
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15 with resources to address this year’s theme: “One Endless Voice to Advance our Traditions.” As of July 2016, Hispanics (people with ancestry from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America), made up 17.8 percent of the population of the United States. Past presidents have recognized the importance of Hispanics in the United States: President Lyndon Johnson dedicated a week to celebrating Hispanic heritage in 1968 and, in 1988, President Ronald Reagan designated the 30-day period in September to observe and reflect on the rich culture, history, and traditions of Hispanic and Latino Americans. Use the following Annenberg Learner resources to explore identity and heritage with your students through the unique perspectives of Hispanic and Latino American writers:
- Introduce your students to Pat Mora, a writer and activist from Texas and descendent of Mexican grandparents. She works to preserve and celebrate Mexican American literature. “Family, Mexican American culture, and the desert are all important themes in my children’s books as well as in my poetry and nonfiction for adults,” writes Mora. View session 1 of The Expanding Canon: Teaching Multicultural Literature in High School.
- Approach the topic of dual heritage using literature. For example, author Judith Ortiz Cofer felt caught between her father’s desire to assimilate into mainland U.S. culture and her mother’s desire to hold onto their island heritage and customs of Puerto Rico. She is featured in Teaching Multicultural Literature, workshop 2, “Engagement and Dialogue.”
- Also in Teaching Multicultural Literature, workshop 1, students can explore themes of “multiple worlds” and “dual identities” through the works of Julia Alvarez. Julia was born in New York City and grew up in the Dominican Republic until the age of 10. Her family permanently moved back to the United States to escape the difficulties of living under then dictator General Rafael Trujillo.
- Third graders can explore the topic of immigration with Alma Flor Ada’s book My Name is Maria Isabel. View the lesson in Teaching Reading Workshop, Grades 3-5, program 10, “Fostering Book Discussions.”
- In the video for A Biography of America, program 26, “The Redemptive Imagination,” Esmeralda Santiago explains that she began to write about her experiences as an immigrant in the United States to fill a void she saw in American literature.
Please share additional resources you use to teach about this topic in the comments.