Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month
Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15, by celebrating the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. The observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover a 30-day period starting on September 15 and ending on October 15. It was enacted into law on August 17, 1988, on the approval of Public Law 100-402. The day of September 15 is significant because it is the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September18, respectively.
As we celebrating the National Hispanic Heritage Month, I would like to point out that at any Hispanic community, Higher education culture is at its roots. Not everybody knows that that FNU Library has a growing Spanish Collection of books on both campuses in Hialeah and in South. If you like books and statistics: there are 679 books in Spanish language. These books include Higher Education books, Fiction Literature, and even, Children books.
To showcase Hispanic culture, we will learn from the titles of books from Spanish Collection and books in English language to celebrate the Hispanic culture of reading and information literacy overall. Among the authors are very recognized names of the local authors such as Dr. Manuel Viamonte (“Al Encuentro de la salud, felicidad y longevidad”), Mauricio Restrepo (“Entre dos mundo’s paralelos”), Dr. Felix Ramos (“Matematica: ?enemiga o aliada?”), and Yusset Perez (“Poesia de amor.”) Our latest FNU Library announcement: Nelfa Chevalier, the wife of Alberto’s Chevalier in Admissions, just published a new book and we will try to reserve her presence for our next Book Club meeting in the Meet the Author series.
Books from history of civilizations of Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico to Latin American cooking traditions, and even, Cuban home cooking recipes for some good empanadas.
The Library offers various Spanish-English dictionaries, books from “Women in the Hispanic World” to “Latino Stars in Major League Baseball,” the “Defining Latin American Art” and “Los Hispanos en Hollywood” books. Students love to browse the shelves from vintage books of contemporary Mexican and Chicano Literature to “!Cubanisimo!” the vintage book of contemporary Cuban literature, from Cervantes’s “Don Quixote” to Gabriel Garcia Marques’ short stories. Others students prefer “The Nueva Latina’s Guide to Love, Spirituality, Family, and La Vida.”
!Bienvenidos! to English as a Second Language (ESL) program and the hundreds of books to learn better the conversational English language. Also, very popular are the books such as “Medical Spanish Made Incredible Easy” for nurses’ communication with patients. There is a Latino Boom and the book title says it all: “Everything you need to know to grow your business in the U.S. Hispanic market.” Isabel Allende, Daniel Steel, Nora Roberts novels in Spanish language make the heart to melt and eyes to water.
And of course, the modern immigration issues addressed in the Jorge Ramos’ books; Sonia Sotomayor’s “Mi Mundo Adorado,” or Andres Oppenheimer’s books.
Today’s college students arrive on campus with increasingly diverse backgrounds and experiences, prompting colleges and universities to reexamine the policies and practices that help to create a community of inclusive excellence.
We are really proud that students, faculty and staff find the free time to come to the FNU library to check a book to read and enjoy it too.
