Iván Román

It remains one of the most mythologized images of the Spanish-American war: Theodore Roosevelt charging on horseback, leading his Rough Rider volunteers up Cuba’s San Juan Hill through the smoke and chaos of battle to claim a decisive victory. Carefully crafted by Roosevelt ...read more

More than five centuries ago, when coffee was a localized crop in the East African territories of Ethiopia and Yemen, Arab Sufi monks used the beverage for a similar purpose that people drink it today—to get a boost to stay awake. Their goal back then? To reach divine ...read more

How did lager beer become America’s most popular libation, sold everywhere from convenience stores to luxury hotels? It began in the mid-19th century when throngs of German immigrants brewed the light, pale, effervescent alcoholic beverage in their kitchens for a taste of home. ...read more

Holidays in Latin America celebrate faith, family and community in a festive, sometimes whimsical, style. Traditions range from waking people up with Christmas songs in the middle of the night to sculpting massive radishes to burning effigies to ward off bad spirits from the year ...read more

The U.S. Army’s 65th Infantry Regiment, the only all-Hispanic unit that hailed mostly from Puerto Rico, inspires pride for their dogged combat in the Korean War in the early 1950s.  These soldiers also spent decades trying to clear their name. The segregated regiment—which took ...read more

The United States and Cuba share a long, complex history—first as allies and trade partners, and later as bitter ideological enemies. For four centuries after the arrival of Christopher Columbus, Spain ruled Cuba as its main colony in the Caribbean, but the U.S. long coveted the ...read more

When the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers opened to the public in 1973, they were the tallest buildings in the world. Even before they became iconic features of the New York City skyline, they reflected America’s soaring ambition, innovation and technological prowess. The ...read more

When television flickered into America's living rooms in the years after World War II, it took less than a decade for it to overtake radio as the nation's dominant entertainment medium. Between 1948 and 1959, years now considered the “Golden Age of Television,” a mix of ...read more

As America’s Civil War raged, with the enslavement of millions of people hanging in the balance, African Americans didn’t just sit on the sidelines. Whether enslaved, escaped or born free, many sought to actively affect the outcome. From fighting on bloody battlefields to ...read more

The Day of the Dead or Día de Muertos is an ever-evolving holiday that traces its  earliest roots to the Aztec people in what is now central Mexico. The Aztecs used skulls to honor the dead a millennium before the Day of the Dead celebrations emerged. Skulls, like the ones once ...read more

“The whites won't like it.” When a small-town Texas funeral home, using these words, refused to hold a wake for decorated World War II veteran Felix Longoria, the ensuing controversy sent the fight for Mexican American civil rights soaring onto the national stage—with some help ...read more