National Hispanic Heritage Month is officially under way! Hispanic Americans have been a part of the American experience well before the Declaration of Independence. This week’s database highlight, Latino American Experience [1], traces Latin-American history from the Mayan Empire to modern times. Using first and secondary sources, the timeline takes users through the Great Depression and the Latin-American experience of the civil rights movement. Learn more about the modern era when Latinos became the fastest growing American population. 

The Latino American Experience: The American Mosaic documents the rich heritage and current culture of Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Guatemalans, Cubans, Dominicans, Colombians, Ecuadorians, and other Hispanic groups in the United States. Their stories are detailed through a robust collection of primary and secondary sources, beginning with pre-16th century Mayan, Incan, and Aztec empires and continuing through to the present day, with treatment also given to cultural themes including coming-of-age rituals, music, literature, and cuisine. On the controversial issues shaping the modern Latino American experience—such as immigration reform, media portrayals, and voting access and influence—credentialed academics offer varied perspectives to serve as both sources and exemplars of scholarly argumentation. – from the vendor

Let’s go to the “real” world for this week’s open site. Where in the Metro and surrounding areas do you like to go to soak up some Latin culture? Could be a restaurant, a festival, a museum, your abuela’s kitchen – anywhere is fair game. List your place in the comment along with one of this week’s action steps.

My favorite places are Plaza Mayor at the Crossroads [2]; formally the Crossroads Mall, this once dead space is now filled with neat stores and wrestling – yes you read that right. I also enjoy buying pan white flour and candy from Supermercados Morelos [3] (Moore location).

Action Steps (pick one)

1. Pick a time period from Latino American Experience [1] and list one interesting fact
2. Using the advanced search, find a speech about ‘war’. List the speech title. 

Mexican candy for all respondents! Double candy if you respond (at least in part) in Spanish!