National Hispanic Heritage Month

[6] In 1988, the commemorative week was expanded to a month (September 15 to October 15) by legislation sponsored by Rep. Esteban Torres (D–CA), amended by Senator Paul Simon, and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan.

[3] September 15 was chosen as the starting point for the commemoration because it is the anniversary of the Cry of Dolores (early morning, 16 September 1810), which marked the start of the Mexican War of Independence and thus resulted (in 1821) in independence for the New Spain Colony (now Mexico and the Central American nations of Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua) which became the Federal Republic of Central America.

[8] Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan gave annual proclamations for Hispanic Heritage Week between 1969 and 1988.

National Hispanic Heritage Month was first proclaimed by President George H. W. Bush on September 14, 1989, in Presidential Proclamation 6021.

The El Barrio Latin Jazz Festival in The Bronx, New York City is held annually in September to coincide with Hispanic Heritage Month.

In 2018, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian hosted the Realm of the Jaguar a series of performances featuring dances of Bolivia, Mexico and Guatemala, in addition to mask making and traditional and contemporary ceramics.