Under the baobab: Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month in Happy Valley
Hermanos y hermanas, Happy National Hispanic Heritage Month.
Hispanic Heritage Month, established in 1968, started as Hispanic Heritage Week. Sept. 15 was chosen as the inaugural day because it coincided with the Independence Day celebrations of five “Central American neighbors,”: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. All declared their independence from Spain on Sept. 15, 1821. (Mexico had declared its independence from Spain on Sept. 16, 1810.)
It was meant to celebrate the accomplishments of Hispanic people, who helped transform the American society. People like the first Hispanic member of Congress, Joseph Hernandez; Octaviano Larrazolo, the first U.S. Senator elected in 1928; and Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente, the first Latin American player to be admitted to baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1973.
Cesar Chavez, along with Dolores Huerto, founded the National Farm Workers Union. I had the honor of marching behind them. Afro-Puerto Rican scholar Arturo Schomburg accumulated extensive African diasporic art and literature artifacts. It became the core of the New York Public Library’s collection at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, one of the world’s leading cultural institutions devoted to the research, preservation, and exhibition of African American, African Diaspora, and African objects.
More recent Latinx cultural and political influencers like Lin-Manuel Miranda, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Ifill, Emma Gonzalez, Linda Ronstadt, Rita Moreno and astronaut Ellen Ochoa have helped shape our American reality. It is not just the extraordinary achievements that have distinguished our Latinx sisters and brothers. As President Bush said when he established the NHHM, “Hispanic Americans have enriched our nation beyond measure with the quiet strength of closely knit families and proud communities.”
A special shout-out goes to my Yale Law classmate, Sonia Sotomayor. In 2009 she was appointed by President Obama and became the first woman of color, the first Hispanic and the first Latina on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Here in Happy Valley, NHHM was celebrated by a wonderful play called “Fandango for Butterflies and Coyotes,” sponsored by the Center of The Performing Arts at Penn State and the New York-based En Garde Arts Company. It was inspired by interviews with undocumented immigrants from Latin American. At the close of the performance the cast led the audience outside to the plaza for a joyous and spontaneous dance “Fandango.”
The State Theatre presented a performance by the vintage rock, blues and Tex- Mex band Los Lobos. The packed audience would not let them offstage until they did an encore performance of their top ten cover of Richie Valens’ “La Bamba.” We learned later that the song may have been adapted from a centuries old Vera Cruz protest song.
Penn State held an Alumni Identity Talk where students, faculty, and staff shared their diverse experiences and perspectives gained through their educational and professional journeys. There was also an NHHM Night of Remembrance at the Worship Hall, Pasquerilla Spiritual Center, which celebrated the lives of our lost loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Monday, Lorgia García Peña will speak on “A Full Stature of Humanity: Latinx Difference, Colonial Musings, and Black Belonging During Reconstruction” from 12:15-1:30 p.m. at 102 Kern Building or via Zoom (odb2@psu.edu for the link). García-Peña is a Black Latina scholar at Tufts University.
On Wednesday, Dr. David Hayes-Bautista will deliver the NHHM Virtual Keynote Event: “The Latino Health Paradox.” Dr. Hayes-Bautista is the director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine.
The month will close on Oct. 15 with a cultural night, with Denisse Rojas Márquez: “A Nuestra Salud: Community Action in 2021” from 6-9 p.m. at Heritage Hall, HUB-Robeson Center.
“Emigar es un acto radical de imaginacion.” — Andrea Thome