From September 15 to October 15, the United States celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month. It’s a time to remember the vital contributions that Americans who trace their ancestry to Latin America have made and continue to make to this country. The celebration began in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week; it was then expanded to the 30-day period between September 15 and October 15 in 1988. This period was chosen because Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua all celebrate their independence on September 15, and Mexico, Chile, and Belize all also celebrate their independence around that time.
Origins of the Name
But where did the term Hispanic come from, and what does it mean? How is it different than Latino, Latinx, or Latine? It is important to realize that all these terms come out of the unique history of the United States. These are terms used to group together people from a variety of backgrounds, ethnicities, and races. The push for a term to encompass people of Latin American descent in the United States came out of civil rights movements led by Mexican American, Cuban American, and Puerto Rican activists in the 1960s.
Hispanic means “people of Spanish-speaking origin” and came to prevalence when it was adopted by the Office of Management and Budget in 1977. The term Hispanic is seen as problematic by some because it centers the identity of a diverse group of people on Spanish language and colonization, and it disregards the rich history and culture of Latin American people prior to colonization. The term also excludes groups such as Indigenous people and Portuguese-speaking Brazilians.
Latino first appeared in the 2000 U.S. Census and refers to people from Latin America (which includes Central and South America) or of Latin American descent. So, a person from Spain would be Hispanic (but not Latino) while a person from Brazil would be Latino (but not Hispanic).
While the term Latino arose out of criticism of the term Hispanic, it is not without its own issues. Latino is a masculine term, with Latina being its feminine form. Latinx came about as a more gender-inclusive version of Latino but drew criticism because it is seen as an anglicization of a Spanish term, since it is not typical for words to end with the letter x in Spanish. Latine is another gender-inclusive version of Latino that uses an ending more commonly found in Spanish. All these terms have drawn criticism for lumping together and being used to generalize about diverse groups of people.
The Words We Use Matter
Identity and identity terms are very personal. The Pew Research Center found that while most people in the United States who trace their ancestry to Latin and South America prefer to use the name of their or their ancestors’ national origin to identify themselves (such as Honduran, Mexican, Chilean, or Salvadoran), they also use the terms Hispanic and Latino to differing degrees.
The words we use matter, and we believe that this is an important conversation to be a part of. We have chosen to use National Hispanic Heritage Month in our libraries as it is the title given to the observance by the official proclamation. As always, our mission is to educate, enrich, and inspire our diverse community. We recognize the importance of perpetual listening and learning. If you have any comments or suggestions, please contact us.
Ultimately, the stories we tell and the resources we choose to highlight during National Hispanic Heritage Month are vitally important. This is a time to celebrate the diversity of origins and experiences within the Latino community. Please take the time to check out our in-Library displays and book and resource lists.
Further Reading
National Hispanic Heritage Month Official Site
National Museum of the American Latino – Hispanic Heritage Month Resources
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