*NEW* Hispanic Heritage Month Resources
About Hispanic Heritage Month
Our nation observes Hispanic Heritage Month between September 15 and October 15 each year to celebrate the Latino community.
What is Hispanic Heritage Month
Hispanic Heritage Month is a month-long celebration of Hispanic and Latino history and culture. While we celebrate Hispanic and Latino communities beyond this month, from September 15 to October 15 we give extra recognition to the many contributions made to the history and culture of the United States, including important advocacy work, vibrant art, popular and traditional foods, and much more.
Hispanic Heritage Month provides an additional opportunity to explore the incredible impact Latinas and Latinos have had on the United States for generations. The Latino presence in America spans centuries, predating Spain’s colonization of what is now part of the United States, and they have been an integral part of shaping our nation since the Revolutionary War. Through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Treaty of Paris that followed the Mexican-American and Spanish-American wars, the United States gained territories in the Southwest and Puerto Rico. This incorporated the people of this area into the United States and further expanded the presence of Hispanic Americans.
Today, the Latino population in the United States is over 60 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This makes up 18.9% of the total population and is the largest racial or ethnic group. Latinos continue to help fuel our economy and enrich our nation as entrepreneurs, athletes, artists, entertainers, scientists, public servants, and much more.
Explore key themes: Latino Identity, Historical Legacies, Immigration, Shaping the Nation
Shining a light on the legacy of U.S. Latinas and Latinos
10 Inspiring Latinas Who’ve Made History
1. Ellen Ochoa
On April 8, 1993, Ellen Ochoa became the first Hispanic woman in the world to go into space. Ochoa was aboard the Discovery shuttle for a total of nine days while conducting important research into the Earth’s ozone layer. Since that ground-, or sky-, breaking moment, Ochoa has gone on a further three space flights, logging 1,000 hours in space in total. And, as if her first pioneering mission wasn’t enough, in 2013 Ochoa became the first Hispanic director, and second female director, of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
2. Joan Baez
“We shall overcome”, sings Joan Baez, legendary folk singer, at the March on Washington for civil rights in 1963. “We are not afraid today, oh deep in my heart I do believe, we shall overcome someday”; Baez lived by these words, as a passionate spokesperson for the anti-war effort, a civil rights activist, and a powerful, unforgettable singer-songwriter. Baez is probably most well-known for her relationship with Bob Dylan, but it was her human rights advocacy, her breathtaking voice, and her continual fight for justice for the marginalized and oppressed that have secured her place in the history books.
3. Dolores Huerta
Doing back-breaking work under the unforgiving sun, sleeping in rough shacks with dozens of men to a room, all for below-poverty-level wages; farm workers in the early Twentieth Century, most of whom were immigrants from Central America, had a hard, painful, unjust life. That is, until Dolores Huerta and others like her, came along. In 1965, Huerta created the United Farm Workers, an organization that worked tirelessly to improve the working conditions for farm workers. By leading boycotts, picketing, protesting and lobbying, Huerta was instrumental in bringing about legislation that protects some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
4. Selena
Born Selena Quintanilla on April 16, 1971, in Texas, the artist known as ‘Selena’ was a pop superstar who brought Mexican Tejano music to the masses. She’s one of the most influential Latin artists of all time, winning a Grammy award in 1993 and a gold record in 1994 with Amor Prohibido. Selena, along with Rita Moreno and Gloria Estefan, was one of the few Latin pop stars who crossed over into the mainstream. She was tipped to be the next Madonna, but tragically her career was cut short when she was shot by the president of her fan club over a dispute over the latter’s embezzlement of Selena’s company money. On the posthumous release of her last album, a nation mourned the death of this lost talent.
5. Sylvia Rivera
Sylvia Rivera, a mixed race Venezuelan-Puerto Rican trans woman, was a pioneering LGBT activist who fought tirelessly for trans rights, often credited as the person to "put the "t" in LGBT activism”. Together with Marsha P. Johnson (who allegedly threw the first brick in the Stonewall riots), Rivera created the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) organisation, which provided a home for trans people living on the streets in 1970s New York. A tireless advocate for LGBT people, ethnic minorities, and the homeless, Rivera dedicated her life to helping others. Sylvia’s Place and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project were both named in her honor and still work for the safety and rights of LGBT people to this day.
6. Ana Mendieta
Ana Mendieta became a refugee at the age of 12, fleeing the regime change in her native Cuba for Dubuque, Iowa. This sense of displacement and loss would later be visible in Mendieta’s incredible artworks. Most of her 200 artworks use the earth as their medium — drawing on native forms of knowledge, spiritualism, and magic, as well as being profoundly feminist in their approach and subject matter. Often overlooked in the art history books in favor of her husband, Carl Andre, who was controversially cleared of Mendieta’s murder in 1985, Ana Mendieta is only now getting the recognition she deserves in the art world.
7. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has had a career of firsts: she was the first Latina to serve in the Florida house; the first Latina in the Florida senate; the first Latina to serve in the US House of Representatives; the first Latina and the first Cuban-American in Congress; and the first woman to ever be chair of a regular standing committee of the House. A true political pioneer in every sense, the Republican representative announced her retirement this year after forty-years of service to her constituents and local community.
8. Julia de Burgos
Julia Constanza Burgos García was born in 1914 in Carolina, Puerto Rico. A successful published poet in her native Puerto Rico, de Burgos struggled to get the recognition she deserved after moving to the U.S. in the 1930s. Her poems spoke of the beauty of her native country, and celebrated her identity as an immigrant black Latina — all things that were outside of the mainstream in early 20th-century poetry circles. Way ahead of their time, de Burgos’ scintillating poems center on themes of feminism and social justice, setting the stage for many Latino writers to come.
9. Maria Elena Salinas
With more than 30 years on our screens, Maria Elena Salinas is the longest running female news anchor on U.S. television, and is the first Latina to receive a Lifetime Achievement Emmy. Dubbed the “Voice of Hispanic America” by The New York Times, Salinas has become a figurehead for the Latino community. She recently announced her departure from her current role at Univison saying, “I am grateful for having had the privilege to inform and empower the Latino community through the work my colleagues and I do with such passion.” Thanking her Latino audience she said, “as long as I have a voice, I will always use it to speak on their behalf.” She has always used her platform to cover issues that affect Latinos today, including the plight of unaccompanied immigrant children, as well as being an active philanthropist, working to increase voter registration in the Latino community and helping Latino youth into journalism.
10. Sonia Sotomayor
“There are uses to adversity, and they don't reveal themselves until tested”, says Sonia Sotomayor, “whether it's serious illness, financial hardship, or the simple constraint of parents who speak limited English, difficulty can tap unexpected strengths.” Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is herself testament to these words. Raised in a single parent household in the Bronx, Sotomayor went on to graduate summa cum laude from Princeton, go to Yale Law School, and from there become, first a U.S. District Court Judge, and then a Supreme Court Justice. Indeed, Sotomayor became the first Latina Supreme Court Justice in U.S. history. During her time in the Supreme Court, Sotomayor has worked tirelessly to be a voice for women and ethnic minorities in criminal justice reform.
10 Inspiring Latinos Who’ve Made History
1. Octaviano LarrazolaBorn in Chihuahua, Mexico, in 1859, Octaviano Larrazola immigrated to the United States as a boy and was raised in New Mexico. A Republican from New Mexico, Larrazola was a champion of civil rights and equal treatment for Hispanic Americans. This made him popular with New Mexican voters, who would elect him to be the fourth governor of New Mexico in 1918. Ten years later, he was elected to the United States Senate, making him the first Hispanic American to serve as a U.S. Senator.
2. Roberto ClementeOriginally from Puerto Rico, Roberto Clemente Walker came to the United States to play major league baseball in 1954. He spent his career as a right fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Although he was an elite athlete, achieving more than 3,000 base hits by the end of his career, Clemente faced racial bias in the United States. This led Clemente to become an advocate for Latino and Black players’ rights in baseball. He died in a plane crash in 1972, en route to bring relief to earthquake-stricken Nicaragua. He believed in a life of serving others. “Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on Earth.” Clemente was the first Hispanic baseball player to be inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame, and he helped pave the way for future generations of Latino ballplayers to join the game.
3. Richard CavazosTexan and Mexican-American Richard E. Cavazos was the first Hispanic person to become a four-star general in the United States Army. He graduated from Texas Tech University and went on to serve in the Korean War as the commander of the 65th Infantry Regiment. He then served in Vietnam as commander of the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Division. He became the first Hispanic four-star general of the United States Army in 1982, and received a number of military honors, including the distinguished service cross, the silver star, the bronze star, and the purple heart. Cavazos died in San Antonio in 2017.
4. Cesar ChavezOnce called “one of the heroic figures of our time” by then-Senator Robert Kennedy, Cesar Chavez lived a life of service to justice and equal rights. As the first-generation American son of farmworkers in Arizona, he was drawn to a life of activism. After serving in the Navy in 1946, Chavez returned home and became a community organizer, first as a leader in the San Jose Community Service Organization (CSO), and then by establishing the National Farm Workers Association. Chavez led successful marches, strikes, fasts, and protests, and was inspired by peaceful resistance movements and leaders including Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi. His legacy lives on in Latinx and workers’ rights movements going on today.
5. Ruben SalazarRuben Salazar was just an infant when his family immigrated to the United States from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. He would go on to become one of the first Mexican-American journalists in mainstream media. His work was particularly significant because it highlighted the lives of Chicanos. Salazar was raised in El Paso and served in the army before becoming a journalist for the Los Angeles Times. In his career, he focused on injustices being done to those in the Chicano community. While covering a protest of the Vietnam War, the Chicano Moratorium in 1970, his life was cut short by a tear gas projectile thrown by the police.
6. Lin-Manuel MirandaLin-Manuel Miranda is a Puerto Rican-American composer, lyricist, actor, writer, and activist. He’s most famous for having written the Broadway musical Hamilton. This groundbreaking hip-hop musical earned numerous awards, including the Tony Award for best musical in 2016. As Miranda accepted the Tony Award, he famously said, “Love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love cannot be killed or swept aside,” in part a reference to the shootings at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando that had happened in the wee hours of the morning that same day. Miranda has received several Tony awards, an Oscar, a Pulitzer Prize, a Kennedy Center Honor in 2018, and was given the MacArthur Foundation’s genius grant in 2015. Alongside the Hispanic Federation, Miranda helped raise millions of dollars in efforts to support Puerto Rico after the destruction caused by Hurricane Maria. Check out these 8 epic Alexander Hamilton facts that the musical doesn’t mention.
7. Franklin R. Chang Diaz (Ph.D.) Born in 1950 in San José, Costa Rica. Chang Díaz became the first Hispanic astronaut when NASA selected him in 1980. He is a veteran of seven space flights: STS-61C in 1986, STS-34 in 1989, STS-46 in 1992, STS-60 in 1994, STS-75 in 1996, STS-91 in 1998, and STS-111 in 2002. He logged more than 1,500 hours in space, including 19 hours during spacewalks. He received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Connecticut in 1973 and a doctorate in applied plasma physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977. After leaving NASA, Chang-Díaz set up the Ad Astra Rocket Company, which became dedicated to the development of advanced plasma rocket propulsion technology. With a flexible mode of operation, the rocket can achieve very high exhaust speeds, and with a sufficiently powerful electrical supply even has the theoretical capability to take a crewed rocket to Mars in 39 days.
8. Johnny PachecoIf you've ever put on your dance shoes for salsa night, you can thank Johnny Pacheco (1935–2021). Born in the Dominican Republic, he was immersed in music from a young age, learning how to play multiple instruments from his bandleader father. In 1964, Pacheco founded the record label Fania Records, which popularized a style of Cuban dance music that evolved in East Harlem in the mid-20th century. He also gave the music genre its name: salsa, meaning "hot sauce."
9. Richard Steven Valenzuela
Better known by his stage name Ritchie Valens, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens died in a plane crash just eight months after his breakthrough. Valens had several hits, most notably "La Bamba", which he had adapted from a Mexican folk song. Valens transformed the song into one with a rock rhythm and beat, and it became a hit in 1958, making Valens a pioneer of the Spanish-speaking rock and roll movement. He also had an American number-two hit with "Donna".
10. William Carlos Williams 
William Carlos Williams was an American poet and physician of Latin American descent closely associated with modernism and imagism. His Spring and All (1923) was written in the wake of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land (1922). In his five-volume poem Paterson (1946–1958), he took Paterson, New Jersey as "my 'case' to work up. It called for a poetry such as I did not know, it was my duty to discover or make such a context on the 'thought.'" Some of his best known poems, "This Is Just To Say" and "The Red Wheelbarrow", are reflections on the everyday. Other poems reflect the influence of the visual arts. He, in turn, influenced the visual arts; his poem "The Great Figure" inspired the painting I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold by Charles Demuth. Williams won a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Pictures from Brueghel and Other Poems (1962).