Ohio

Mexicans begin moving to Ohio to work at the mills in Lorain. These are the first Latino migrants to permanently settle the region. In 1926 a Mexican baseball team is organized to play in Lorain Class B Sunday League.

The Bracero program brings Mexican migrant workers to Ohio. This program was an agreement between the Mexican and U.S. governments to allow Mexican workers to fill the U.S. labor shortages created by U.S. involvement in World War II. Also, migration to the United States makes the Puerto Rican community in northeast Ohio grow.

Increased political activism within the Puerto Rican and Mexican communities leads to the election of Latino city council members in Lorain. Latino colonies finally establish themselves as communities in northeast Ohio. Economic conditions in Ohio lead to a decline in jobs and population. The Latino population residing in Ohio is 1.1 percent of the state’s total population.

The Latinization of Ohio begins. Larger Latino communities take root outside Lorain, in Cleveland and Toledo. Many of these migrants are of working-class background, though there is also an increase in the number of professionals moving into the state.

Communities across the state experience an increase in the number of Latinos or Spanish-speaking residents. In a span of two decades the Latino population doubles in the state of Ohio: from 119,000 in 1980 to

217,000 in 2000.

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