As Hispanic Heritage Month gets underway, many educators are seeking ways to celebrate and honor the contributions of Latinos in American culture. And while some question whether the word Hispanic — or Latina/Latino, or Latinx — even makes sense as an umbrella term for groups with varying cultural identities and experiences, there are plenty of resources to help teach students about their history and culture.
The National Endowment for the Humanities (link is external) has a collection of resources that highlights Hispanic Heritage in all its variety, from the contributions of immigrants to the impact of Hispanic Heritage on our modern vocabulary. One particularly interesting resource focuses on the National Register of Historic Places. The site includes a virtual exhibition and teaching materials that highlight properties in the United States that have been identified as contributing to Hispanic Heritage.
Educators can also find lots of lesson plans on Hispanic heritage and Latino culture from the New York Times Learning Network (link is external), as well as a broad range of lessons on the topic on the National Endowment for the Humanities’ (link is external) Facing History & Ourselves website. And the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery has partnered with Lil’ Libros, a bilingual children’s book publisher, to present its second Fotos & Recuerdos Festival of Hispanic Heritage this week. The program features story times, arts and crafts workshops and gallery tours.
Hispanic Heritage Month began in 1968 under President Lyndon Johnson as a week-long observation and was expanded to a month by President Ronald Reagan. The date of September 15 was selected because it marks the anniversary of the independence of several Latin American countries.
Today, Americans identify as Hispanic by the country where they or their ancestors came from. But according to the Pew Research Center, that hasn’t always been the case. In 1970, when the Census Bureau began asking people to self-identify, the options were Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American or Other Spanish. Many people who identified as Other Spanish or did not answer either of those options were marked as Hispanic by the Census, which led to an underrepresentation of Hispanics in the United States.
Regardless of the identity they choose, there is one thing all Hispanics have in common: pride in their ancestry and their shared experience in the United States as part of a larger global community. While there are definite positive aspects to this shared experience, the association can also lead to misunderstandings and xenophobic attacks, stereotypes and the perception of Latinos as “perpetual foreigners.” Using a broader definition, such as Latinx or Latina/Latino, may be more inclusive for everyone.