How to Learn About Hispanic Life in America
Ignorance about their heritage is somewhat surprising given the availability of published material and the existence of organizations that tell the tale of how Hispanics have played an important part in our country and the world beyond. Below is a sample of these sources of information about the contributions of Hispanics to American life.
National Hispanic Heritage Month
Celebration of the contributions and accomplishments of Hispanic Americans began in 1968 when the Congress of the U.S. passed Public Law 90-498 that authorized a National Hispanic Heritage Week. Congress revisited the issue in 1988 and requested President Ronald Reagan to issue a proclamation for annual celebrations of a month’s duration. Accordingly, the President directed that every year a 30-day period starting on September 15th and ending on October 15th should be recognized as National Hispanic American Heritage Month. These dates include national independence days in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Mexico. His Executive Order was enacted into law by the U.S. Congress on August 17, 1988.
Hispanic Heritage Month events and tributes conducted throughout the U.S. explore the diversity within the Hispanic population and the importance of past and current Hispanic impact on American society. Besides permitting Hispanics to celebrate their culture, all Americans during this month are encouraged to learn about that culture with the prospect of promoting respect for, and celebrating the differences in, all people.
Hispanic Media
The U.S. has many Spanish-language media outlets ranging from giant commercial broadcasting networks to local radio stations. The two largest broadcasting networks, Univision and Telemundo, offer Spanish-language television throughout the U.S. Univision owns and operates more than 60 stations as well as more than 20 stations of UniMás, a sister network that carries Univision programming. Telemundo owns and operates more than 40 stations. Such media outlets strengthen Hispanic identity, thereby giving form to the larger community’s influence on the economy, politics, culture, and the workplace of the U.S.
Like English-language print media in the U.S., Spanish-language print media is on the decline. In part this decline is the result of the increasing number of English-dominant and bilingual Hispanics. Further, a large portion of the Hispanic community is technologically-savvy youth who rely on Internet sources for news.
The Craig Newmark School of Journalism at the City University of New York is the best source of information about Hispanic news media. Its 2019 report on the state of Latino news media addresses all major forms of Hispanic media, including television, newspapers, Websites, and radio. Information is presented about their ownership, business models, focus on news, and political advocacy. A map of the existing Latino media landscape in 2023 provides free public access to data on Hispanic news outlets across the country.
Centers Devoted to the Study of Hispanic Life in America
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
The NEH is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government that is dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. NEH collaborated with the National Trust for the Humanities to produce EDSITEment, a free, high quality resource for teachers, students and parents searching for K-12 educational materials in a variety of academic areas in the humanities. All websites linked to EDSITEment have been reviewed for content, design, and educational impact in the classroom. EDSITEment’s Teacher’s Guide for Hispanic Heritage and History in the United States provides primary resources descriptive of events and experiences across Hispanic history and heritage. Other links on the site contain collections of lesson plans for K-12 classrooms, teacher guides and media resources, a few of which are relevant to Hispanic heritage
UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Initiative (LPPI)
The principal goal of LPPI is to utilize its varied academic resources to study contemporary Hispanic life in the U.S. Its research is guided by the goal of increasing the decision-making power of Hispanics in seats of formal authority to ensure fairness in access to educational, commercial, and political opportunities. According to its 2022 Annual Report, “Rigorous research and recommendations for policy grounded in evidence only get our work so far if we do not have the leaders needed to make it actionable.” The organization publicizes the growing influence of the Hispanic community in the U.S. LPPI identifies and analyzes the special challenges (e.g., housing insecurity) that blunt the progress of the Hispanic community. Unique policy solutions for successfully dealing with these challenges are explored as well.
Center for Latin American Studies – Stanford University (CLAS)
CLAS seminars, events and conferences are designed to expand knowledge of the most relevant and wide-ranging issues confronting the inhabitants of Latin America and the Caribbean. Particular emphasis is devoted to scholarship that promises to reduce human suffering and eliminate socio-economic injustices in the challenging times that lie ahead. Work groups have provided a multidisciplinary platform in which a diverse community of students, faculty and indigenous people discuss, learn, and understand the countries in this region. ENLACE, an annual publication, summarizes CLAS’s work.
Hispanic Federation (HF)
HF is a nonprofit association made up of more than 100 member organizations that work with Hispanic communities throughout the U.S. HF was created in 1990 to strengthen those communities by supporting Hispanic families and institutions. HF is involved in local, state, and national advocacy on a host of critical action areas including education, health, immigration, economic empowerment, civic engagement, and the environment. Funding comes from government grants, corporate donations. and private foundations.
Aspen Institute Latinos in Society Program (AILAS)
AILAS was created to alert mainstream America to the needs of the Hispanic population. Importantly, it strives to make sure that Hispanics receive appropriate recognition for their contributions to American life. AILAS cultivates leadership intended to prepare Hispanics to fill important policy-making roles in American society. The goal of such preparation is to increase Hispanic access to opportunity and involvement in the economy. AILAS’s programmatic goals are discussed by Abigail Golden-Vazquez, the organization’s Executive Director, in a newsmakers video.
Cultural Centers and Museums
Inter-University Program for Latino Research (IUPLR)
IUPLR is a national association of Hispanic research centers. Currently comprised of 23 university-related research centers, it is focused on issues impacting U.S. Latinos. Headquartered at the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Houston, the work of IUPLR is intended to advance the intellectual presence of Latinos in the U.S. by strengthening the network among scholars who produce relevant research and promoting their work. These efforts are intended to inform the public about Latino culture and a variety of concerns that affect not only Latinos but the entire nation as well.
National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC)
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, NHCC is dedicated to preserving, promoting, and advancing Hispanic culture, arts, and humanities. It hosts music, dance, theater, film, art, history, and literary events. NHCC programs enable visitors of all ages to understand the worlds of Hispanic, indigenous and Mestizo (a person of a combined European and Indigenous American ancestry) peoples. Articles and press releases are available on its website that describe activities at the Center and events occurring throughout American society related to Hispanic culture.
Chicano Studies Research Center Library (CSRC)
Since its founding at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1969, CSRC has supported the growth of scholarly research on the Chicano-Latino population in the U.S. (The term ‘Chicano’ is used to identify an individual with Mexican parentage who lives in the U.S.) The CSRC supports archival research in the social sciences and humanities. Most of the CSRC’s holdings can be accessed by means of online catalogs, including an enormous collection of electronic primary sources of Chicana/o-related publications. Original prints by Chicana/o artists, films, videotapes, audio recordings, slides, and over 160 archival and manuscript collections are available.
Guide to Latino & Hispanic Museums in the US
Mi Legasi, the curator of this guide, is a private marketing firm that seeks to empower Hispanics by providing useful information like blogs and podcasts. It celebrates Hispanic culture by promoting products with special appeal to this community. In this instance, Mi Legasi has listed Hispanic museums in each of four geographic regions of the U.S.: Northeast (2 listings); Midwest (3 listings); South, including Washington, D.C. (9 listings); West (9 listings). A brief description of the collection in each museum is provided and a link is available to the website of each museum.
National Museum of the American Latino
The need for this museum surfaced in 1994 when the Smithsonian Institution produced a report entitled Willful Neglect that described its own record of excluding the personages and their stories that make up Hispanic heritage. The campaign to initiate the museum began in 2004 with a proposal to establish a commission to study the creation of a national museum. The proposal was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2008 and enacted by President Barack Obama. The Commission’s final report was submitted on Cinco de Mayo, May 5, 2011. A bipartisan group of lawmakers in both Congressional houses introduced legislation in June 2017. In 2020 Congress authorized a $2.3-trillion bipartisan spending bill, a portion of which would fund the creation of a Smithsonian Museum dedicated to Hispanic heritage. It should be pointed out that conservative Hispanic groups and elected officials have criticized the proposed content of the museum and even threatened to defund it.
Although it probably will not be completed for another ten years, the new Museum’s first public exhibit was opened in 2022 in the Molina Family Latino Gallery, a 4,500-square-foot space inside the National Museum of American History. The Museum’s website contains a brief and informative video entitled Somos (We are) that offers a preview of the full 15-minute video that visitors to the Gallery can watch.
Visual Representations of Hispanic Heritage
The American Latino Experience: 20 Essential Films Since 2000
According to this New York Times article published in 2020 by Carlos Aguilar, “Largely untold in mass media or classrooms, the history of Latinos in the United States is long, winding, and impossible to dissect in simple terms. Shaped by arbitrary borders in the aftermath of wars, colonization, and waves of migration from nearly two dozen nations across the Americas, our presence is intrinsic to this country. Yet, American Latinos remain mostly invisible in our collective narrative, a narrative that very much includes the images we consume.” Each of the 20 films recommended by Aguilar is briefly reviewed.
Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes
This 20-minute video is an interview with U.S Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, the first Mexican American to hold the position. He discusses his book intended for young readers that consists of biographies of 20 notable Hispanic men and women. Beautiful portraits accompany the biographies of such notables as labor leader Cesar Chavez, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, astronaut Ellen Ochoa, and baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente. The quotes most often associated with these individuals round out their personal stories.
Latino Americans
This wonderful set of six one-hour films produced by Public Broadcasting is the first major documentary series to report the varied history and experiences of Latinos who have helped influence the evolution of the U.S. Each episode focuses on the struggles and triumphs of important Latinos. Interviews are featured with a number of well- known Latinos. By opening the ‘Watch Videos’ link, it is possible to view each of the productions