Hispanics in the United States

Students should be able to explain :

The historical migration of Latinos into United States.

The U.S. reaction to the increasing numbers of Latinos in America

What are we?

We come from at least 20 countries

Argentina to Venezuela

We don't all act, think or speak a unified dialect of Spanish

Despite some stereotypical views, we don't all speak that "Mexican"

Despite the long history of Hispanic residents in the United States, there was no systematic effort to count this group separately in the Census until the late 20th century.

An estimated 48 million Hispanics are now living in the U.S.

Hispanics are the nation’s largest minority group

 The growth of the Hispanic population this century is due mainly to births in the United States

A reversal of the pattern over the previous four decades

There was a one-time inclusion of a “Mexican” race category in the 1930 Census

The first major attempt to estimate the size of the Hispanic population for the entire nation was in the 1970 Census

A long form of the produced this question, “Is this person’s origin or descent—“ and the response categories were: “Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, Other Spanish,” and “No, none of these.”

In 1980 it went to, Is this person of Spanish/Hispanic origin or descent?” The possible responses were: “No (not Spanish/Hispanic); Yes, Mexican, Mexican-Amer., Chicano; Yes, Puerto Rican; Yes, Cuban; Yes, other Spanish/Hispanic.” 

Confused yet?

Most Spanish speakers as one can see are from Mexico

The reasons vary for a denial or lack of an identity

Internal reasons

Fear, acceptance, discrimination, appearance

External reasons

Fear, taught, educated, academics, persecution, racial discrimination both internal and external.