Forward Thinking Friday: Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month

If you’re a Hispanic-owned business who works with the B-Stock network, we’d love to hear from you! Drop us a line so we can feature you in our Spotlight article at the end of the month.

This week, we’re excited to launch our new blog series, Forward Thinking Friday (#FTF), which will spotlight the diversity across our communities. For our first article, we’re showcasing National Hispanic Heritage Month, which kicked off this week.

What is National Hispanic Heritage Month?

Hispanic Heritage Month is observed every year from September 15th to October 15th. The month-long commemoration celebrates the cultures, history, and contributions of Americans whose ancestry comes from Spain, México, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

Inception

In 1968, the movement to celebrate Hispanic cultures was founded as Hispanic Heritage Week under the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Twenty years later, President Ronald Reagan expanded the event to a 30-day period, from mid-September to mid-October. The history of Hispanic peoples seeking independence has created a bond between them and American values, and this month recognizes and celebrates the contribution and influence of Hispanic Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States.

Hispanic vs. Latin – What’s the Difference?

While the terms Hispanic and Latin are sometimes used interchangeably, they are different:

People who are Hispanic come from—or are descendants of—a Spanish-speaking country.

• Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

People who are Latin come from—or are descendants of—a Latin-American country.
All the above plus Brazil, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Martinique, Saint Barthélemy, and Saint Martin

• A person can be both Hispanic and Latino(a), but not all Latinos are Hispanic: Brazilians, for example, are Latinos, but their native language is not Spanish. Conversely, not all Hispanic people are Latin: Spaniards are considered Hispanic, but not Latinos, since they are part of the European Union.

About the Hispanic Community

The Hispanic community is the second largest- and fastest-growing demographic in the United States after Asian Americans. This represents a current population of nearly 59 million people, roughly 18% of the population. Some famous Hispanic-Americans include:

• Cesar Chavez – labor activist & civil rights leader
• Roberto Clemente – Baseball Hall of Famer & humanitarian
• Carlos Santana – Grammy-winning musician
• Sonia Sotomayor – first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice

How Can You Celebrate?

Here at B-Stock, we reached out to our team members asking for input on Hispanic Heritage Month. In addition to educating the team on the above-referenced facts, Product Manager Alex Cadalso also had the following recommendations about celebrating:

• Educate yourself about independence movements in Latin America
  • • Mike Duncan’s Revolutions podcast, especially the seasons on Simon Bolivar in Colombia, the Haitian Revolution, and the Mexican Revolution.
• Listen to Buena Vista Social Club, Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine, Selena, or any of the thousands of awesome Hispanic or Latin-inspired recording artists.
• Read a Gabriel García Márquez book, like One Hundred Years of Solitude
• View art from Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Pablo Picasso, or other Hispanic artists.
• Eat an arepa, a burrito, ceviche, taco dorado, enchiladas, flan, paella, or pupusa, and wash it down with a margarita.
• Donate to the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.

B-Stock is proud to celebrate Hispanic culture alongside our colleagues and our diverse network of sellers and buyers. Happy National Hispanic Heritage Month!