Mission:
Our mission is to preserve, promote, and celebrate the people and history of the founding cultures of Tucson and the Pimaria Alta. We showcase, educate, and commemorate Southern Arizona’s Mexican-American & Tucsonense history, heritage, and culture with exhibits and programming.
Opened March 8, 2019, the Mexican American Heritage and History Museum at the Sosa-Carrillo House is the first museum in Arizona solely dedicated to Mexican American history. The Sosa-Carrillo House is the only building to survive the city’s 1960’s “revitalization” of downtown Tucson. Under the guise of “urban renewal,” the city and well-funded developers decimated the surrounding neighborhood known as “La Calle,” which according to historian Dr. Lydia Otero, was the most densely populated community in the Southwest at the time.* A community effort lead by Tucsonans of Mexican and Anglo descent went into saving the Sosa-Carrillo House, and by 1971 it was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the Borderlands Theater and Los Descendientes de Tucson occupy the building, creating innovative programs to educate and serve the community.
*(Otero, Lydia R. 2010. La Calle: Spatial Conflicts and Urban Renewal in a Southwest City. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 10)
What People Say
“A group like Los Descendientes is what it’s going to take to make the museum a success,” he said.”
Damien Clinco,
CEO, Tucson Historic
Preservation Foundation
“They took so much from us and our Barrios. It’s time that we go where we belong, forever. I can’t Thank You Enough for giving it back to us! We’re back home again!
Wera Jacobs, Great-granddaughter of Leopoldo Carrillo“
“To us it’s important to re-open this place and celebrate the fact that it is here and celebrate our Mexican-American heritage.”
Betty Villegas, Museum Co-Director
“The museum has the charm to attract visitors and support.”
Richard Elías,
Late, great Pima County Supervisor