Hispanic Heritage Month takes place every year from September 15th-October 15th. It aims to recognize and celebrate the many contributions, diverse cultures and extensive histories of the American Latino community.
Special thanks to our Materials Processing Coordinator Leah Zande, for compiling this list. Feature image by Vanessa on Unsplash.
Sal Si Puedes (Escape If You Can)
Matthiessen, Peter; Grossman, Marc (2014)
In the summer of 1968 Peter Matthiessen met Cesar Chavez for the first time. They were the same age: forty-one. Matthiessen lived in New York City, while Chavez lived in the Central Valley farm town of Delano, where the grape strike was unfolding. This book is Matthiessen’s panoramic yet finely detailed account of the three years he spent working and traveling with Chavez, including to Sal Si Puedes, the San Jose barrio where Chavez began his organizing. Matthiessen provides a candid look into the many sides of this enigmatic and charismatic leader who lived by the laws of nonviolence.
"Sal Si Puedes" is less reportage than living history. In its pages a whole era comes alive: the Chicano, Black Power, and antiwar movements; the browning of the labor movement; Chavez’s fasts; the nationwide boycott of California grapes. When Chavez died in 1993, tens of thousands gathered at his funeral. It was a clear sign of how beloved he was and how important his life had been. - Publisher's Description
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Dance and the Hollywood Latina
Ovalle, Priscilla Peña (2011)
"Dance and the Hollywood Latina" asks why every Latina star in Hollywood history, from Dolores Del Rio in the 1920s to Jennifer Lopez in the 2000s, began as a dancer or danced onscreen. While cinematic depictions of women and minorities have seemingly improved, a century of representing brown women as natural dancers has popularized the notion that Latinas are inherently passionate and promiscuous. Yet some Latina actresses became stars by embracing and manipulating these stereotypical fantasies.
Introducing the concepts of "inbetween-ness" and "racial mobility" to further illuminate how racialized sexuality and the dancing female body operate in film, Priscilla Peña Ovalle focuses on the careers of Dolores Del Rio, Rita Hayworth, Carmen Miranda, Rita Moreno, and Jennifer Lopez. Dance and the Hollywood Latina helps readers better understand how the United States grapples with race, gender, and sexuality through dancing bodies on screen. - Publisher's Description
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Inhabiting la Patri
Harrison, Rebecca; Hipchen, Emily (2013)
This is the first collection of critical essays on the works of Dominican American author Julia Alvarez. A prolific writer of nearly two dozen books of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and children’s literature, Alvarez has garnered numerous international accolades, including the impressive F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Outstanding Achievement in American Literature. She was one of only ten poets invited to write for President Obama’s inauguration in 2009, and her In the Time of the Butterflies was selected as a National Endowment for the Arts “Big Read,” putting her in the company of Mark Twain, Zora Neale Hurston, and Harper Lee. Yet, despite Alvarez’s commercial success and flourishing critical reputation, much of the published scholarship has focused on her two best-known novels—"In the Time of the Butterflies" and "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents."
Moving beyond Alvarez’s more recognizable work, the contributors here approach her wider canon from different points of access and with diverging critical tools. This enriches current discussions on the construction of selves in life writing, and nonfiction more generally, and furthers our understanding of these selves as particular kinds of participants in the creation of nation and place. In addition, this book provides fresh insight for transnational feminist studies and makes a meaningful contribution to the broader study of the gendered diaspora, as it positions Alvarez scholarship in a global context. - Publisher's Description
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In the Heights: Finding Home
Miranda, Lin-Manuel; Hudes, Quiara Alegría; McCarter, Jeremy (2021)
In 2008, "In the Heights," a new musical from up-and-coming young artists, electrified Broadway. The show’s vibrant mix of Latin music and hip-hop captured life in Washington Heights, the Latino neighborhood in upper Manhattan. It won four Tony Awards and became an international hit, delighting audiences around the world. For the film version, director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) brought the story home, filming its spectacular dance numbers on location in Washington Heights. That’s where Usnavi, Nina, and their neighbors chase their dreams and ask a universal question: Where do I belong?
"In the Heights: Finding Home" reunites Miranda with Jeremy McCarter, co-author of Hamilton: The Revolution, and Quiara Alegría Hudes, the Pulitzer Prize–winning librettist of the Broadway musical and screenwriter of the film. They do more than trace the making of an unlikely Broadway smash and a major motion picture: They give readers an intimate look at the decades-long creative life of In the Heights.
Like "Hamilton: The Revolution," the book offers untold stories, perceptive essays, and the lyrics to Miranda’s songs—complete with his funny, heartfelt annotations. It also features newly commissioned portraits and never-before-seen photos from backstage, the movie set, and productions around the world. This is the story of characters who search for a home—and the artists who created one. - Publisher's Description
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¡Sí, ella puede!
Sowards, Stacey (2019)
Since the 1950s, Latina activist Dolores Huerta has been a fervent leader and organizer in the struggle for farmworkers’ rights within the Latina/o community. A cofounder of the United Farm Workers union in the 1960s alongside César Chávez, Huerta was a union vice president for nearly four decades before starting her own foundation in the early 2000s. She continues to act as a dynamic speaker, passionate lobbyist, and dedicated figure for social and political change, but her crucial contributions and commanding presence have often been overshadowed by those of Chávez and other leaders in the Chicana/o movement. In this new study, Stacey K. Sowards closely examines Huerta’s rhetorical skills both in and out of the public eye and defines Huerta’s vital place within Chicana/o history.
Referencing the theoretical works of Pierre Bourdieu, Chela Sandoval, Gloria Anzaldúa, and others, Sowards closely analyzes Huerta’s speeches, letters, and interviews. She shows how Huerta navigates the complex intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, language, and class through the myriad challenges faced by women activists of color. Sowards’s approach to studying Huerta’s rhetorical influence offers a unique perspective for understanding the transformative relationship between agency and social justice. - Publisher's Description
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Latino Leaders Speak
Ibarra, Mickey; Perez-Brown, Maria (2017)
"People do not define you," Soledad O'Brien's Cuban mother repeatedly told her children. "You define yourself." And so this mixed-race, first-generation Latina American would go on to succeed in her field, ultimately becoming an anchor for CNN. O'Brien's remarks, like the others included in this volume, reflect on what it means to be Latino in the United States. For her, "It's succeeding, fulfilling the dream and then turning around and grabbing everybody else and making it happen for them too."
The importance of education is a common refrain in the lives of the leaders represented here. Many reference one particular teacher or mentor who made a difference. The late Reverend Father Virgilio Elizondo, a professor at the University of Notre Dame, said his fifth-grade teacher changed his life. She taught him to love school and learning. Others remember the sacrifices made by parents so that their children could have more opportunities for a better life. In all, these writings are both a testament to perseverance and a guide to life, for readers of all backgrounds.
Originally presented at the Latino Leaders Luncheon Series in Washington, DC, and other major cities, the personal stories included in this book are all by successful Latinos involved in a variety of occupations, from politics and sports to education and activism. Contributors include former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; former general manager of the New York Mets, Omar Minaya; and Dr. Francisco G. Cigarroa, the Chancellor of the University of Texas System. Their words will inspire readers of all ages to follow their dreams and help those less fortunate. - Publisher's Description
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Latina Legacies
Ruiz, Vicki; Korrol, Virginia Sánchez (2005)
An extraordinary exploration of Latinas in the United States from the 1800s to the present, this collection of narrative biographies documents the lives of fifteen remarkable individuals who witnessed, defined, defied, and wrote about the forces that shaped their lives. Since the earliestperiods of Spanish American colonization, women have claimed public space and built communities, both as physical places and as cultural realms. As entrepreneurs, community activists, mystics, educators, feminists, labor organizers, artists and entertainers, many Latinas used the power of the pento traverse and transgress the social boundaries and cultural conventions of their time.
Their diverse histories span two centuries and encompass a past of multiple conquests and migrations, taking into account race, region, gender, culture, and social location. Blending insights from history,literary criticism, and cultural studies, this interdisciplinary anthology re-envisions Latina history taking into consideration gendered genealogies of power as charted through grassroots' activism, literature, education, and economic enterprise. Their legacies rest on the production anddissemination of knowledge, which in turn reveals much about their own worldviews and historical agency. This anthology profiles Victoria Reid, Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, Maria Gertrudis Barcelo, Loreta Janeta Velazquez, Luisa Capetillo, Lola Rodriguez de Tio, Teresa Urrea, Adelina Otero Warren,Jovita Gonzalez Mireles, Pura Belpre, Luisa Moreno, Carmen Miranda, Antonia Pantoja, Ana Mendieta, and Dolores Huerta. - Publisher's Description
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Latinas Leading Schools
Martinez, Melissa, Méndez-Morse, Sylvia (2021)
As the first scholarly book of its kind, this edited volume brings together educational leadership scholars and practitioners from across the country whose research focuses on the unique contributions and struggles that Latinas across the diaspora face while leading in schools and districts. The limited though growing scholarship on Latina administrators indicates their assets, particularly those rooted in their sociocultural, linguistic, and racial/ethnic backgrounds, their cultura, are undervalued in research and practice (Hernandez & Murakami, 2016; Martinez, Rivera, & Marquez, 2019; Méndez-Morse, 2000; Méndez-Morse, Murakami, Byrne-Jimenez, & Hernandez, 2015). At the same time, Latina administrators have reported challenges related to: isolation (Hernandez & Murakami, 2016), a lack of mentoring (Méndez-Morse, 2004), resistance from those who expect a more linear, hierarchical form of leadership (Gonzales, Ulloa, & Muñoz, 2016), balancing varying professional and personal roles and aspirations (Murakami-Ramalho, 2008), as well as racism, sexism, and ageism (Bagula, 2016; Martinez, Marquez, Cantú, & Rocha, 2016).
The impetus for this book is to acknowledge, explore, theorize, and expand our understanding of how Latinas' success as school and district leaders is informed by such gifts, including their prioritizing of familia and communidad, relationship building, reciprocity, and advocacy, in the face of such challenges. Thus, this volume covers four topical areas: 1) Testimonies and reflections from the field/Testimonios y reflexiones del campo, 2) Leading in relationship, comadrismo, with and for community/Liderazgo en relación, comadrismo, con y para la comunidad, 3) School community leaders(hip)/Lider(azgo) escolar y comunitario 4) Learning from the experiences of others/Aprendiendo de las experiencias de otras. - Publisher's Description
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The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros
Herrera-Sobek, María (2011)
This volume offers an introduction to Sandra Cisneros's acclaimed novel. Four essays offer a framework for developing a deeper understanding of its key themes and contexts. Other essays cover feminist approaches to Mango Street, gender stereotypes, patriarchy, female friendships, and more. Also included are a brief biography and chronology of Cisneros's life, a complete list of her current major publications, and a bibliography of resources for further study.
Acclaimed by critics, beloved by readers of all ages, taught everywhere from inner-city grade schools to universities across the country, and translated all over the world, "The House on Mango Street" is the remarkable story of Esperanza Cordero. Told in a series of vignettes – sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous–it is the story of a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago, inventing for herself who and what she will become. Few other books in our time have touched so many readers. - Publisher's Description
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Trans/Acting: Latin American and Latino Performing Arts
Bixler, Jacqueline; Seda, Laurietz (2009)
"Trans/Acting: Latin American and Latino Performing Arts" comprises fourteen new essays by leading scholars of Latin American and US Latino theater as well as the performance script "Mexterminator vs. The Global Predator" by Guillermo Gómez-Peña. The essays focus on contemporary Latin American and US Latino dramatic texts and performances. They range from a panoramic view of transculturation in twentieth-century Latin American theater to in-depth analyses of individual plays from Cuba (Abelardo Estorino), Mexico (Sabina Berman, Vicente Leñero, Paquita la del Barrio), Argentina (Rafael Spregelburd, Patricia Suárez, Susana Torres Molina), Uruguay (Gabriel Peveroni), and the US (Guillermo Reyes, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, and the Original Latin Kings of Comedy).
By deploying the concept of trans/acting, with its connotations of negotiation and/or exchange, in various theoretical ways the essays explore and challenge the parameters of culturation, nationalism, gender, genre, translation, and adaptation in the context of globalization, shifting borders, and new cultural paradigms. The study of contemporary theater and performance arts in this volume is complemented by trans/actor Gómez-Peña's "Mexterminator vs. The Global Predator," a strikingly transgressive script that underscores the performative nature of territorial and symbolic border crossings. Exploring the transformation of Latin American theater from the local to the global and the national to the transnational, "Trans/Acting" will appeal to scholars of Latin American studies, performance art, and globalization. - Publisher's Description
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Mexican American Boxing in Los Angeles
Aguilera, Gene (2014)
Welcome to the colorful, flamboyant, and wonderful world of "Mexican American boxing in Los Angeles." From the minute they stepped into the ring, Mexican American fighters have electrified fans with their explosiveness and courage. These historical images bring to life a sociological culture consisting of knockouts, the Main Street Gym, the Olympic Auditorium, neighborhood rivalries, Mexican idols, posters, and promoters. Like a winding thread, "the Golden Boy" Art Aragon bobs and weaves throughout the book. From "Mexican" Joe Rivers to Oscar De La Hoya, the true stories of their sensational ring wars are told while keeping alive the spirit and legacy of Mexican American boxing from the greater Los Angeles area. - Publisher's Description
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Isabel Allende: Life and Spirits
Correas de Zapata, Celia; Peden, Margaret Sayers (2002)
"Isabel Allende: Life and Spirits" is a passionate look at the life and literary work of one of the most renowned contemporary writers in Latin American literature. Celia Correas Zapata traces Isabel Allende's trajectory in Allende's own voice, through a series of interviews that reveal her experiences, her family environment, and the genesis and creation of her triumphs.Isabel Allende: Life and Spirits allows the reader to explore the intimate life of the Chilean author, a woman who produces novels that shake the emotional fibers of millions of readers throughout the world. Finally, in this book, her readers will have a true portrait of Isabel Allende: the writer and the woman. - Publisher's Description
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The Latino/a American Dream
White, John Kenneth; Hanson, Sandra (2016)
The “American Dream” means many things to many people, but in general it can be said that it connects the idea of freedom to the opportunity for prosperity and upward social mobility.
Sandra L. Hanson and John K. White have joined together with a group of social scientists to explore the attitudes, experiences, and expectations of Latinos in their quest for the American Dream. The Latino/a American Dream asks many timely questions, including: how do Latino/as view the American Dream? Has the recent economic downturn affected their hopes of achieving the Dream? What about recent immigrants? What about Latina women? The answers to these questions and more draw on sociology, political science, and history to paint a multifaceted portrait of Latino/a opportunity in America, both real and perceived. - Publisher's Description
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Memoir of a Visionary: Antonia Pantoja
Pantoja, Antonia (2002)
"Memoir of a Visionary: Antonia Pantoja" is a compelling autobiography that traces the trajectory of the groundbreaking Puerto Rican leader Antonia Pantoja, from a struggling school teacher in Puerto Rico to a recipient of the prestigious Medal of Freedom at the White House in Washington, D.C.
A visionary leader and architect of many institutions, Pantoja’s memoir is filled with her experiences as a factory worker, lamp designer, city government worker to acclaimed social worker and principal engineer of the most enduring Puerto Rican organizations in New York City. During this time, she learned English, received advanced academic degrees from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from the Union of Experimenting Colleges and Universities in Yellow Springs, Ohio in 1973.
Pantoja’s inner drive and profound belief in the ability of human beings to alter their conditions propelled her to create institutional responses to the educational, economic and political barriers confronting Puerto Ricans. Her activism touched all levels of community action from voter registration to community economic development and empowerment through education. In 1961, her transformational leadership and dedication to nurturing youth leadership culminated in the creation of ASPIRA, the only national non-profit organization devoted solely to the education and leadership development of Puerto Rican youth. Today, ASPIRA maintains offices in Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C. and six states of the U.S., serving Puerto Rican and Latina / Latino youth. Her ideals and dedication endure fifty years later. - Publisher's Description
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Latinos and the Liberal City
Contreras, Eduardo (2019)
The "Latino vote" has become a mantra in political media, as journalists, pundits, and social scientists regularly weigh in on Latinos' loyalty to the Democratic Party and the significance of their electoral participation. But how and why did Latinos' liberal orientation take hold? What has this political inclination meant—and how has it unfolded—over time?
In "Latinos and the Liberal City," Eduardo Contreras addresses these questions, offering a bold, textured, and inclusive interpretation of the nature and character of Latino politics in America's shifting social and cultural landscape. Contreras argues that Latinos' political life and aspirations have been marked by diversity and contestation yet consistently influenced by the ideologies of liberalism and latinidad: while the principles of activist government, social reform, freedom, and progress sustained liberalism, latinidad came to rest on promoting unity and commonality among Latinos. - Publisher's Description
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Hispanic-Latino Entrepreneurship
Munoz, J. Mark; Ingram Spain, Michelle (2014)
The Hispanic-Latino community is large, expanding, and an important contributor to the U.S. economy. Numbering over 50 million, Hispanic-Latinos currently represent about 16% of the population. Hispanic-Latinos engage in a diversity of jobs that help keep the American economic engine running. The practice of entrepreneurship has been on the rise with over 2.3 million business in the United States categorized as Hispanic-owned, generating over $345 billion in sales.
This book examines the entrepreneurial mindset of Hispanic-Latinos in the United States. With limited literature on the subject, the authors created a pioneering book that captures the viewpoints of real-life Hispanic-Latino entrepreneurs. Using a 15-item questionnaire, the authors obtained information on entrepreneurial intent, goals, and business strategies utilized. This book highlights real world business experiences, including challenges relating to entrepreneurial pursuits, and the importance of hard work, discipline, and a positive mindset in the success of an enterprise. - Publisher's Description
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No Longer Outsiders
Minta, Michael (2021)
With the rise of Black Lives Matter and immigrant rights protests, critics have questioned whether mainstream black and Latino civil rights organizations such as the NAACP and UnidosUS are in touch with the needs of minorities—especially from younger generations. Though these mainstream groups have relied on insider political tactics, such as lobbying and congressional testimony, to advocate for minority interests, Michael D. Minta argues that these strategies are still effective tools for advocating for progressive changes.
In "No Longer Outsiders," Minta provides a comprehensive account of the effectiveness of minority civil rights organizations and their legislative allies. He finds that the organizations’ legislative priorities are consistent with black and Latino preferences for stronger enforcement of civil rights policy and immigration reform. Although these groups focus mainly on civil rights for blacks and immigration issues for Latinos, their policy agendas extend into other significant areas. Minta concludes with an examination of how diversity in Congress helps groups gain greater influence and policy success despite many limits placed upon them. - Publisher's Description
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Latino Mass Mobilization
Zepeda-Millán, Chris (2017)
The immigrant rights movement is one of the most dynamic socialmovements in the United States. In the spring of 2006, across thecountry millions of mostly Latino immigrants participated in some of the largest civil rights demonstrations in American history. In this timely and highly anticipated book, Chris Zepeda-Millán analyzes the background, course, and impacts of this unprecedented wave of protests, highlighting their unique local, national, and demographic dynamics. He finds that because of the particular ways the issue of immigrant illegality was racialized, federally proposed anti-immigrant legislation (H.R. 4437) helped transform Latinos' sense of latent group membership into a racial group consciousness that incited their engagement in large-scale collective action.
Zepeda-Millán shows how nativist policy threats against disenfranchised undocumented immigrants can provoke apolitical backlash--on the streets and in the ballot box--from not only"people without papers," but also naturalized and U.S.-born citizens. "Latino Mass Mobilization" is an important intervention into contemporary debates about race, immigration policy, Latino politics, and immigrant activism in the U.S. - Publisher's Description
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Latino Educational Leadership
Rodríguez, Cristóbal; Martinez, Melissa; Valle, Fernando (2018)
"Latino Educational Leadership" acknowledges the unique preparation and support for both Latinx educational leaders and Latino communities needed throughout the education and policy pipeline. While leadership in communities exists for educational purposes, this effort focuses on the institutional aspect of Latino educational leadership across K-12 schools and university settings.
The purpose of this book is to create a greater collaborative focus on Latino educational leadership by inviting scholarly contributions and insights from both established and up-and-coming scholars. "Latino Educational Leadership" also advocates for the preparation of all leaders as well as the preparation of Latinx educational leaders, to serve Latino communities. - Publisher's Description
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Lovers and Keepers
Fornés, María Irene; Tito Puente; Rivas, Fernando; Rodriguez, Francisco (1986)
María Irene Fornés (May 14, 1930 – October 30, 2018) was a Cuban-American playwright and director, notable in off-off-Broadway in the 1960s. She was first inspired to write while living with Susan Sontag, whom she encouraged at a difficult moment in Sontag’s own writing career. Fornés’ plays range widely in subject-matter, but often relate to the impact of economic conditions on personal relationships. Fornés won many Obie Theatre Awards and was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. - Wikipedia
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