The history of Latin Americans in the United States is a vast and complex one, which PBS has decided to explore with a brand new documentary miniseries. A three-part six-hour PBS series entitled "Latino Americans" premieres tonight with its first two-hour installment.

Jeff Bieber (NOT to be confused with Justin), who serves as the executive producer of the series, is no stranger to PBS documentaries. Bieber has produced many, including the 2007 PBS series "The Jewish Americans." The veteran exec producer told the Los Angeles Times that the purpose of the new documentary is to focus on a different aspect of U.S. history.

"History is not just Europeans and Eastern Europeans coming to Ellis Island," he told the L.A. Times. "It's a history of conquest, it's a history of migration. It's a very complicated history. But it's an American history that in many ways has been dismissed or buried."

Benjamin Bratt ("Law & Order") will narrate the series, which was created with archival research and interviews with almost 100 Latino journalists, politicians, labor leaders, academics and entertainers including Gloria Estefan and Rita Moreno. George Sanchez, a USC professor of American studies and ethnicities, said that this is one of the few large-scale media overviews of Latinos.

"They're very difficult to do, because there are so many different histories, so many different nations, represented," he said. "I don't think it's ever been attempted on television."

The first two-hour installment premieres tonight at 8 p.m. ET. The first hour, "Foreigners in Their Own Land," focuses on 1565 to1880, including the Spanish colonization of North America, the expansion of U.S. territories and the Mexican-American War. "Empire of Dreams," the second hour, highlights 1880 to the 1940s, when Latinos built communities in Florida, New York and L.A.

The second installment ("War and Peace" and "The New Latinos") airs Sept. 24, focusing on Latinos' role in World War II and the influence of Latino communities in the 1950s and '60s, the L.A. Times reports. War hero Marcario Garcia will be featured in the "War and Peace" hour. The final installment airs Oct. 1, highlighting the farmworkers rights movement in the '60s and '70s and the growing Chicano population, while also focusing on the migration of the Latino population to the Southeast and other parts of the U.S.

"Latino history is American history, and that's one of the things I think you can't help but take away from this series," PBS chief programming executive Beth Hoppe told the L.A. Times.

"Latino Americans" will air in conjuction with PBS' celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, which ends Oct. 15.