In the movie “Oppenheimer,” Cillian Murphy’s character portrays the proposed site for a secret atomic weapons lab in northern New Mexico as having only a boys’ school and Indians performing burial rites, but the reality was different. There were homesteaders living on that land.
In 1942, the U.S. Army gave 32 Hispano families on the Pajarito Plateau just 48 hours to leave their homes and land, with some facing forceful eviction at gunpoint. The purpose was to build the lab that would go on to create the world’s first atomic bombs, as shared by relatives of those affected and a former lab employee.
The eviction process was harsh; homes were bulldozed, livestock were shot or abandoned, and families were offered little or no compensation. Loyda Martinez, who worked for 32 years as a computer scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), collected accounts from evicted families who were her neighbors in the Espanola Valley, further supporting these claims.
The evicted homesteaders and the rights of Hispano, Native, women, and other lab employees have been championed by Martinez for many years. She successfully won two class-action suits related to equal pay and treatment for these communities. However, these Hispanic American homesteaders’ story remains overlooked in American history.
Christopher Nolan’s film “Oppenheimer” has brought attention to northern New Mexico’s complex relationship with the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the region’s largest employer with over 14,000 workers. For some local Hispanos, the lab’s high wages have enabled them to afford homes, higher education, and retain multigenerational lands. On the other hand, it carries a legacy of death and dispossession for others.
The lab was established on lands considered sacred to the local Tewa people, which were granted to Hispano settlers during Spanish colonial rule and later allotted to both Hispano and white homesteaders after the United States occupied the area following the Mexican-American War.
The history of displacement for the lab’s establishment dates back to the mid-20th century, with homesteader families eventually winning a $10 million compensation fund from the U.S. government in 2004.
Today, Los Alamos County, where the lab is located, thrives as one of the richest and most educated areas in the United States. However, neighboring Rio Arriba County, which is predominantly Hispanic and Native American, remains one of the country’s poorest regions with low academic performance.
Despite its impact on the surrounding communities, the Los Alamos National Laboratory emphasizes its commitment to the region and claims that the majority of its workforce lives outside Los Alamos County.
