Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated during a 30-day period that runs from September 15 to October 15. The theme for this year is “Pioneers of Change: Shaping the Future Together.” To learn more about this year’s theme, visit the website of the National Council of Hispanic Employment Program Managers.
National Hispanic Heritage Month commemorates the contributions of American citizens with ancestral ties to Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and other groups from the Latino diaspora. The Hispanic and Latino population in the United States today is over 60 million people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This is 18.9% of the total population and is the largest racial or ethnic group in the country.
The commemoration of Hispanic Heritage began in 1968 as an Hispanic Heritage Week, as proclaimed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 17, 1968. In 1988, the celebration increased from one week to one month, by proclamation by President Ronald Reagan on September 13, 1988. On September 13, 2024, President Biden released Proclamation 10809 to commemorate National Hispanic Heritage Month.
The observation period of September 15 – October 15 coincides with several countries’ anniversaries of independence. These include:
September 15: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua
September 16: Mexico
September 18: Chile
September 21: Belize
To commemorate National Hispanic Heritage Month, the Law Library will feature an exhibit with primary resources for the landmark cases listed below, along with a brief history of the San Antonio-based Pecan Shellers Strike, important legislation including the DREAM Act and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and other Law Library resources.
Landmark Texas Cases
Hernandez v. Texas (1954)
In 1951, Pete Hernandez, a young Mexican-American cotton picker, was accused of murdering Joe Espinoza and charged with life imprisonment by an all Anglo-Saxon jury in Edna, Texas. Mexican American civil rights lawyers Gus Garcia and Carlos Cadena from San Antonio and James de Anda from Houston, Texas took the Hernandez’ case to the United States Supreme Court. On May 2, 1954, under Chief Justice Earl Warren, who was governor of California during the Mendez v. Westminster case in 1947, the Court unanimously ruled that the 14th Amendment protects those beyond the members of the “two class theory” and that Mexican Americans were a “special class” in Jackson County, Texas.
San Antonio ISD v. Rodriguez (1973)
On July 10, 1968, Demitrio Rodriguez and other San Antonio parents filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of minority students from the low-income Edgewood school district, a predominantly Mexican American community. A federal district court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, finding that Texas’ public school finance system was discriminatory and unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The State of Texas appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. On March 21, 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that the “Equal Protection Clause does not require absolute equality of precisely equal advantages,” and that there is no constitutional right to an equal education. In 1984, Rodriguez v. San Antonio ISD (1973) led to another U.S. Supreme Court landmark case: Edgewood Independent School District v. Kirby (1992), in which the Texas' school funding system was challenged again. In 1992, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and held Texas’ school financing system unconstitutional.
Pecan Shellers Strike (1938)
Photo: Russell, Lee. Mexican women separating meat from shells. Pecan shelling plant. San Antonio, Texas. 1939. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
On January 31, 1938, 12,000 pecan shellers, most of them Hispanic women, walked out to protest poor working conditions and low pay in what came to be known as the Pecan Shellers Strike in San Antonio, Texas. Pecan shellers worked more than 10 hours a day, seven days a week for $2 to $3 weekly, and the fine brown dust released by pecans exposed them to tuberculosis. In response to a wage decrease by several pecan companies, San Antonio-born Mexican American activist Emma Tenayuca (nicknamed La Pasionaria de Texas) of the Texas Workers Alliance led a peaceful strike. After 37 days a three-person arbitration board ruled in favor of the strikers, ordering higher wages, and officially acknowledging the International Pecan Shellers Union No. 172. The Fair Labor Relations Act, passed on October 24, 1938, established a new minimum wage of 25 cents per hour. The Southern Pecan Shelling Company and other local shelling businesses responded by laying off shellers and appealing the minimum wage to no avail. Shelling companies chose mechanization over human shelling, ultimately laying off about 10,000 pecan shellers.
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month
Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month in Houston with the following entertaining and educational events:
The Harris County Public Library is hosting many arts, culture, food, and entertainment events for Hispanic Heritage Month at various HCPL branches.
The Houston Public Library HPL News - Visit Us at Houston Public Library (houstonlibrary.org)
Learn more about NHHM with these online resources:
Check out these previous Ex Libris Juris posts: