In 1970, Hispanic students and activists staged a sit-in at UW-Milwaukee in hopes of establishing outreach to Spanish-speaking Milwaukeeans. They succeeded.
In the summer of 2026, hundreds of people became aware of those sit-ins for the first time, all because of an AI-generated image.
The image shows a wood-paneled room with a police officer standing in the doorway and around 30 people looking directly at the camera. They’re wearing wide-cut pants. The men are sporting long wavy hair and mustaches.
But none of the people in the room is real.
"I didn't recognize anybody in that photo and I didn't recognize the office. I didn't recognize any part of it," says Juan Miguel Martinez, now a Milwaukee County Supervisor and labor organizer.
Martinez was too young to be present at the sit-in, but he grew up looking at photos of the demonstration. He said as a child, he was surrounded by the people who organized the sit-in, like Jesus Salas and Ernesto Chacon.
The AI image was posted on a Facebook page called Lost Mexican America. It was liked and shared hundreds of times. Martinez saw it and decided to weigh in.
“I was messaging those people saying, 'hey brother, hey sister, like, you know, you and I are very anti-AI,'" he says. "'We don't want to perpetuate any kind of AI photos. And I'm just letting you know that this photo is AI.'”
Hispanic students, activists staged sit-in in UWM chancellor's office to create scholarships, opportunities for Latino students
Here’s what actually happened in 1970.
At the time, Milwaukee had a Hispanic population of around 30,000. But fewer than two dozen Hispanic students were enrolled at UWM.
Activists said there were several reasons for that: Few UWM administrators or advisers spoke Spanish. There wasn't a support center for Latino students. And there was no means of transportation to the east side campus from homes on the south side.
In August 1970, around 100 activists arrived at Chapman Hall on campus for a meeting to discuss the creation of a Spanish Speaking Outreach Institute with Chancellor Martin Klotsche. But he didn’t show.
In response, activists refused to leave and staged a sit-in at Klotsche's office. Photos show people crowded into the formal sitting area, sitting on the floor and furniture. Ultimately, five were arrested and around 25 people remained outside Chapman Hall overnight.
Klotsche then agreed to a follow up meeting. That kicked off a fall semester filled with action and demonstrations.
In October, more than 150 demonstrators picketed the chancellor's house. Activists also staged a hunger strike outside of Chapman Hall.
On Oct. 23, 1970, UWM reached an agreement with the Committee for the Education of Latin Americans. It laid the groundwork for a Hispanic student support center, which later became the Roberto Hernández Center.
Roberto Hernández announced the news himself, saying the agreement would lead to a future in which UWM was "meeting the special educational needs of the Spanish-speaking community through the development of the appropriate programs in both academic and non-academic units."
Decades after activism, fear and pressure remain for Hispanic college students
Now, 56 years later, around 15% of UWM’s undergraduate students identify as Hispanic or Latino. What else has changed?
“There have been programs implemented to teach about Chicano studies (and) Latino studies," County Supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez says. "I mean, that's what they fought for, right? I mean, that's what the sit-in was all about. So that's one of the biggest successes I see is that now people are interested in higher education.”
But recent changes haven’t all been good.
Last year, UWM announced it would merge its student support centers after pressure from the Trump administration to erase diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. After protests from students, the Roberto Hernández Center will keep its name. But the merger is moving forward.
The changes to the student centers are on top of huge pressure and fear in Hispanic communities after purposefully public and sometimes violent action by ICE in the last 21 months under Trump.
Martinez says he and others are undaunted. “You can keep trying to crush us, but it's not going to happen. You're not going to stop us. You're not going to 'send us back,'" he says.
Martinez adds that because he knows the history of the sit-ins in 1970, he’s standing on the shoulders of giants.
Do you have a question about education or how schools work in our area? Submit it here to WUWM education reporter Katherine Kokal.
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