National Hispanic Heritage Month

Wednesday, September 15, 2021, marked the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month, also known as Latinx Heritage Month. This month is a nationally recognized commemorative month that celebrates all the accomplishments and contributions of Americans of Latinx descent.

As we celebrate this month here in the Library, we would like to highlight some of the resources in our collection and in the community to help you learn more about Latinx heritage.

Selected Books

An African American and Latinx History of the United States – “Spanning more than two hundred years, An African American and Latinx History of the United States is a revolutionary, politically charged revisionist history, arguing that Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa -otherwise known as “The Global South”– were crucial to the development of America as we know it….Told from the viewpoint of African American and Latinx activists, movements, and thinkers, this unique perspective reveals that brown and black people of the diaspora offered radically different ways of addressing issues that plague the United States today.”

La Nueva California: Latinos from Pioneers to Post-Millennials – “Since late 2001 more than fifty percent of the babies born in California have been Latino. When these babies reach adulthood, they will, by sheer force of numbers, influence the course of the Golden State….Spanning one hundred years, this complex, fascinating analysis suggests that the future of Latinos in California will be neither complete assimilation nor unyielding separatism. Instead, the development of a distinctive regional identity will be based on Latino definitions of what it means to be American.”

Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism – “Laura E. Gómez, a leading expert on race in America, argues that it is only recently that Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, Central Americans, and others are seeing themselves (and are being seen by others) under the banner of a cohesive racial identity….Part history, part guide for the future, Inventing Latinos argues that all Americans must grapple with Latinos’ dynamic identity–an identity that is impacting everything we think we know about race in America.”

The Heart of the Mission: Latino Art and Politics in San Francisco – “In The Heart of the Mission, Cary Cordova combines urban, political, and art history to examine how the Mission District, a longtime bohemian enclave in San Francisco, has served as an important place for an influential and largely ignored Latino arts movement from the 1960s to the present….The Mission, home to Chileans, Cubans, Guatemalans, Mexican Americans, Nicaraguans, Puerto Ricans, and Salvadorans never represented a single Latino identity. In tracing the experiences of a diverse group of Latino artists from the 1940s to the turn of the century, Cordova connects wide-ranging aesthetics to a variety of social movements and activist interventions.”

Selected Databases

Foreign Relations between Latin America and the Caribbean States, 1930-1944 – “Organized by country, this collection covers a wide range of viewpoints on political, social, and economic issues. It sheds light on the foreign relations interactions between Central American and South American countries. In the Caribbean, Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic are represented. This collection includes cables, memoranda, correspondence, reports and analyzes, and treaties.” Documents in this collection were provided by the U.S. National Archives. Use password labor to access.

World Scholar: Latin America & The Caribbean – “World Scholar: Latin America & the Caribbean serves the needs of students and researchers by bringing together in a single place a rich collection of primary source documents about Latin America and the Caribbean; academic journals and news feeds covering the region; reference articles and commentary; maps and statistics; audio and video; and more.” Use password labor to access.

Political Database of the Americas – “Through its website, the PDBA offers centralized and systematized information about institutions and political processes, national constitutions, branches of government, elections, political constitutional studies and other subjects related to the strengthening of democracy in the region… The mission of the Political Database of the Americas is to contribute to the study, promotion and strengthening of democracy in the hemisphere, through the collection, systematization, dissemination, and exchange of information, data, statistics, and institutions from a political perspective, comparative studies; and other resources relevant to the 35 countries of the region.”

Internet Resources

A Proclamation on National Hispanic Heritage Month, 2021 – President Biden’s proclamation recognizing and celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month.

National Hispanic Heritage Month – “The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of Hispanic Americans who have positively influenced and enriched our nation and society.”

If you have any questions about these resources or would like to know more, please contact the Reference Desk at libref@uclawsf.edu.