Photo: Exequiela Goldini
September is a very special month for Hispanics in the United States as the Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated all across the country. Since 1989, from September 15 to October 15, US celebrates the rich tradition and culture that the Spanish and Latin American population has brought to the nation.
According to the last census, the Hispanic population in the US is the nation’s largest ethnic minority representing a 17% percent of the total inhabitants with 53 million people. As we have already mentioned in other articles, the number of Spanish-speaking people living in the United States has increased steadily within the last ten years and everything seems to indicate that this tendency will continue in the years to come. In fact, only from July 2011 to July 2012 it has increased 2.2%.
Why on 15th September?
The celebration of the Hispanic Heritage Month starts on 15th September because many Latin American countries celebrate their independence anniversary near that date: Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile, El Salvador and Nicaragua.
President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed the Hispanic Heritage Week in September 1968, and it was the Congress under the administration of President Ronald Reagan that made the celebration a month long.
