Hispanic Heritage Celebrated at SSU

Hispanic? Latino? Latina? Latinx? 

History of Hispanic Heritage Month

1968 President Lyndon Johnson issues an annual proclamation that each year, the United States would celebrate the week that includes September 15 and 16 as National Hispanic Heritage Week.

Why September 15 and 16? The Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua gained independence from Spain on September 15, 1821.

The decade-long Mexican War of Independence began on September 16, 1810 and Mexico celebrates that day as its independence day.

1988 President Ronald Reagan signed the proclamation extending the celebration from a week to a month between September 15 and October 15. This month includes Chile's Independence Day on September 18, Belize's Independence Day on September 21, and Columbus Day or Día de la Raza on October 12.

What is Día de la Raza on October 12?

Día de la Raza is translated as Race Day, a holiday in Mexico and other Latin American countries to celebrate the mixed indigenous and European heritage rather than conqueror Christopher Columbus. 

Origin of the term Hispanic

The United States has conducted a census every 10 years since 1790. How the US government has classified people over the 23 federal censuses can be problematic, especially when it comes to BIPOC people. 

1930 Census

The 1930 US Census divided immigrants into two classifications: "foreign-born white families" and  "Mexican, Indian, Chinese and Japanese families." To put all immigrants from Latin America under the umbrella of "Mexican" is not correct and emphasizes how some Americans still generalize people with brown skin as being Mexican.

1975 Committee

A group of federal workers came together on the Ad Hoc Committee on Racial and Ethnic Definitions to address the issue of what to call this diverse group of people. While the outcome of the committee's work was to use the term Hispanic, there was not consensus among the members. Committee member Abdin Noboa-Rios told the Washington Post in 2003, “We came up with an agreement, but…there were some bad feelings. I know two people who didn't speak for up to a year after it was over."

1980 Census

The term "Hispanic" was first used on the 1980 census. This term comes from Hispano, meaning someone who speaks Spanish or who is from Spain.

2020 Census

In the 2020 US Census, respondents were asked if they identified as "of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin," which meant anyone who identified "with one or more nationalities or ethnic groups originating in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central and South America, and other Spanish Cultures" (Census 2020)

Why Not Hispanic?

Teen Vogue author Araceli Cruz wrote in 2018, "Growing up, I despised being labeled Hispanic. It made me feel as if my Mexican and indigenous side was being wiped out." The term "Hispanic" implies Spanish-speaking or from Spain, which focuses on European colonizers and erases the indigenous communities, as well as Latin America's non-Spanish speaking communities in places like Brazil and Belize. The author Sandra Cisneros wrote of the difference between Latino and Hispanic in the New York Times in 1992: "To say Latino is to say you come to my culture in a manner of respect. To say Hispanic means you're so colonized you don't even know for yourself or someone who named you never bothered to ask what you call yourself.”

Latino/Latina/Latinx

Victor Manuel Duran, a professor of Spanish at USC Aiken and immigrant from Belize, notes that in the United States, the divisions are generally white or of color. "The word Latino encompasses a culture; to be Latino is to embrace and be part of a culture...Latinos can be racially white, Black, Indian, mixed..." (Alamilla 2019). The term Hispanic has been tied to the US Government's attempt to classify a large group, 62 million people in the 2020 Census, that have a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds and cultural experiences. 

Watch this brief video from PBS about the origin of the term Latino.

Latinx as gender-neutral alternative to Latino or Latina has been increasing in usage. Paul Ortiz, author of An African American and Latinx History of the United States, intended to use the term Latino in his title until his students called for him to be more inclusive with the term Latinx (Romo 2021). 

The official name of the Hispanic Heritage Month uses the term Hispanic today as it did 54 years ago. While the US government may not be ready to give up on that descriptor, it's clear that choosing one word to describe the histories and cultures of Latin America and US immigrants from those countries is challenging. Ms. Ily Soares, who submitted the winning 2022 Hispanic Heritage Month theme of "Unidos: Inclusivity for a Stronger Nation," notes that the diversity within the Hispanic community in the United States "...brings with it a wealth of ideas and perspectives. One uniting factor within our Hispanic community is our desire to be included and represented in all aspects of American society." (NCHEPM 2022). 

Resources:

Alamilla, K. A. (2019, October 23). Why the labels "Latino" & "Hispanic" are complicated for Belizeans. Remezcla. https://remezcla.com/features/culture/labels-latino-hispanic-complicated-belizeans/

Cruz, A. (2018, October 9). The problematic history of the word "Hispanic". Teen Vogue. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/problematic-history-of-hispanic-word

Griffin, E. C. (2022). Mexico: Holidays and festivals. Brittanica.  https://www.britannica.com/place/Mexico/Holidays-and-festivals#ref922421

Hispanic Heritage Month. (n.d.) About National Hispanic Heritage Month. https://www.hispanicheritagemonth.gov/about

National Council of Hispanic Employment Program Managers (2022, March 300. 2022 Hispanic Heritage Month theme announced. https://nationalcouncilhepm.org/announcements#248ea6f1-025e-4891-afd9-b8805d959589

Romo, V. (2021, September 17). Yes, we're calling it Hispanic Heritage Month and we know it makes some of you cringe. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2021/09/17/1037741009/yes-were-calling-it-hispanic-heritage-month-and-we-know-it-makes-some-of-you-cri

U.S. Census Bureau. (2020). Additional instructions for respondents. Technical Documentation. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/technical-documentation/questionnaires/2020/response-guidance.html

U.S. Census Bureau. (1930). Special report on foreign-born white families by country of birth of head. https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/02557004v6supp.pdf