Recent urbanist writings have pointed to a “creative class” of young professionals as the energy reviving American cities. But in his new book, Barrio America, historian A.K. Sandoval-Strausz argues that another, far less visible group really deserved the credit: Latino and Latina immigrants. In this illustrated talk, Sandoval-Strausz will focus on two barrios: Chicago’s Little Village and Dallas’s Oak Cliff, showing how Latinos made cities dynamic, stable, and safe by purchasing homes, opening businesses, and reviving street life.

A. K. Sandoval-Strausz is Associate Professor of History at Penn State University where he directs the Latina/o studies program. The winner of numerous grants and academic awards, he is the author of Hotel: An American History (Yale, 2007), which was named a Best Book of that year by Library Journal. With Nancy Kwak, he is co-editor of Making Cities Global: The Transnational Turn in Urban History.