Interview: 'Beyond el Barrio' explores the history of Indianapolis' first Mexican American neighborhood

In March of 2020, historian Nicole Martinez-LeGrand published an article on the Indiana Historical Society’s blog, titled The Lost Barrio of Indianapolis. The story shared the history of a small community of Mexican immigrants living on the east side of downtown Indianapolis during the mid-20th Century.

That blog post inspired a new documentary directed by Martinez-Legrand, titled "Beyond el Barrio." The film is now streaming on the Indiana Historical Society’s YouTube page. WFYI’s Kyle Long spoke with Martinez-Legrand to learn more.

Kyle Long: Nicole, your new documentary film 'Beyond el Barrio' focuses on a small community of Mexican Americans who settled in a neighborhood on the near east side of Indianapolis during the mid-20th century. Though this was a small community, they had a very vibrant and robust culture in the neighborhood.

Tell us how you first learned about this neighborhood. What interested you in it to dive so deep into this history? You’ve spent years now researching all of this.

Nicole Martinez-LeGrand: So in 2019 I wanted to pick up doing more audio recorded oral history interviews, which was the basis of my work. I knew about the Espinoza family and El Nopal market, you actually wrote about them for NUVO, and so I kind of knew about them and knew about the family.

I got an introduction and that's how I kind of started to learn that there were more families there, they weren't the only one. Then just being introduced to other families, you know, that's kind of how I came to what this is today.

Long: You mentioned Feliciano Espinoza. He was one of the most important residents of this neighborhood and you really focus on him in this film. Tell us about the impact of Feliciano Espinoza on the Mexican American community of Indianapolis.


Martinez-LeGrand: You know, he started this Mexican grocery store and then later moved into City Market after the highway came through. But music was a big part of his joy and his existence. So he was also kind of like a music promoter, he would have folks playing in the neighborhood in now what is St Joseph's Historic Hall.

He was a mover and a shaker and he was able to connect people. He was also politically active and helped start a human social service agency which was called the Hispano American Multi-service Center in 1971 and is now known today as La Plaza Inc.


Long: The city recently recognized his contributions to the city of Indianapolis in a mural. Tell us about this mural which opens your film.

Martinez-LeGrand: So the mural is called the Bicentennial Legends Mural near Gainbridge Fieldhouse in the Bicentennial Unity Plaza. Myself and several other historians were consulted, they asked for a list of legends or people who contributed to Indiana.

They selected Feliciano and so we saw the design later and he’s at the top. So he's in this iconic photo that I published in my blog from March of 2020 where he's in a sombrero. So he’s perched there, I think, with 42 other portraits of people who've shaped Indianapolis in 200 years. That was pretty, pretty shocking and gratifying to see.

Long: I know you are very close with the families of this neighborhood. For a long time, this history was kind of lost. It wasn't talked about. It wasn't documented. How do they feel now seeing Feliciano Espinoza in this high profile position on this huge mural and you have this documentary out now. What do they make of it all?

Martinez-LeGrand: They’re shocked. Also I think people need to understand that the people that are interviewed and featured, they were children at this time, so they didn't really have too much context. So I'm talking about their parents and their parents’ friends as well.

After the first blog, they're like, “Oh, I feel seen.” So writing that blog in 2020 really gave that place a name and an identity. All these people still live in Indianapolis, so they're not gone. So that was that was pretty amazing.

Long: Thank you so much for taking time to be here and talk about this film, and congratulations on this milestone project for you and the city.

Martinez-LeGrand: Oh, thanks. Yeah. It's great.