino community.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we live through this moment in our history \u2026 no one should feel like this does not affect them,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause all of our rights are being threatened, and all of our rights are being erased by the current administration. We need to act in solidarity with that in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mora wants viewers to leave \u201cAqui\u0301 en Chicago\u201d with a more comprehensive view of Latinos\u2019 contributions to the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than anything, we want them to walk away with the understanding that the Chicago that we all know and love today is that way because of Latinos,\u201d Mora said. \u201cThe Chicago that wins the award for best big city, for tourism, for everything, all of that is thanks to Latinos. Without this diversity, we lose that city. Latinos have always been here in Chicago, and they\u2019ll continue to be. They\u2019re resilient people. And that breadth of experiences that they bring make the city better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trujillo noted that the exhibit is not just for Latinos. It\u2019s for the entire city.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that people are able to see themselves represented in some way here,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause we all have people who we know, people who we love, who probably have never seen themselves represented in an institution like the Chicago History Museum.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kelly Haramis is a freelance writer.<\/p>\n