September 15th through October 15th is Hispanic Heritage Month! Celebrate the culture, histories, and contributions of Americans whose ancestors come from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.
Across the country, Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated with festivals, community events, and parades. Originally begun in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon B. Johnson, it was later expanded to cover a full month by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. Hispanic Heritage Month encompasses a range of important dates, including September 15th, the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16th and September 18th. And on October 12th Día de la Raza is observed by many Spanish-speaking countries and communities to honor the countries and people that were conquered by Spain and other European explorers.
Continue below to celebrate and learn about the diversity of Hispanic and Latinx cultures and histories, visionaries and leaders, and engage in timely and important conversations about social justice and allyship in America, with resources for all ages.
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Learn About Hispanic and Latinx History & Culture
Flamenco Dance Studio Field Trip
Grades PreK-K
Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month with a lesson on Flamenco! Penny and the KidVision VPK kids take a field trip to the studio to learn about Spanish dance movements and music.
Colombian Folktale: Pastorcita
Grades K-5
Introduce your students to Colombian poet Rafael Pombo and his folktale “Pastorcita.” Pombo was known for his Spanish translations of traditional English nursery rhymes — “Pastorcita” is similar to “Little Bo Peep.”
Hispanic Heritage Month | The Library of Congress
Grades PreK-12
A collaborative project of the Library of Congress and the National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the contents of this site pay tribute to the generations of Hispanic and Latinx Americans who have positively influenced and enriched our nation and society with primary documents, blog posts, videos, recordings and more.
Dishes Inspired by Latin American Heritage | RELISH collection
Grades 3-12
Relish shares stories of cultural heritage in Twin Cities communities through the universal language of food. This sub-collection includes episodes that feature dishes inspired by Latin American heritage, including recipes from Guatemala, Yucatán, and Mexico.
Latino Americans collection
Grades 3-12
This collection of lesson plans, videos and classroom resources invites teachers and students to explore the history, people and issues chronicled in the PBS series, Latino Americans. Along the way, it engages students in dramatic real-life stories and offers primary texts that serve the goals of the Common Core.
Hispanic and Latinx Leaders & Visionaries
Books About Latinos Who Made a Difference
Grades PreK-7
From Diego Rivera: His World and Ours to Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in the Bronx, this list of children’s books highlights the histories, cultures, and contributions of Latino Americans! Many of the books are bilingual or are available in Spanish.
Cesar Chavez | Labor Leader and Civil Rights Activist
Grades 3-8
Migrant farm workers in the United States were exploited routinely by the agricultural industry, which forced them to work in unsafe conditions for little pay. They had no political representation or advocates until Cesar Chavez established the United Farm Workers, the first successful union for farm laborers. Watch a short video and examine two primary sources in order to understand how Chavez was able to successfully organize a movement among some of America’s poorest and most oppressed workers.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Composer and Performer | MacArthur Fellows Program
Grades 6-12
In this interview, 2015 MacArthur Fellow Lin-Manuel Miranda shares his journey to Broadway and his realization that he was free to tell stories reflecting his own experiences and community. Miranda is a composer, lyricist, performer, and creator of Tony Award winning plays In the Heights, as well as Hamilton: An American Musical, which was also awarded the 2015 Pulitzer Prize. Miranda is reimagining American musical theater in works that fuse traditional storytelling with contemporary musical styles and voices.
Jovita Idar | Unladylike2020
Grades 6-12
Learn about Jovita Idar, a teacher, journalist, nurse, and civil rights activist who grew up in Texas and endeavored to expose segregation, lynching, and other injustices endured by Mexican Americans in the early 20th century, in this video from Unladylike2020. At a time when signs announcing “No Negroes, Mexicans, or Dogs Allowed” were common in the Southwest, she helped to tackle racism, the need for bilingual education in schools, women’s rights, and protecting the lives and property of Mexican Americans. She used journalism as a form of activism to both mobilize and educate the public. She also formed and led one of the first organizations to support the rights of Mexican American women.
Representation and Diversity on Stage and Screen | Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage
Grades 9-12
Despite Raúl Juliá’s talents, opportunities for Latinx actors in the United States in the 1960’s were scarce. In this series of videos from the American Masters film Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage, Esai Morales, Edward James Olmos and others discuss how Raúl Juliá overcame discrimination and made a name for himself as an actor — without losing his Puerto Rican accent or changing his name — breaking new ground and helping to pave the way for Latinx actors today.
Allyship & Social Justice Resources
Race, Ethnicity, and Culture Collection | Sesame Street in Communities
Grades PreK-3
Sesame Street in Communities provides parents, caregivers, and family childcare providers with support to help lay the foundations for children’s healthy development. Resources in the Race, Ethnicity, and Culture collection provide tools to help think about, ask about, and talk about race with young children, develop pride in their own unique identities, and cope with difficult race-related situations and experiences. Specific resources include content to address anti-Hispanic racism.
8 Tips for Choosing “Good” Picture Books Featuring Diverse, BIPOC Characters
Grades PreK-5
This article from embracerace.org contains advice for choosing, and evaluating the quality of, picture books featuring BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) characters.
Elevating Hispanic/Latinx History All Year | PBS Teachers Lounge
Grades 6-12
Try these tips for how teachers can better use their curriculum “as a window and mirror” for students and celebrate diverse Hispanic and Latinx history throughout the academic year, not only during Hispanic Heritage Month.
Teaching Hispanic & Latino History and Culture | Finding Your Roots
Grades 6-12
In this Scholar Series session, Vice President of the Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami and Finding Your Roots guest researcher Lourdes Del Pinol guides educators on how to engage students around the topics of Hispanic & Latino history and culture. She then leads educators through a Finding Your Roots lesson that centers around slavery and sugar cane plantations in Puerto Rico featuring Justina Machado.