When 89-year-old Alfonso Quiroz saw his old workman’s lunchbox on display at the Chicago History Museum’s new “Aquí en Chicago” exhibit, he remembered his go-to lunch from more than a half-century ago: a ham sandwich, a banana and a thermos of coffee.

The former Pullman worker’s lunch pail is part of the exhibit that opens Saturday and showcases more than 170 years of Chicago’s Latino community in ways that go beyond addressing a history of insufficient representation.

Plans for the exhibit, presented in English and Spanish, were formed after high school students from Pilsen’s Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy protested the lack of Latino representation they encountered during a field trip to the museum in 2019.

The museum responded — by committing to doing better.

“The (studen

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