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Hispanic Heritage Month

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We celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 to October 15) to recognize the achievements and contributions of Hispanic American champions who have inspired others to achieve success. The observation began in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover a 30-day period. It was enacted into law on August 17, 1988. The theme for 2024 is “Pioneers of Change: Shaping the Future Together.”

View related records on the Hispanic/Latino Heritage resource page and in the Archives Catalog. Topics include:

Selected Photographs

(Slideshow editing URL https://www.archives.gov/node/72753/edit/)

President Barack Obama greets Justice Sonia Sotomayor before her investiture ceremony at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, September 8, 2009. NAID 118817965

President Barack Obama recognizes Medal of Honor honorees, from left, Staff Sgt. Melvin Morris, Sgt. 1st Class Jose Rodela, and Spc.4 Santiago J. Erevia, during the Medal of Honor ceremony in the East Room of the White House, March 18, 2014. NAID 159982155

César Chávez, United Farm Workers of America leader, July 1972. (Photo by Cornelius M. Keyes) NAID 544069

United Farm Workers of America co-founder Dolores Huerta attends an event marking the establishment of the César Chávez National Monument at Nuestra Señora Reina de la Paz, Keene, CA, October 8, 2012. NAID 55142212

U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen speaks during the ship's commissioning ceremony of the nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Miami, June 30, 1990. NAID 6458215

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro speaks at a diversity panel at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, DC. NAID 146150911

Pilot Sidney M. Gutierrez, sitting in the commander's seat on the flight deck of the orbiter Columbia, goes over a procedure list, June 10, 1999. NAID 22581289

Photo of Roberto Clemente taken from his military service record, dated September 30, 1958. NAID 7329767

President George W. Bush acknowledges dancer and actress Chita Rivera (center) during a reception for recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors of 2002.

Ellen Ochoa, the first Hispanic woman astronaut, looks out a window of the International Space Station in April 2002. View in National Archives Catalog

Lin-Manuel Miranda (far left), creator of the Broadway musical Hamilton, listens to President Barack Obama's closing remarks following a performance of musical selections from Hamilton in the East Room of the White House, March 14, 2016. (Official White House photo by Pete Souza)

Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez takes a selfie with First Lady Michelle Obama before the 85th Annual League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) National Convention and Exposition in New York City, July 10, 2014. NAID 176550250

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Education Resources

Explore resources for Hispanic Heritage Month on:

In 2021 we hosted a Virtual Pajama Party for kids aged 8–12 focused on Sylvia & Aki, an inspiring book based on a true story, featuring civil rights activist and title character Sylvia Mendez.

Sylvia Mendez was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama on February 15, 2011. This video of Mendez was created by the Obama White House to mark the occasion and highlight Mendez's activism and role in the landmark case Mendez v. Westminster School District.

Find documents from the Mendez case file in Docs Teach.

Teaching with Documents is a regular column edited by the National Archives Education Team in the National Council for the Social Studies flagship journal Social Education.

"El Punto es Progresar: Examining Slums and the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration," features National Archives photographs in conjunction with a New Deal-era report about Puerto Rico.

Spanish-Language Activities on DocsTeach

Monuments, Manifest Destiny, and Mexico (Prologue magazine, Summer 2005) - The survey of the U.S.-Mexico borderline, which followed the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, is sometimes disparagingly referred to as the stuff that "dime novels" are made of. Dime novel it's not; it is more a narrative of nation-building, centered in President James K. Polk's vision of manifest destiny.

The United States Armed Forces and the Mexican Punitive Expedition (Prologue magazine, Fall 1997) - In February 1917, the last of the U.S. troops serving in the Mexican Punitive Expedition recrossed the border from Mexico into United States, nearly a year after Pancho Villa had raided Columbus, New Mexico.