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Statue of Juan de Oñate, Capitan General and First Govenor of New Mexico 1598–1610.

Statue of Juan de Oñate, Capitan General and First Govenor of New Mexico 1598–1610.

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National Hispanic Heritage Month

Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month by celebrating the histories, cultures, and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

The observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover a thirty-day period starting on September 15 and ending on October 15. It was enacted into law on August 17, 1988, on the approval of Public Law 100-402.

September 15 is significant because it is the anniversary of independence for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September 18, respectively. Also, Columbus Day, or Día de la Raza, falls within this thirty-day period on October 12.

A number of resources are available online to help your library celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month.

General Information

The Library of Congress, along with the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, offers a site devoted to National Hispanic Heritage Month resources. Offering information on exhibits and collections, images, and audio and video, the site looks at such topics as “Exploring the Early Americas,” “Hispanic American Veterans,” “Mesilla, New Mexico: History and Architecture of a Border Town,” and “David Alfaro Siqueiros: Self-Portraits in Art and Writing.”

Library Programming

The Skokie (Ill.) Public Library offered performances by a traditional Andean music band, a Latin jazz band, and Spanish and Latin American classical vocal music as well as an evening of flamenco dancing.

The San Diego Public Library (PDF) participated in the Latino Legacy Project, which worked to recognize Latino veterans of World War II in the Stories of Service initiative.

The Palm Beach County Library System offered a wide variety of musical, dance, and arts and crafts events and also used National Hispanic Heritage Month to draw attention to the Spanish materials and services available at its libraries.

Teaching Resources

Smithsonian Education offers a wide selection of Hispanic Heritage teaching resources, including the Celebrating Hispanic Heritage: People, Places and Events on Stamps online exhibit in English and Spanish, the Música del Pueblo interactive exhibition, ¡del Corazón! Latino Voices in American Art, and Beyond Baseball: The Life of Roberto Clemente, among others.

The Library of Congress’s lesson plans “[e]xplore the culture, contributions and interactions of Hispanic peoples in North America through rare maps, historical documents from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, local histories, recorded songs, interactive games, and detailed online bibliographies.”

The National Endowment for the Humanities offers archives of National Hispanic Heritage Month resources on its EDSITEment Web site. The pages provide general information as well as links to featured lessons and Web sites.

Other Resources

The following libraries have developed a variety of resource lists for National Hispanic Heritage Month, including reading lists, film lists, and Web links:

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