Hispanic Heritage
Puerto Rico's 65th Infantry Fought Bravely in Korea—Then Had to Fight for Redemption
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
7 Groundbreaking Inventions by Latino Innovators
Latino inventors have created revolutionary devices that have transformed our everyday world—and often changed how we live. These innovations have helped advance technological, pharmaceutical and environmental products that we use daily. Below are a list of inventions by Latinos ...read more
How Puerto Rican Baseball Icon Roberto Clemente Left a Legacy Off the Field
The first baseball player from Latin America to collect 3,000 hits, Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente won four batting crowns, 12 Gold Glove Awards and the 1966 National League Most Valuable Player Award during his iconic career. A 15-time All-Star, the Puerto Rico native led the ...read more
How Mexican Vaqueros Inspired the American Cowboy
Hundreds of years before there was the American cowboy, there was the vaquero, an expert horseman who could adeptly herd cattle and whose skills with a lasso were legendary. First trained by the Spaniards who arrived in 1519, on land later known as Mexico, the original vaqueros ...read more
When the Young Lords Put Garbage on Display to Demand Change
In 1969, a group of New York City youth known as the Young Lords demanded change in the way the largest city in the United States handled sanitation. The initiative, known as the Garbage Offensive, wasn’t the group’s original plan of action, but it proved highly effective in ...read more
A Timeline of US-Cuba Relations
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 20-Year-Old Rookie Fernando Valenzuela Captivated LA—and Major League Baseball
In 1981, Fernando Valenzuela woke up from a nap and began pitching, and winning, sparking the phenomenon known as “Fernandomania” and almost singlehandedly repairing a fractured relationship between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the city's Mexican American community. As an encore, ...read more
Why Isn't Puerto Rico a State?
Located about a thousand miles southeast of Florida, Puerto Rico is a Caribbean archipelago with a complex colonial history and political status. As a territory of the United States, Puerto Rico’s 3.2 million residents are U.S. citizens. However, while subject to U.S. federal ...read more
History Shorts: Dolores Huerta Organizes a Movement
While many know the name Cesar Chavez today, his most trusted lieutenant was just as vital to the Mexican farmworkers movement.
History Shorts: The First Hispanic Congressman Fights for His Seat
Representation matters, and Romauldo Pacheco proved that as the first Hispanic Congressman in American history.
History Shorts: When an Undocumented Immigrant Became a War Hero
Marcelino Serna came to the U.S. as a undocumented immigrant, and within just a few years, became one of the country's bravest heroes.
Cesar Chavez
The Mexican-American labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez dedicated his life’s work to what he called la causa (the cause): the struggle of farm workers in the United States to improve their working and living conditions through organizing and negotiating contracts ...read more
How Cesar Chavez Joined Larry Itliong to Demand Farm Workers' Rights
In the late 1960s, grapes grabbed national attention—and not in a good way. Newly organized farm workers, fronted by Mexican-American civil-rights activist Cesar Chavez, asked Americans to boycott the popular California fruit because of the paltry pay and poor work conditions ...read more
The Mariel Boatlift: How Cold War Politics Drove Thousands of Cubans to Florida in 1980
The Mariel Boatlift of 1980 was a mass emigration of Cubans to the United States. The exodus was driven by a stagnant economy that had weakened under the grip of a U.S. trade embargo and by Cuban President Fidel Castro's exasperation with dissent. “Those who have no revolutionary ...read more
How the Chicano Movement Championed Mexican-American Identity
In the 1960s, a radicalized Mexican-American movement began pushing for a new identification. The Chicano Movement, aka El Movimiento, advocated social and political empowerment through a chicanismo or cultural nationalism. As the activist Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales declared in a ...read more
5 Latino-Led Labor Strikes That Championed Rights for American Workers
When it comes to the fight for workers’ rights in the United States, Latino Americans have been critical players since the early 1900s. Their organizing and agitating have led to improved working conditions and wages in industries across the U.S. “Latinos have been part of the ...read more
Hispanic History Milestones: Timeline
The American Hispanic/Latinx history is a rich, diverse and long one, with immigrants, refugees and Spanish-speaking or Indigenous people living in the United States since long before the nation was established. And, bringing with them traditions and culture from Mexico, Spain, ...read more
Latino, Hispanic, Latinx, Chicano: The History Behind the Terms
The terms Latino, Hispanic and Latinx are often used interchangeably to describe a group that makes up about 19 percent of the U.S. population. While it’s now common to use umbrella terms to categorize those with ties to more than 20 Latin American countries, these words haven’t ...read more
Hispanic Heritage Month
Hispanic Heritage Month is an annual celebration of the history and culture of the U.S. Latinx and Hispanic communities. The event, which spans from September 15 to October 15, commemorates how those communities have influenced and contributed to American society at large. The ...read more
How JFK’s ‘Viva Kennedy’ Campaign Galvanized the Latino Vote
During his 1960 bid for the White House, John F. Kennedy faced a tight race. Kennedy and his Republican opponent, Richard Nixon, remained neck-and-neck in the polls throughout the campaign season. Kennedy gained leads after his historic TV debate performances, but Nixon gained ...read more
This Mexican American Teenager Spent Years in a Japanese Internment Camp—On Purpose
The station was filled with worried faces and hushed voices. Soon, those who gathered there would leave their lives and livelihoods behind as prisoners of the prison camps where over 110,000 people of Japanese descent—most American citizens—would be incarcerated for the duration ...read more
The Election of One of the First Latino Congressmen Was Contested—Twice
When Romualdo Pacheco walked up to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1877, he’d already served in nearly every government capacity in the still-new state of California. Now, the charismatic politician had broken another barrier as one of the first-ever Latino Congressman. ...read more
The Mendez Family Fought School Segregation 8 Years Before Brown v. Board of Ed
Brown v. Board of Education was the landmark Supreme Court case that ended racial segregation in schools in 1954. But it wasn’t the first to take on the issue. Eight years earlier, in 1946, a group of Mexican American families in California won the very first federal court case ...read more
Before the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor Saved Baseball
Growing up in the Bronx, Sonia Sotomayor grew up a die-hard Yankees fan. Little did she know that one day, she would play a role in saving the entire sport.