Latinx Heritage Month is a time to acknowledge the unwavering spirit, contributions, and traditions of Latinx, Chicanx, and all individuals from America and those whose ancestors hail from Mexico, the Caribbean, Spain, and Central and South America.
The month-long celebration originated in 1968, when Proclamation 3869 was signed by President Lyndon Johnson, designating National Hispanic Heritage Week. The week-long celebration was expanded to a month in 1988, with festivities running annually from September 15 to October 15. This period is a time to recognize the extraordinary accomplishments and unique contributions, cultures, and histories of this diverse community of more than 63.7 million across the United States.
As we share community’s contributions, we must first acknowledge the conversations around the use of multiple “umbrella” terms, such as Hispanic, Chicano/Chicana, or Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latine, and the many intersectional identifying terms people embrace, whether racial identities or signifiers, such as first-generation or undocumented/documented. We respect and appreciate how community members choose to self-identify. While we use the broader term Latinx for this message, we are mindful both of the shared histories of inequities Latinx communities have endured, as well as the historical, raciolinguistic, social and educational variance and specificities experienced by Latinx peoples.