Hispanic Heritage Month is an annual celebration from September 15th through October 15th to recognize the achievements, culture, and contributions of Hispanic Americans who have been an inspiration to others. Starting in 1986, Hispanic Heritage Month was only recognized for a week; it was not until 1988 that it was extended to a month. Hispanic Heritage Month began under Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency and was further expanded during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. September 15th is incredibly significant because it marks the anniversary of independence for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Additionally, Mexico gained independence on September 16th and Chile on September 18th.

There is no specific way to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, but museums such as The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino, provide programs and resources to honor Hispanic and Latino communities. The Library of Congress in Washington D.C. honors Hispanic Heritage Month in the majority of its reading rooms with blogs, workshops, special events, and etc. Lastly, the government’s official website usually has a calendar of activities held in the U.S. for Hispanic Heritage Month such as concerts, art festivals, and parades. 

Some influential Hispanic Americans that helped change the world forever include Ellen Ochoa, Roberto Clemente, Ruben Salazar, and Sonia Sotomayor.  Ellen Ochoa was the first Hispanic woman in space. Ms. Ochoa went to Stanford University and earned her doctorate in engineering. Joining NASA in 1988, she was selected to be an astronaut in 1990, and her first mission involved the shuttle Discovery in 1993. Lastly, Ellen Ochoa was the eleventh director of the Johnson’s Space Center as well as the center’s first Hispanic director. In 1954, Roberto Clemente came to the United States to play major league baseball and was the right fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Unfortunately, Clemente faced racial bias while playing in the United States. As a result, Roberto Clemente became an advocate for Latino and African American players’ rights in baseball. In 1972, Clemente sadly passed away in a plane crash on the way to bring relief to Nicaragua, which was struck by an earthquake. Roberto Clemente was the first Hispanic baseball player to be inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame, inspiring generations of Latino baseball players. Ruben Salazar was one of the first Mexican American journalists in mainstream media. Before becoming a journalist for the Los Angeles Times, Salazar served in the army. Throughout his work, Ruben Salazar focused mainly on the injustices being done to those in the Chicano, someone who is native of, or descends from, Mexico and who lives in the U.S., community. Salazar’s life ended shortly after a tear gas projectile was thrown by the police during a protest of the Vietnam War. Sonia Sotomayor was the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice of the United States. Sotomayor was nominated by President Barack Obama and in a Senate vote of 68 to 31, Sotomayor broke boundaries. Sonia Sotomayor holds a B.A. from Princeton University and a law degree from Yale University.  

A teacher from Overbrook High School said, “I feel as though we should do more for Hispanic Heritage Month. I know it is at the beginning of the year and it’s chaotic with everything going on, but it still should be recognized like everything else.” In the midst of Hispanic Heritage Month, one hundred people, specifically a portion of the staff and students of Overbrook High School were surveyed on whether or not they knew when the month occurred. After being questioned, only 27 percent of those surveyed actually knew that Hispanic Heritage Month started in September and ended in October. On the contrary, 73 percent of the people were completely unaware of when it took place. Specific quotes of the respondents that stood out include, “Wait that’s a month?”, “I don’t know, but who really cares about the specifics”, “What’s that?”, “Wait, that’s actually for a whole month?”, and “Is it in May because of Cinco de Mayo?”. The apparent lack of knowledge about the month in general suggests that there should be more done in schools to recognize not only Hispanic Heritage Month, but the other heritage months as well. As of September 1st 2023, there were seven hundred ninety-two students at Overbrook, 38.6 percent White, 29.7 percent Black, 26 percent Hispanic, 3.7 percent Asian, and 2 percent for two or more races. Overbrook is a particularly diverse school and to expand on the welcoming environment the school already provides we should incorporate ways to teach, recognize, and celebrate the different heritages. Specific ways to accomplish this is by taking some time during the homeroom period to talk about the different months to not only help spread awareness, but also encourage the idea of learning new information. We can complete activities similar to those already done in homeroom, but honoring the heritage months instead. Lastly, recognition can be achieved throughout the new tv’s around the school, posters can be made honoring the specific months. Forgotten or neglected? Either way a massive oversight that can be attended to with taking the time to recognize, and honor the diversity that fills our school.