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Celebrate Latinx Heritage
During Latinx Heritage Month (September 15 to October 15) we celebrate the heritage, culture, and contributions of Latinx Americans to the United States. September 15 is significant because it is the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Mexico, Chile, and Belize also celebrate their independence days in September.
This collection includes lessons, videos, artwork, music and many living testaments from diverse Latinx across the United States. The stories embedded in this collection offer students access and perspectives on topics that directly affect them, their families, friends and experiences as a young person in 2018 America. These resources can be incorporated in the lessons you're already teaching during September and through the rest of the school year.
Please note that the files in this collection cannot be downloaded from WeTeachNYC because they link out to an external site.
Included Resources
More than four million Central Americans reside in the United States today, yet the lack of resources in most schools on Central American heritage make the rich history and literature of the region invisible. Teaching for Change has launched a campaign to encourage and support teaching about Central America. This resource highlights lessons, book lists, biographies of noted historical figures, and readings for free use by classroom teachers.
Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage month with lessons, activities, videos, and more from the National Education Association. All grade levels.
This Latino Civil Rights timeline is full of links to instructional materials and can be used in conjunction with Latino Civil Rights Timeline Activity for early grades and the Latino Civil Rights timeline activity for middle and high school. Provided by Teaching Tolerance.
Travel through the diverse cultures of Latin America, as represented by artists from Ecuador, Cuba, Bolivia, El Salvador, Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Texas and California. Find lesson plans, articles and videos about art rich in both tradition and innovation. Shared by ArtsEdge, the Kennedy Center's website for teaching in, through, and about the arts.
PBS shares a series of specials to celebrate Hispanic Hertiage Month. All videos are free and can be launched from the website. Included find the following:
- PBS' Latin Music USA video series
- The Latino Americans, the first documentary series for television to chronicle the rich and varied history and experiences of Latinx
- The American Graduate short film series, which showcases a diverse array of determined Latinx adolescents across the U.S. who have all struggled to overcome challenges as they keep their eyes on the prize: a high school diploma
- A collection of inspiring stories in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month from StoryCorps
News about Hispanic-Americans, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.
Afropop Worldwide is a Peabody award-winning radio program and online magazine dedicated to music from Africa and the African diaspora. Teachers can search the archive to find information and listen to a variety of music with African roots in many Central and South American and Caribbean countries. Click the "archive" menu button and search by country.
StoryCorps Historias is an initiative to record the diverse stories and life experiences of Latinx in the United States. The two stories shared here are audio clips about 3 minutes long. StoryCorps’ mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world. For more stories, click "stories" from the top menu, and filter by "Latino" in the "collections" menu option.
Learn about Puerto Rico through the thousands of objects Teodoro Vidal collected about the island’s history from the 16th to the 20th centuries. This website shares objects and documents from the collection as well as bibliographic materials, links to related websites, a glossary, an interactive map and a comprehensive timeline. By the Smithsonian.
The National Endowment for the Humanities sponsored a summer workshop wherein a series of scholars, historians, archaeologists, linguists, and musicologists worked together to offer insights on the social, political, religious and economic landscape of the California missions from 1769-1848. This website offers primary sources, guiding questions, activities and lesson plans for teachers.
These children's booklists feature titles about Hispanic Heritage organized by topic that can be used all year long. Many books on these lists are bilingual or are available in Spanish. Shared by Colorín Colorado.
A series of essays commissioned by the National Park Service that tell the layered story of American Latinx as an integral part of the history, culture, and politics of the United States. The study begins with Stephen Pitti's "The American Latino Heritage," which offers a sweeping overview of the Latinx journey. Also find essays on U.S. nation building; how American Latinx have created their religious, artistic, recreational, and culinary lives in the United States and how they have fostered and sustained American economic life and struggled for equality in all aspects of American society.
EDSITEment provides resources for teachers on Sonnet Masters of the Spanish Golden Age and Nobel Laureates of the Twentieth Century. Included find poetry, lesson plans, interactives and links to other resources on these writers.
This collection is drawn from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s collection of Latinx art. It includes works by artists of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Dominican descent, as well as other diasporic Latin American groups with deep roots in the United States. Teachers can search by artwork or artists, or browse the art by themes of the exhibit.