chronology
1780s Western Kentuckians move across the Mississippi River into Spanish Louisiana.
1787-1797 Spanish officials in New Orleans plot to detach Kentucky from the United States and to align it with Spain.
1822 Charles Todd, the original Kentucky Colonel, is sent by the U.S. State Department to extend recognition to the newly independent nation of Colombia.
1823 Richard Anderson of Kentucky becomes the first minister plenipotentiary to Colombia, establishing the first U.S. legation to Spanish America.
1823-1829 As a U.S. Representative, Henry Clay plays a major role in the 1823 decision by the United States to recognize the independence of Brazil (the United States was the first nation to do so). As Secretary of State (1825-1829) he continued supporting Latin American independence.
1850 Kentucky filibusters under Cuban General Narciso Lopez briefly invade Cuba.
1864-1865 William Preston of Louisville serves as the Confederacy’s envoy toMexico and plans to bring Confederate settlers to Mexico.
1918 Latino soldiers in the U.S. Army arrive at Fort Knox, near Louisville.
1950s Students from Latin America begin to attend the University of Louisville in appreciable numbers.
1953 Henry Moreno (Mexican American) rides Dark Star to victory in the Kentucky Derby.
1956 Cuban investors purchase the Louisville Colonels, a minor league base-ball team.
1958 Jockey Ismael Valenzuela (Mexican American) rides Tim Tam to victory in the Kentucky Derby. (He also rode a Derby winner in 1968.)
1960s Cuban migrants arrive in Louisville.
1963 Cubans in Louisville erect a monument to Jose Marti in Shively Park.
1970s The Latin American Club of Louisville is founded by Fortuna Gordon and Miguel Lagunas.
1980s Mexican and Central American migrants begin working in tobacco, equine, and other agricultural enterprises.
2005 Latinos constitute 2 percent of the state population.
The federal tobacco buyout pushes many Latinos out of agricultural labor and into urban service and industrial work.
2006 Approximately 5,500 Latinos demonstrate at the capitol in Frankfort for immigrant rights.
