Professor documenting lives of Hispanic communities in Siouxland

Sioux City, IA (KCAU) — Hispanic Heritage Month was officially recognized in 1988. Hispanic communities have history in Siouxland dating much further back. One local professor is trying to share those Latino stories.

Stacy Alex is a professor at Morningside University and has been documenting the lives of the Hispanic communities in the Siouxland area.

Pillar in the Latino community looks back on 10 years of service

"Newcome repopulation is really important for our economy and our culture," said Alex. "But we have had over a hundred years of Latino history here in the Midwest, so it's really just about letting people know what that history is and that Latino population here in Midwest have been just absolutely essential to who we are as the the Midwest."

The Latinx Stories of Siouxland started back in 2020 and her goal is to document the lives of people and help Siouxlanders know about the contributions the Latino community has made.

"It's also about helping people contextualize that history right, that it all goes the way back to building our railroads, our agricultural work also all of our major industries have depended on Latino contribution" said Alex.

Professor Alex introduced us to a pair of of subjects for her project, brothers who grew up in and around Sioux City.

"My parents are of Mexican descent," said Tony Beta. "My grandparents, both the Manrique's and the Betas, arrived in the United States in 1918 and initially went to Texas then Wichita Kansas and then to Sioux City."

The Betas father, Efren Beta, was the first Mexican-American officer for the Sioux City Police Department. During his years on the force, he was known as the "Ambassador in Blue" but Tony said he was known for a lot more.

"He was the Rivercade guy a few times. He was in several parades" said Tony Beta "he was voted man of the year by the Auxiliary, by the state police and stuff, he just loved his work on 4th and Pierce."

"Yeah, I think it's important for all people to have a chance to celebrate there legacies right, and have an archive to show and point at and say this is what my people contributed and continue to contribute" said Stacy Alex

Siouxlanders can find Professors Alex's Latinx of Siouxland online if they are interested about learning more about the Hispanic community.