Huge celebrations across the U.S. are expected to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, an annual tradition that showcases the broad diversity and culture of Hispanic people.
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19 Hispanic historical milestones to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month
Early exploration
Saint Augustine, in the mid-1500s, was the first permanent European settlement in the U.S., introducing Catholicism and Spanish language in Florida. Spanish Adm. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Florida's first colonial governor, founded the settlement.
Hispanics, from the area today known as Mexico, explored North America a century before the British founded Jamestown in the early 1600s. In the picture, Spanish reenactment soldiers at Castillo de San Marcos check a cannon in St. Augustine, Fla.
West Texas and beyond
Explorer Diego de Vargas, in the late 1600s, led an expedition to the Guadalupe Mountains (Sierra de Guadalupe, pictured), in what is now West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, becoming the first non-Native American visitor to the area.
Los Angeles founded in 1781
A group of Spaniards, Afro-Latinos, indigenous people and mestizos setting out from colonial-era Mexico traveled into California and founded the city of Los Angeles, which, at about 5 million, has the country’s largest current Hispanic population.
Mexican Revolution
In 1910, the Mexican Revolution sent scores of Mexicans north, many settling in the American Southwest. In the picture, a Mexico City parade honors the start of the Revolution of 1910 against Porfirio Diaz.
Puerto Ricans granted U.S. citizenship
The United States extended both citizenship and, shortly after, military conscription to Puerto Rico in 1917, as World War I raged in Europe.
First senator
In 1928, Octaviano Larrazolo of New Mexico became the first Hispanic elected to the U.S. Senate. As a politician, he pushed to boost Hispanic representation so that the political system would reflect the state’s population. He also helped write portions of the state’s constitution guaranteeing that people of Mexican descent wouldn’t be disfranchised.
First high court justice
While most people think Sonia Sotomayor was the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court, there is evidence that another came first. In 1932, Benjamin Nathan Cardozo replaced Oliver Wendell Holmes on the high court. His family was from the Iberian Peninsula.
School victory
In 1945, years before Brown v. Board of Education, Hispanics in Orange County, Calif., won an appeals court case that made separate Mexican schools unconstitutional.
Discrimination battle
In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled Hispanics have equal protection under the 14th Amendment, providing a legal avenue to fight discrimination.
Cuban Revolution
In the years after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, led by Fidel Castro, more than one million Cubans left the island, with many settling in Miami, a city they transformed. Subsequent waves of Cubans migrated to the United States in the 1980s, with the Mariel boatlift, and the 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union upended the island’s economy.
Grape pickers strike
In 1965, Hispanic farmworker unions joined in a strike, and later a boycott of grapes in the Delano area of California to protest poor working conditions. The five-year campaign ultimately succeeded in forcing the grape producers to sign union contracts.
This victory helped secure the place of the United Farm Workers of America and its leader, Cesar Chavez, as a key player in the Hispanic civil rights movement.
Roberto Clemente
A champion of black and Hispanic rights who began his career before the end of segregation, Roberto Clemente was the first Hispanic in professional baseball to reach 3,000 hits. He played in two World Series, winning MVP in 1971.
“My greatest satisfaction comes from helping to erase the old opinion about Latin Americans and blacks,” Clemente said. He died in a plane crash in 1972 while delivering supplies to Nicaragua after an earthquake.
Hiring practices
In 1986, Congress approved the Immigration Reform and Control Act, legalizing some undocumented workers and setting guidelines for hiring practices.
First astronaut
In 1991, Ellen Ochoa became the first female Hispanic astronaut, and went on to complete four space missions.
Rock hall of fame
In 1998, guitar master Carlos Santana was the first Hispanic inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Day Without Immigrants protest
In 2006, the first Day Without Immigrants protest, rallying against proposed new immigration laws, was held.
Hispanic population swells
Today, 57.5 million people, or 18 percent of the American population, are of Hispanic or Latino origin. This represents a significant increase from 2000, which registered the Hispanic population at 35.3 million, or 13 percent of the total U.S. population.
