Hispanic Heritage Month is a very important but often forgotten month. It takes place from
September 15th to October 15th as that is when most Latin and Hispanic countries gained their
independence. The day September 15 is important because it is the anniversary of
independence for these Latin countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
On September 16th and 18th, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence. About 19.1% of
America’s population, or 62.1 million people, are Hispanic or of Latino descent. Spanish is the
fourth most spoken language in the world with over 548 million speakers. I interviewed one of
the Spanish teachers at our school, Ms. Ortiz, so she could share her experiences as a Latina in
this country.
“I love my experience as a Latina. I have always appreciated being from a different culture and
being different, and I really am proud of being a Latina and I think just being Latina opens up a
lot of opportunities as well. Being a first generation school [student] was great just because
nobody else in my family had ever graduated from college or university and I did it!”
According to Ms. Ortiz, everyone she had ever met in the Latina community was very tightly knit
and accepting of one another. “The first thing that I would say is how united everybody is in the
Latina culture. I feel like everybody really does love being supportive of each other.”
Hispanic Heritage Month was first celebrated in 1988, but from 1968-1987 the USA would
celebrate Hispanic Heritage Week, founded by President Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1988, Hispanic
Heritage Week was expanded to a 30 day time period by President Ronald Reagan. Hispanic
Heritage Month is an extremely important month as Latino and Hispanic Americans have
contributed to our country in many ways, and it is important for us to learn about Hispanic and
Latino culture.
