Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

September 15 marks the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month, which continues through October 15th. Originally a weeklong celebration instituted by President Lyndon B. Johnson, Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates the rich, diverse cultures of the Latino community and recognizes their indispensable contributions to the United States.

Although every year, Latino Americans proudly participate and use this month to showcase their culture, the mere name of Hispanic Heritage Month has been a source of contention among the community. According to the PEW Research Center, the term Hispanic did not come into use until the late 20th century when the U.S. government began efforts to count Latinos separately in the census. Although the U.S. Census Bureau eventually provided Latino subgroups in the census, such as Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Mexican, the aversion to the term Hispanic remains. Due to the history of the term, many Latinos understandably feel that Hispanic is an imposed identity from the U.S. government. Others argue that this all-encompassing, blanket identity erases all the unique cultures and experiences found within Latin America and its diaspora.

Dedicated to providing knowledge and encouraging a love of learning through reading, we at the Crawfordsville District Public Library have created a Hispanic Heritage Month display that highlights the rich and varied cultures of Latinos in the United States. The display features films, memoirs, novels, and historical accounts recounting stories of strife, determination, and success.

One of our featured films, “El Norte (The North)” (DVD FL-SPA Nor) follows the journey of Enrique and Rosa, Maya siblings from Guatemala who, fleeing violence in their hometown of San Pedro, emigrate to Los Angeles, California only to find that life in the U.S. is not what they believed it to be.

For viewers who love coming-of-age stories, the groundbreaking 2002 film “Real Women Have Curves” (DVD FIC Rea) is a must-watch. The film follows Ana Garcia, a seventeen-year-old girl living in East Los Angeles who challenges her parents’ traditional views on the role of women in society as she fights to pursue a college education. Both “El Norte” and “Real Women Have Curves” are only two of the many featured films currently ready to be checked out!

For readers who equally love biographies, memoirs, and fiction novels, we have a variety of intriguing and amazing options. Giving insight into the lives of Latinos on the opposite side of the nation, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s memoir, “My Beloved World,” (921 Sotomayor, S.) recounts her story of perseverance from life in the Bronx, New York to her appointment to the federal bench. Also set in New York, Angie Cruz’s fiction novel “Dominicana” (FIC Cru) tells the story of 15-year-old Ana Cancion, who reluctantly emigrates from the Dominican Republic to New York and must face the tension caused by her sense of familial duty and desire for self-actualization.

Our display also includes something for sports lovers! In “¡Pleibol!: in the barrios and the big leagues (en los barrios y las grandes ligas)” (796.357 Ple SPA) by Margaret Salazar-Porzio and Adrian Burgos Jr., baseball fans can read about Latinos’ century-long influence on the sport.

 When you visit our display, you’ll notice that we’ve used the term Hispanic in our flyer, but unlike the origins of the term, the works we feature show that Latinidad is not a monolith. I invite you to visit the display, found on the second floor of the library, and learn about the diversity behind the term Hispanic.