Latiné Heritage Month

Which historical events were key to shaping Latino culture? This book provides coverage of the 50 most pivotal developments over 500 years that have shaped the Latino experience, offering primary sources, biographies of notable figures, and suggested readings for inquiry.Latinos--people of European, Indigenous, and African descent--have had a presence in North America long before the first British settlements arrived to the Eastern seaboard. The encounters between Spanish colonizers and the native peoples of the Americas initiated 500 years of a rich and vibrant history--an intermingled, cultural evolution that continues today in the 21st century.50 Events that Shaped Latino History: An Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic is a valuable reference that provides a chronological overview of Latino/a history beginning with the indigenous populations of the Americas through the present day. It is divided into time period, such as Pre-Colonial Era to Spanish Empire, pre-1521-1810, and covers a variety of themes relevant to the time period, making it easy for the reader find information. The coverage offers readers background on critical events that have shaped Latino/a populations, revealed the conditions and experiences of Latinos, or highlighted their contributions to U.S. society. The text addresses events as varied as the U.S.-Mexican War to the rise of Latin jazz. The entries present a balance of political and cultural events, social developments, legal cases, and broader trends. Each entry has a chronology, a main narrative, biographies of notable figures, and suggested further readings, as well as one or more primary sources that offer additional context or information on the given event. These primary source materials offer readers additional insight via a first-hand account, original voices, or direct evidence on the subject matter.

In an unprecedented demographic shift, Latinos will comprise a third of the American population in just a matter of decades. While their influence shapes everything from electoral politics to popular culture, many Americans still struggle with two basic questions: Who are Latinos, and where do they fit in America's racial order? 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. And the catalyst for this emergent identity, she argues, has been the ferocity of anti-Latino racism. In a bold effort to reframe our often-confused discussions over the Latinx generation, Gómez argues that everything from Trump's toxic rhetoric and anti-immigrant laws like Arizona's SB1070 to DACA and sanctuary cities have indelibly changed the way race functions in this country. 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

In Latinidad at the Crossroad: Insights into Latinx identity in the Twenty-First Century Gerke and González Rodríguez provide flashing glimpses into the ways in which Latinas/os struggle to forge their multiracial and multicultural identities within their own communities and in mainstream U.S. society. This volume encompasses an interdisciplinary perspective on the complex range of latinidades that confronts stereotypical connotations, and simultaneously advocates a more flexible (re)definition that may overcome static collective representations of identity, ethnicity and belonging. Well-positioned in the current political context, the notion of latinidad is examined as a complex sociological phenomenon of identity-construction which is affected by outside influences and is used as a powerful linguistic, cultural and ideological weapon to denounce oppression and deconstruct stereotypes. Including chapters from foundational and influential scholars, this collection moves towards a dynamic exploration of how Latinx are remapping their identity positions in twenty-first century America. Contributors: Francisco A. Lomelí, José Antonio Gurpegui, Esther Álvarez López, Ylce Irizarry, Luisa María González Rodríguez, Ewa Antoszek, Fernando Aquino.

This richly detailed reference offers a strengths-based survey of Latinx immigrant experience in the United States. Spanning eleven countries across the Americas and the Caribbean, the book uses a psychohistorical approach using the words of immigrants at different processes and stages of acculturation and acceptance. Coverage emphasizes the sociopolitical contexts, particularly in relation to the US, that typically lead to immigration, the vital role of the Spanish language and cultural values, and the journey of identity as it evolves throughout the creation of a new life in a new and sometimes hostile country.

The history and experiences of the diverse groups labeled Latinos in this country are abundantly documented in this major new collection. From the Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1803 to remembrances of life on the frontier, to the Young Lords platform of 1969, to a discussion of Latinos and the war on Iraq today, this 3-volume collection showcases more than 400 crucial primary documents from and concerning the major Latino groups in the United States. Sources include letters, memoirs, speeches, articles, essays, interviews, treaties, government reports, testimony, and more. The voices include whites as well as Latinos, prominent and obscure, and Americans as well as foreigners.The bulk of the primary documents concern Mexico and the United States and Mexican Americans, who paved the way for immigrants from Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Central and South America to come. The scope also includes primary documents pertaining to events in Latin American and Caribbean history that have had an impact on these groups. Each primary document has a short introduction, placing it in historical and cultural context. An introduction that gives an historical overview, a chronology, a selected bibliography chock full of useful websites, and a set index provide added value. Sample documents: memoirs of early Texas, commentary by a Mexican diplomat on the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo of 1848, essay on the social condition of New Mexico in 1852, Cuban independence leader Jose Marti in New York on race (1894), El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez-- a ballad about a Mexican who stood up to the Texas Rangers in 1901, excerpts from an autobiography by Ella Winter on school segregation in the 1930s, a Latino soldier's reminiscences of World War II, testimony from a Bracero worker in the 1950s, article on Cuban Miami in the 1960s, socioeconomic profile of Dominicans in the United States in 2000, interview with Subcomandante Marcos from the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.