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Latinos have left an indelible mark on the United States. Civic and cultural leaders have challenged stereotypes and paved the way for future generations. Discover the stories of these 10 exceptional individuals who have shaped the nation’s rich diversity.
Judith Baca
Muralist
From 1974 to 1979, this Chicana artist oversaw the creation of The Great Wall of Los Angeles, a half mile of regional history through the 1950s painted on a concrete wall along the Tujunga Wash, a tributary of the Los Angeles River. The founder and artistic director of the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC), Baca is the driving force behind the creation of more than 400 murals in Los Angeles. She is currently working on three new sections of The Great Wall to focus on the 1960s and 1970s, including scenes from the farmworkers’ and LGBTQ+ rights movements. But instead of being done on-site, the new sections of the mural are being created at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in a living exhibit that allows visitors to see Baca and her crew at work. The artists paint on a lightweight fabric called Polytab, which, when finished, will be applied to the Tujunga Wash wall. Baca is the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, the United States Artist Rockefeller Fellowship and more than 50 awards from various community groups. In 2017, The Great Wall of Los Angeles was added to the National Registry of Historic Places.
Zoë Saldaña
Actor
Named by Time magazine in 2023 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, this New Jersey native of Dominican and Puerto Rican ancestry has starred in four of the highest-grossing films of all time: Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Her long list of film and TV credits includes acting, writing, directing and producing stints, for which she has been recognized with dozens of award nominations and 21 wins, most recently the 2024 Cannes Film Festival Award for best actress for her leading role in the musical crime comedy Emilia Pérez. A proud multilingual Afro-Latina, Saldaña marches to the beat of her own drum, telling Allure in 2016: “There’s no one way to be Black. I’m Black the way I know how to be.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Songwriter, Actor, Producer
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first musical, In the Heights, opened off-Broadway in 2007. After transferring to Broadway the following year, it went on to garner 13 Tony Award nominations and win four, including best musical. This debut heralded great things for the young songwriter and actor, whose second Broadway production, Hamilton (2015), won the Pulitzer Prize for drama as well as 11 of the 16 Tony Awards it was nominated for, among numerous other accolades. Born in New York City to Puerto Rican parents, Miranda has also earned Grammy and Emmy awards, plus two Oscar nominations, and has enjoyed a fruitful partnership with Disney, writing music for Moana (2016), Mary Poppins Returns (2018), two Star Wars films, Encanto (2021) and The Little Mermaid (2023). His success has allowed him to join his family in giving back to the community through fundraising and advocacy. “Music,” he says, “is not a job and it is not a vocation. It is a power.”
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