National Hispanic Heritage Month Kicks Off

From September 15 to October 15, the country will celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, a time that commemorates the achievements, accomplishments and contributions of Hispanics to the United States.

National Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated for 30 days. It starts on the 15th to coincide with several Hispanic countries' anniversaries of national independence. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua recognize this date as their Independence Day, while Mexico's is celebrated on September 16 and Chile's on September 18.

The history of the holiday

In 1968 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a law designating "National Hispanic Heritage Week." The festival began on September 15 and lasted seven days.

Nearly 20 years later, Congress passed Law 100-402, which extended the celebration from one week to one month, under President Ronald Reagan's administration. With this change, it was renamed National Hispanic Heritage Month, as we know it today.

Several events take place throughout National Hispanic Heritage Month such as Northwest Arkansas Annual Hispanic Heritage Festival, El Barrio Latin Jazz Festival in the Bronx, New York, and the annual Hispanic Family Festival held annually at Springdale Park in Springdale, Holyoke, Massachusetts among others.

Hispanics in the U.S.

Out of the more than 331 million inhabitants of the United States, 62 million are Hispanic.

Mexico is the country that contributes the most Hispanic-Americans to the nation (more than 36 million, 62%), well ahead of Puerto Rico and Cuba (5.7 and 2.4 million, respectively).