Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

Yo Soy Boricua, Pa’ que tú lo sepas! And National Hispanic Heritage Month, Sept. 15-Oct. 15, is a time to celebrate the histories, cultures, languages, identities and contributions of the more than 62.5 million Latinos in the United States whose ancestors came from Mexico, Spain, the Caribbean and South and Central America. Since our country’s founding, Latinos have made significant social, artistic, cultural, educational, literary, political and economic contributions to American life. Latinos have proudly enriched our nation’s competitiveness, culture and prosperity throughout generations.

As the first Latina, and proud Puerto Rican, serving as the executive vice president of the AFT, I know firsthand the importance of having literature that reflects our students lived experiences and culture.

Over the years, the AFT and First Book have distributed hundreds of thousands of books highlighting Hispanic authors, characters and cultures—including Spanish and bilingual titles. Through our partnership, we have supported school libraries, back-to-school efforts, citizenship clinics, community fairs and large-scale resource distributions in Florida, Puerto Rico, Texas and other places to provide high-quality books, school supplies and basic-needs items to low-income and underserved communities. And this year, through the AFT’s Real Solutions for Kids and Communities initiative, we’re expanding our partnership with First Book, Reading Universe, WETA and the Barksdale Institute to help teachers access the best evidence-based reading instructional practices. So while others ban books, we will be giving away 2.5 million books by 2024, including books that reflect our students’ diverse cultures.

Join me as we celebrate our culture, nuestra herencia, our diversity and our strength by creating joyful and confident readers with books from your local library or the First Book Marketplace. 

Check out the rest of this blog and more free reading resources here.