| Each year from September 15 to October 15, Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated in the United States. It began as a week-long celebration in 1968 under President Johnson and was expanded to a month by President Reagan 20 years later.
Unlike many cultural celebrations, such as Black History Month in February or Native American Heritage Month in November, Hispanic Heritage Month spans across two months. The start date of September 15 is significant because it coincides with the independence days of several Central American nations – Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
By definition, Hispanic Americans are people whose ancestors come from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. You’ll see the terms Hispanic and Latino used almost interchangeably, according to the National Museum of the American Latino, Hispanic is used to signal a connection with Spain or the Spanish language, while Latino describes individuals with cultural or ancestral ties to Latin America or the Caribbean.
Our state has a more than 400-year legacy of Hispanic heritage. The Historical Society notes that from the 1530s until 1821, Arizona and most of the rest of the western United States was claimed by Spain. Then from 1821 to 1848, the same section of what is now the United States was part of Mexico.
Because of the Mexican-American and Spanish-American wars, two treaties were put in place (The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Treaty of Paris, respectively) that gave the United States territories in the Southwest and Puerto Rico, incorporating the peoples of this area into the United States.
If you would like to learn more about Hispanic Heritage Month, there are several excellent online resources, including the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino. |
