Hispanic Heritage Month is September 15 to October 15 and we have been highlighting resources to learn more about the the contributions and importance of Hispanics and Latinos to the United States and those American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. This year’s theme was “Esperanza: A Celebration of Hispanic Heritage and Hope.” Below we recap those resources.
Artist: Ms. Eliana De León, Hispanic Employment Program Manager at the Environmental Protection Agency
Selected Databases & Statistical Resources
Chicano Database
Bibliographic materials on Mexican-American topics 1967 to the present. Scope expanded 1992 to include the broader Latino experience¸ including Puerto Ricans¸ Cuban Americans¸ and Central American immigrants. Includes the Spanish Speaking Mental Health Database.
Ethnic Newswatch
Full text articles from newspapers and periodicals published by the ethnic and minority press in America¸ some dating back to 1985.
Coverage: Full Text; 1985 – present
Hispanic / Latino Demographics
Statistics and demographic information from the Pew Research Center.
Statistica
Provides access to statistics and studies gathered by market researchers, trade organizations, scientific publications, and government sources on over 600 industries. Search for “Hispanics in the United States.”
Selected Books
Carl Gutiérrez-Jones, Rethinking the Borderlands: Between Chicano Culture and Legal Discourse (1995) (E-book)
Challenging the long-cherished notion of legal objectivity in the United States, Carl Gutiérrez-Jones argues that Chicano history has been consistently shaped by racially biased, combative legal interactions. Rethinking the Borderlands is an insightful and provocative exploration of the ways Chicano and Chicana artists, writers, musicians, and filmmakers engage this history in order to resist the disenfranchising effects of legal institutions, including the prison and the court.Gutiérrez-Jones examines the process by which Chicanos have become associated with criminality in both our legal institutions and our mainstream popular culture and thereby offers a new way of understanding minority social experience. Drawing on gender studies and psychoanalysis, as well as critical legal and race studies, Gutiérrez-Jones’s approach to the law and legal discourse reveals the high stakes involved when concepts of social justice are fought out in the home, in the workplace and in the streets.
Hispanics/Latinos in the United States: Ethnicity, Race, and Rights (Jorge J.E. Gracia & Pablo De Greiff eds. 2000)
The presence and impact of Hispanics/Latinos in the United States cannot be ignored. Already the largest minority group, by 2050 their numbers will exceed all the other minority groups in the United States combined. The diversity of this population is often understated, but the people differ in terms of their origin, race. language, custom, religion, political affiliation, education and economic status. The heterogeneity of the Hispanic/Latino population raises questions about their identity and their rights: do they really constitute a group? That is, do they have rights as a group, or just as individuals? This volume, addresses these concerns through a varied and interdisciplinary approach.
José Luis Morín, Latino/a Rights and Justice in the United States : Perspectives and Approaches (2005)
Law Morgan Hum Rts E184.S75 M675 2005
A much-needed and thought-provoking examination of a significant and growing population within the United States, Latino/a Rights and Justice in the United States explores the inequalities and injustices that Latino/a communities confront in the United States. Author José Luis Morín provides a deeper understanding of the historical and contemporary Latino/a experience of discrimination and economic and social injustice and presents insights into the elusiveness of equality and fairness for Latinos/as in the United States. Offering ideas on how to reduce bias and other inequities within the justice system and the greater society, Morín calls for alternative approaches to working with Latino/a youths and families and a broadening of existing concepts of rights and justice in the United States. Drawing the link between the international and domestic dimensions of the Latino/a presence in the United States, Morín incorporates international human rights norms and principles of economic, social, and cultural rights to address the persistent inequalities and injustices that Latino/a communities confront in the United States.
Latinx Farmworkers in the Eastern United States: Health, Safety, and Justice (Thomas A. Arcury & Sara A. Quandt eds., 2020) (E-book)
Migrant and seasonal farmworkers are largely Latinx men, women, and children. They work in crop, dairy, and livestock production, and are essential to the U.S. agricultural economy—one of the most hazardous and least regulated industries in the United States. Latinx migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the eastern United States experience high rates of illness, injury, and death, indicating widespread occupational injustice. This second edition takes a social justice stance and integrates the past ten years of research and intervention to address health, safety, and justice issues for farmworkers. Contributors cover all major areas of health and safety research for migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their families, explore the factors that affect the health and safety of farmworkers and their families, and suggest approaches for further research and educational and policy intervention needed to improve the health and safety of Latinx farmworkers and their families.
Lupe S. Salinas, U.S. Latinos and Criminal Injustice (2015) (E-book)
Latinos in the United States encompass a broad range of racial, socioeconomic, and sociopolitical identities. Originating from the Caribbean, Spain, Central and South America, and Mexico, they have unique justice concerns. The ethnic group includes U.S. citizens, authorized resident aliens, and undocumented aliens, a group that has been a constant partner in the Latino legal landscape for over a century. This book addresses the development and rapid growth of the Latino population in the United States and how race-based discrimination, hate crimes, and other prejudicial attitudes, some of which have been codified via public policy, have grown in response. Salinas explores the degrading practice of racial profiling, an approach used by both federal and state law enforcement agents; the abuse in immigration enforcement; and the use of deadly force against immigrants. The author also discusses the barriers Latinos encounter as they wend their way through the court system. While all minorities face the barrier of racially based jury strikes, bilingual Latinos deal with additional concerns, since limited-English-proficient defendants depend on interpreters to understand the trial process. As a nation rich in ethnic and racial backgrounds, the United States, Salinas argues, should better strive to serve its principles of justice.
Selected Website Resources
ABA Diversity and Inclusion Center, Celebrate Hispanic/Latino/a/x Heritage Month Honoring Activists and Legal Trailblazers (2021)
This PDF by the ABA Diversity and Inclusion Center highlights LatinX legal trailblazers and activists.
ABA Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights & Responsibilities, The Hispanic LGBTQ+ Community – One Year After Bostock
While Hispanics comprise the largest minority segment of the LGBTQ+ population in the United States, they often face unique challenges coming out to their families, reconciling their faith, and experiencing discrimination in employment and other basic programs and services. Last year, the Supreme Court decided a trio of Title VII cases that banned employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
In this program, panelists will share their personal stories, summarize this historic decision, and discuss its ramifications, especially regarding the intersectional issues facing Hispanic LGBTQ+ individuals. Panelists will also offer best practices to better ensure fairness and dignity across the country.
ABA Wide 21-Day Hispanic Heritage Equity Habit Building Challenge
The ABA Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council is proud to launch a 21-Day Hispanic Heritage Equity Habit Building Challenge syllabus in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. The goal of the Challenge is to assist each of us to become more aware, compassionate, constructive, engaged people in the quest for equity, and specifically to learn more about the Hispanic Heritage, and many communities included under the “Hispanic umbrella.” It transcends our roles as lawyers. Non-lawyers are also welcome to participate.
LatCrit
The LatCrit community operates as a not-for-profit corporation. LatCrit goals are: (1) to develop a critical, activist and inter-disciplinary discourse on law and policy towards Latinas/os, and (2) to foster both the development of coalitional theory and practice as well as the accessibility of this knowledge to agents of social and legal transformation. LatCrit theorists aim to center Latinas/os” multiple internal diversities and to situate Latinas/os in larger inter-group frameworks, both domestically and globally, to promote social justice awareness and activism.
A Latinx Resource Guide: Civil Rights Cases and Events in the United States
This Hispanic Reading Room research guide from the Library of Congress focuses on 20th and 21st century American court cases, legislation, and events that had important impacts on civil rights in Chicana/o/x, Hispanic, Latina/o/x, Mexican-American and Puerto Rican communities.
National Archives, Hispanic / Latino Heritage
Resources from the National Archives featuring collections on Arts, Entertainment & Culture, Diplomacy/Foreign Affairs, Education and Civil Rights, Family History Research, Government and Politics, Immigration / Hispanic Society in the US, Labor, Military and Veterans, Notable Hispanics in the US, and Women.