History of Hispanic Heritage Month
September 16, 2022
Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! Here at The Americano Dream, we believe strongly in honoring our roots. What better way than to honor the origins of the month we are celebrating?
Hispanic Heritage Month first started out as Hispanic Heritage Week. Representative Edward R. Roybal from Los Angeles first introduced legislation to celebrate Latinos and President Johnson signed it into law in 1968. Eventually, President Ronald Reagan passed new legislation to expand the week into a month thanks to sponsorship from Representative Esteban Torress in 1988!
Now, we get to celebrate our Latino heritage from September 15th to October 15th every year. But why in the middle of the month like this? September 15th was chosen as the start of Hispanic Heritage Month because it marks the anniversary of the Cry of Dolores, the inciting battle that kicked off Mexico’s war for independence from Spain. As a result, many Latin American countries celebrate their independence day on September 15th, 16th, and 18th (Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, and Chile to name a few). In short, it’s more meaningful to begin honoring our Hispanic heritage when so many of the countries we hail from gained their independence.
