I have other subfolders in my location paths so for instance other than just / after my host, I also have /lang/english/grammar, and /lang/spanish/gramática

But I figured it out:

location = / {
resolver 127.0.0.1 valid=300s;
proxy_pass http://192.168.1.200:8080/;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Server $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
rewrite /(.*) /$1 break;
access_log ./logs/root_access.log;
error_log ./logs/root_error.log;
}

The = / that you suggested fixed it right up, thanks!