174 Fun Facts About Hispanic Heritage Month

National Hispanic Heritage Month runs between which dates each year?

September 15th to October 15th looks like an odd window, but it opens on the date several Latin American nations mark as their independence day, with more national days following within the week.

Which U.S. President first established Hispanic Heritage Week in 1968?

Lyndon B. Johnson signed the law in September 1968 and proclaimed the first week the same day; because it asked for a proclamation every year, each president after him has issued one.

Which countries' shared independence anniversary opens Hispanic Heritage Month?

Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua were governed together as Spain's Captaincy General of Guatemala, so all five date their independence to one act signed on 15 September 1821.

Green Beret Roy Benavidez received the Medal of Honor for a rescue mission in which war?

Vietnam War, 1968: Roy Benavidez jumped from a hovering helicopter and ran through enemy fire to a trapped patrol; wounded again and again, he kept carrying men to the aircraft and saved at least eight.

Which president signed the law to expand Hispanic Heritage Week into a month-long celebration?

Ronald Reagan signed the bill in August 1988, yet a month later he proclaimed one last Hispanic Heritage Week.

Which company confirmed in February 2025 that its calendar app had stopped showing Hispanic Heritage Month by default?

Google said that keeping hundreds of cultural moments current by hand around the world 'wasn't scalable or sustainable', so since mid-2024 its Calendar has listed only public holidays and national observances.

Which South American country celebrates its Independence Day on September 18?

Chile marks 18 September because a governing junta took charge in Santiago on that day in 1810; the formal declaration of independence did not follow until 1818.

The word 'Hispanic' comes from Hispania, the Romans' name for which region?

The Iberian Peninsula was Hispania to the Romans, a name that took in today's Portugal as well as Spain.

Which Mexican painter, born in 1907, is famous for self-portraits filled with the nature and artifacts of Mexico?

Frida Kahlo was headed for medical school until a bus crash at 18 left her bedridden; she taught herself to paint during the long recovery.

Which Spanish surrealist, born in Figueres, Catalonia, painted the melting clocks of The Persistence of Memory?

Salvador Dalí said the limp watches owed nothing to Einstein's relativity, as critics assumed: his model was a soft Camembert cheese. The canvas has hung in New York's Museum of Modern Art since 1934.

Which Spanish word for a cattle herder is the likely source of the cowboy term 'buckaroo'?

Vaquero, built on vaca ('cow'), was the name of the mounted herders that settlers met on Texas ranches around 1820; the newcomers borrowed their lariat, saddle and spurs along with the word.

Congress voted in 2020 to create a National Museum of the American Latino as part of which organization?

The Smithsonian Institution gained two museums from that single act, the other devoted to American women's history; as of 2024 the Latino museum had a director and exhibitions but no building of its own.

Which Nobel laureate's 1967 novel 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' defined magical realism?

Gabriel García Márquez wrote every day for 18 months while his wife, Mercedes, kept the household going on credit, running up a long tab with the butcher.

What is the stated purpose of the U.S. observance that runs from mid-September to mid-October each year?

National Hispanic Heritage Month exists for recognizing Hispanic influence on U.S. culture and history; the 1968 law asked the public, especially the educational community, to mark the week with ceremonies and activities.

Which poet wrote Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair before winning the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature?

Pablo Neruda was a senator when his attacks on the president brought an order for his arrest; he went into hiding, then escaped over the Andes on horseback with the manuscript of Canto General.

Hispanic Heritage Month honours roots in Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean — and where else?

The official definition covers Americans whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America and South America; the Census Bureau adds that Hispanic or Latino people can be of any race.

In which country was Fernando Botero, painter and sculptor of famously rotund figures, born?

Colombia's Medellín was his home city; when a bomb destroyed his bronze bird in a plaza there in 1995, killing more than 20 people, he had the wreck left in place and gave an intact twin to stand beside it.

What nickname did the 65th Infantry, a regiment raised in Puerto Rico and awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2014, earn?

The Borinqueneers took the name from Borinquen, the Taíno word for their island, on the voyage to the Korean War, where they made the U.S. Army's last recorded battalion-sized bayonet assault.

Which Spanish artist is considered one of the pioneers of Cubism, a revolutionary art movement?

Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque built the style together, and its name is usually traced to a jab: in 1908 the critic Louis Vauxcelles wrote that Braque reduced everything 'to cubes'.

For which Mexican holiday do families build home altars decked with marigolds and sugar skulls?

Día de los Muertos altars, called ofrendas, hold the favourite food and drink of the dead, and the marigolds' colour and scent are believed to guide their spirits home on 1 and 2 November.

Which poet and former schoolteacher became Latin America's first Nobel laureate in literature, in 1945?

Gabriela Mistral began teaching in village schools at 15; by 1922 her name had travelled far enough that Mexico's government invited her to help reform its schools.

Which parish priest set off Mexico's war of independence with the 'Cry of Dolores' in 1810?

Miguel Hidalgo called his parishioners in the town of Dolores to arms and was captured and executed within a year; each year the president still repeats his cry from the balcony of the National Palace.

Which South American country falls outside the U.S. government's definition of Hispanic?

Brazil was colonised by Portugal and speaks Portuguese, while the federal definition of Hispanic covers only people of 'Spanish culture or origin', so Brazilians are officially left out.

Nobel physicist Luis Alvarez and his geologist son Walter proposed in 1980 that what had wiped out the dinosaurs?

An asteroid impact was their reading of a thin layer of clay, rich in the rare metal iridium, laid down just as the dinosaurs vanish from the rocks; the crater itself was found only later, on the Yucatán coast.

Which Latin music style took shape among musicians of Caribbean heritage in New York City?

Salsa grew in New York out of Afro-Cuban dance music, and the name itself, Spanish for 'sauce', was attached only later, as a label for a sound that already existed.

Which Spanish-born scientist shared the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work on RNA and DNA synthesis?

Severo Ochoa, born in Luarca, Asturias, in 1905, shared the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Arthur Kornberg for discovering how cells synthesize RNA and DNA.

Which taco filling of spit-roasted pork grew out of the shawarma that Lebanese immigrants brought to Mexico?

Al pastor means 'shepherd style'; the first versions used lamb, until cooks swapped in marinated pork, kept the upright spit, known as a trompo, and added pineapple.

Which Guatemalan Nobel laureate wrote 'El Señor Presidente'?

Miguel Ángel Asturias, a Guatemalan novelist and diplomat, received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1967 and is known for his novel 'El Señor Presidente', which critiques dictatorship.

Which U.S. President issued the first proclamation for National Hispanic Heritage Month in 1989?

George H.W. Bush signed Proclamation 6021 on 14 September 1989, the first to designate the full 31 days from September 15 to October 15 as National Hispanic Heritage Month.

Which traditional Spanish dance form is known for intricate footwork, hand clapping and guitar music?

Flamenco, long associated with the Roma, or Gitanos, of Andalusia, was song above all; the guitar became its usual partner only after the mid-1800s, and some forms are still sung unaccompanied.

Mexican-born chemist Mario Molina shared a 1995 Nobel Prize for showing that CFC gases were destroying what?

The ozone layer warning came in a 1974 paper with F. Sherwood Rowland; it set off a national argument over spray cans and refrigerants and was borne out a decade later, when a hole opened over Antarctica.

Which Spanish dish takes its name from the wide, shallow pan it is cooked in?

Paella is simply the Valencian word for a frying pan; in Valencia, its home, the traditional recipe calls for chicken and rabbit rather than seafood.

Which Dominican slugger chased Roger Maris's home-run record alongside Mark McGwire in 1998?

Sammy Sosa lost that race, 66 home runs to McGwire's 70, yet it was Sosa who was voted the National League's Most Valuable Player that season.

Who shared the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the MHC genes?

Baruj Benacerraf, born in Caracas in 1920, shared the 1980 prize with Jean Dausset and George Snell for discovering the major histocompatibility complex genes that govern immune responses.

The Spanish-speaking world's top literary prize, first awarded in 1976, is named after which writer?

Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, gives his name to the award Spain's culture ministry created in 1975; Jorge Luis Borges, who famously never won the Nobel, shared it in 1979.

Which Mexican Nobel laureate wrote 'The Labyrinth of Solitude'?

Octavio Paz was Mexico's ambassador to India when the army killed student protesters at Tlatelolco in 1968; he resigned in protest, and the Nobel Prize followed in 1990.

Avocado and guacamole both reached English through Spanish from which Indigenous language?

Nahuatl called the fruit ahuacatl; Spanish speakers turned that into aguacate and then avocado, while ahuaca-molli, 'avocado sauce', became guacamole.

Which Spanish-speaking country in Africa is often included in the broader definition of Hispanic culture?

Equatorial Guinea was the colony of Spanish Guinea until 1968; Spain had acquired the territory from Portugal in 1778, in a treaty that also settled the two empires' borders in South America.

Which Mexican muralist painted the Detroit Industry frescoes at the Detroit Institute of Arts?

Diego Rivera finished the Detroit frescoes in 1933; his next big commission, at New York's Rockefeller Center, was destroyed after he refused to remove a portrait of Lenin.

Which Catalan architect took over Barcelona's Sagrada Família in 1883 and worked on it until his death in 1926?

Antoni Gaudí left the church unfinished when a tram struck him on his way to prayers; he is buried in its crypt, and the building work went on into the next century.

Which traditional Mesoamerican dish is made of corn masa dough steamed inside a corn husk or banana leaf?

Tamales are made from nixtamalized corn masa, filled, then steamed inside a corn husk or banana leaf; the wrapper is peeled away and not eaten.

Which Spanish Golden Age painter is known for complex portraits including 'Las Meninas'?

Diego Velázquez painted himself into the scene, brush in hand at a tall canvas, while the king and queen he served appear only as a reflection in a mirror on the back wall.

Which musician was booed for his unconventional national anthem before a 1968 World Series game?

José Feliciano's version was still released as a single and reached number 50 on the Billboard chart; his Christmas classic 'Feliz Navidad' followed a few years later.

What sensual, guitar-led musical genre originated in the Dominican Republic?

Bachata first meant a lively get-together, not a kind of music; the guitar songs of love and heartbreak played at those parties took over the name, and UNESCO listed the genre in 2019.

Which Spanish painter created 'The Third of May 1808', showing French troops executing Madrid rebels?

Francisco Goya painted it in 1814, after the French had been driven out; his Disasters of War prints, probably too dangerous to publish in his lifetime, first appeared in 1863, 35 years after his death.

What is the traditional Mexican ensemble of strings, trumpets and singers in charro suits called?

Mariachi bands began as string groups in plain peasant dress; the trumpets and the charro suits that now define them were both added in the early 20th century.

Which Spanish Nobel laureate wrote the 1942 novel 'La familia de Pascual Duarte'?

Camilo José Cela published La familia de Pascual Duarte in 1942, launching the bleak style dubbed tremendismo; his Nobel Prize in Literature came 47 years later, in 1989.

Who was sworn in as the first Hispanic U.S. Surgeon General in 1990?

Antonia Novello, a pediatrician, used the office to go after tobacco advertising aimed at children, singling out the cartoon mascot Joe Camel.

Who became the first Hispanic woman elected to the U.S. Congress, in 1989?

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban-born Republican from Miami, won a 1989 special election to the House, becoming the first Hispanic woman and first Cuban American in Congress; she served until 2019.

As of mid-2024, roughly what share of the U.S. population was Hispanic or Latino?

About 20% of residents, some 68 million people, were Hispanic or Latino in mid-2024; because the census treats this as an ethnicity rather than a race, people of any race are counted in it.

Which K'iche' Maya activist from Guatemala won the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize for her work on Indigenous rights?

Rigoberta Menchú had fled into exile after the army killed several of her family, her father dying when security forces stormed the Spanish Embassy; the prize came 500 years after Columbus reached America.

Roughly how many U.S. residents aged five or older speak Spanish at home?

About 45 million U.S. residents aged five and over speak Spanish at home, more than twice the roughly 17 million counted by the 1990 census.

Calle Ocho, the main street of the Cuban neighbourhood Little Havana, runs through which city?

Calle Ocho, Southwest Eighth Street in Miami, became the heart of the Cuban exile community after Fidel Castro took power in 1959; the landmark Versailles restaurant opened there in 1971.

Which president nominated Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic justice, to the Supreme Court?

Barack Obama chose her in 2009; as a trial judge in 1995 she had issued the injunction that ended the long Major League Baseball strike.

Sonia Sotomayor was born and raised in which New York City borough?

The Bronx was where her mother, a nurse working long hours, raised her in a public housing project after her father's early death; from there she went on to Princeton and Yale Law School.

Roberto Clemente died delivering relief supplies to earthquake survivors in which country?

Nicaragua's capital, Managua, had been wrecked days earlier; told that earlier aid shipments were being stolen, Clemente boarded the next relief flight himself, and it crashed off Puerto Rico on New Year's Eve 1972.

Roberto Clemente won 12 straight Gold Gloves in right field for which team?

The Pittsburgh Pirates were his only club across 18 seasons; after his death the Hall of Fame waived its five-year waiting period and elected him within months.

Which MLB honor was renamed for Roberto Clemente in 1973?

The Commissioner's Award, first given in 1971, took Clemente's name after he died on a relief flight; every club now puts forward one nominee for it each season.

Cesar Chavez was born in which Arizona city?

Cesar Chavez was born in 1927 near Yuma, Arizona, on his family's farm; after two years in the Navy he organized farmworkers in California.

Which California town was the headquarters of the National Farm Workers Association, forerunner of the United Farm Workers?

Delano was where grape pickers from another union walked out on 8 September 1965; eight days later, on Mexican Independence Day, the association voted at a church there to join the strike.

Which community's farmworkers, led by Larry Itliong, began the 1965 California grape strike that the United Farm Workers grew out of?

Filipino pickers of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee walked out first, and the mostly Mexican American National Farm Workers Association joined within days; the two unions merged in 1966.

Which UFW slogan is Dolores Huerta credited with coining?

Dolores Huerta coined 'Sí se puede' ('yes, it can be done') during Cesar Chavez's 1972 fast in Phoenix against an Arizona farm-labor law; it became the UFW's motto.

Which symbol did Cesar Chavez's farm workers' union put on its flag in 1962?

A black eagle with squared-off wings was chosen so that members could easily draw it on their homemade flags; the design is usually credited to Cesar's brother Richard Chavez.

Which astronaut became the first Hispanic woman in space in 1993?

Ellen Ochoa, a classical flautist, took her flute on that first flight aboard Discovery and played it in orbit; she later ran NASA's space centre in Houston, home of mission control.

Which Costa Rican-born astronaut flew a record-tying seven Shuttle missions?

Franklin Chang-Díaz matched Jerry Ross's record of seven spaceflights in 2002, then left NASA to found a rocket company in Texas that develops the plasma engine he had worked on for decades.

Which role earned Rita Moreno the first Academy Award won by a Hispanic woman?

Rita Moreno won Best Supporting Actress for playing Anita in West Side Story (1961), the first Oscar for a Hispanic woman; she returned as Valentina in Spielberg's 2021 remake.

Which four awards make up the EGOT that Rita Moreno has completed?

EGOT stands for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony; Rita Moreno completed the set in 1977 with an Emmy for The Muppet Show, after her 1962 Oscar, 1972 Grammy and 1975 Tony.

Where did Lin-Manuel Miranda first perform a song from Hamilton, in 2009?

The White House had invited Miranda to an evening of poetry and music to perform from an earlier show; he rapped about Alexander Hamilton instead, and the finished musical earned a record-breaking 16 Tony nominations.

Lin-Manuel Miranda made his Broadway debut in 2008 writing and starring in which musical, set in a Manhattan barrio?

In the Heights began as a one-act show Miranda wrote in 1999 as a college sophomore; nine years later it reached Broadway and won four Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

Selena's 1993 album Live! made her the first female artist in which genre to win a Grammy?

Tejano made Selena a star, though she grew up speaking English: her father taught her to sing in Spanish and she learned her first lyrics phonetically; Live! won the 1994 Grammy for Best Mexican-American Album.

Which posthumous Selena album made her the first Latin artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200?

Dreaming of You was planned as Selena's English crossover, but she had recorded only four of its English songs before her death, so the label filled it out with Spanish hits and released it in July 1995.

Which Cuban-American singer was known as the 'Queen of Salsa'?

Celia Cruz left Cuba in 1960 and was barred by Castro's government from returning, even to see her dying mother; in exile she became the Queen of Salsa, and her cry of '¡Azúcar!' a symbol of the music.

Ritchie Valens adapted 'La Bamba' from what?

A Mexican folk tune played at weddings, 'La Bamba' became a 1958 rock and roll hit for Ritchie Valens, who spoke so little Spanish that he had to learn its lyrics phonetically.

Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball are credited with pioneering what television practice?

Because I Love Lucy was shot on 35mm film rather than broadcast live, its episodes could be re-aired and sold to other stations, creating the syndicated rerun; Desilu also produced The Untouchables and Star Trek.

Which song was the signature number of Ricky Ricardo, Desi Arnaz's bandleader character on I Love Lucy?

Babalú, a Cuban song addressed to a Santería deity, was already Desi Arnaz's nightclub showpiece in the 1940s, years before I Love Lucy made it Ricky Ricardo's trademark.

Carlos Santana's band pioneered a fusion of rock and roll with what?

Latin American jazz and Afro-Cuban percussion gave Santana, formed in San Francisco in 1966, its sound; its Woodstock set in August 1969, the same month its first album came out, made the band's name.

Which artist's 2020 album El Último Tour Del Mundo was the first all-Spanish-language album to top the Billboard 200?

Bad Bunny broke his own mark: nine months earlier his YHLQMDLG had stalled at number two, then the highest any all-Spanish album had climbed, before El Último Tour Del Mundo debuted at number one.

Cinco de Mayo marks an 1862 victory over the French forces at which city?

Puebla is where General Ignacio Zaragoza's outnumbered army beat the French on 5 May 1862; the win was more symbolic than decisive, and by 1864 France had installed Maximilian as emperor.

Reggaeton grew out of the 1980s Spanish-language reggae of which country, home to many descendants of Jamaican migrant workers?

Panama is where artists such as El General put Spanish lyrics to Jamaican dancehall in the 1980s; producers in Puerto Rico then built reggaeton on the beat of a 1990 Shabba Ranks track, 'Dem Bow'.

Tango was born in the 1880s in the port districts of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, on which river?

Río de la Plata port districts in Buenos Aires and Montevideo gave rise to tango in the 1880s; in the early 1900s dancers from Buenos Aires carried it to Paris, where it set off Europe's first tango craze.

Which pair of wooden sticks keeps the core rhythm in Cuban son and salsa?

Claves, two short hardwood sticks struck together, play the repeating clave pattern that anchors Cuban son and the salsa built on it; every other instrument locks to that rhythm.

Which Dominican dictator promoted merengue into the national music and dance?

Rafael Trujillo took merengue musicians on his campaign tours and, once in power, imposed the music on every social class and had bands compose songs praising his rule; UNESCO listed merengue in 2016.

Arepas are most closely associated with the cuisines of which two countries?

Colombia and Venezuela both treat the arepa as daily bread, made much as it was before Columbus arrived; Venezuelans often split theirs and stuff them like a sandwich.

UNESCO lists ceviche as an expression of which country's traditional cuisine?

Peru put ceviche on UNESCO's heritage list in 2023; the citrus juice denatures the proteins in the raw fish, turning the flesh opaque and firm as if it had been cooked.

Which two Mexican states both claim to be the birthplace of mole?

Puebla and Oaxaca both claim mole: Puebla's legend has convent nuns throwing together chillies, spices and a little chocolate for a visiting archbishop, while Oaxaca is called the land of the seven moles.

The stuffed griddle cake called the pupusa is the national dish of which country?

El Salvador made the pupusa its national dish by decree in 2005 and gave it a National Pupusa Day each November, though Honduras also claims to have invented it.

The word 'empanada' comes from the Spanish verb empanar, meaning what?

To coat with bread is the sense of empanar, built on pan, the Spanish word for bread; the turnover is thought to have begun in medieval Galicia and is now made from Spain to Argentina.

The Latin Grammy Awards first aired in 2000 on which English-language network, before moving to Univision in 2005?

CBS aired the first Latin Grammys live from Los Angeles in September 2000; the second ceremony was set for 11 September 2001 and was cancelled after that morning's attacks.

Which president signed the 1917 law making Puerto Ricans U.S. citizens?

Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones–Shafroth Act on 2 March 1917, a month before the United States entered World War I; the draft soon reached the island, and thousands of Puerto Ricans served.

Which Spanish conquistador colonized Puerto Rico in 1508, 15 years after Columbus's claim?

Juan Ponce de León founded Caparra, the island's first Spanish settlement, and governed it before sailing north in 1513 and naming Florida; the Fountain of Youth tale was attached to him only after his death.

Which is the oldest European-founded city under the U.S. flag?

San Juan dates from 1521, when Spanish settlers finished moving from swampy Caparra to an islet at the harbour mouth, which makes it older than any city on the U.S. mainland.

Which 'last' childhood toy is a girl given at her quinceañera?

A doll, la última muñeca, is her last childhood toy at 15, often presented by her father and later passed on to a younger girl; in a matching ritual her flat shoes are swapped for high heels.

What are the seven points of a star-shaped piñata said to stand for?

The seven deadly sins hang on the points: friars at the town of Acolman are said to have adapted the piñata to teach that the blindfolded player, standing for faith, breaks the pot of evil.

Which Aztec god's mid-December birthday festival resembled the piñata tradition?

For Huitzilopochtli's birthday festival in December, Aztec priests hung a clay pot filled with small treasures on a pole and broke it with sticks; Spanish friars co-opted the ceremony for evangelism.

Which once-derogatory term did Mexican American activists widely reclaim as a badge of pride in the 1960s?

Chicano began as a slur aimed at poorer Mexican Americans; the farmworker strikes and student walkouts of the 1960s turned it into a banner of political pride and Indigenous roots.

Which 1985 single became Gloria Estefan's signature song?

Conga was written by the band's drummer, Enrique Garcia, and became the group's first single on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number 10 after its earlier English songs had caught on only in Europe.

Which 1991 Gloria Estefan hit marked her comeback?

Coming Out of the Dark was the first single she released after a truck hit her tour bus in the snow in 1990; she needed surgery on her fractured spine, and a year later the song topped the Hot 100.

Jennifer Lopez first found fame as a Fly Girl dancer on which sketch comedy show?

In Living Color made Jennifer Lopez one of its Fly Girls in 1991; she went on to dance behind Janet Jackson before giving up dancing for acting, and in 1997 played Selena on film.

Which 2001 album, led by the single 'Whenever, Wherever', was Shakira's English-language crossover?

Laundry Service followed Gloria Estefan's advice that Shakira should record in English; she taught herself to write lyrics in the language, and by 2011 the album had sold about 13 million copies.

Which director gave Antonio Banderas his screen debut in 1982's Labyrinth of Passion?

Pedro Almodóvar gave Antonio Banderas his first film role in 1982 and kept casting him for decades; in Pain and Glory (2019) Banderas played an ageing film director and earned an Oscar nomination.

Which animated character has Antonio Banderas voiced in the Shrek films since 2004?

Puss in Boots was written as a send-up of swashbucklers such as Zorro, whom Banderas had played on screen; he also voices the cat in the Spanish and Italian versions of the films.

Anthony Quinn became the first Mexican-born actor to win an Oscar for which 1952 film?

Viva Zapata! cast Anthony Quinn as the brother of Marlon Brando's Emiliano Zapata; Quinn took the supporting Oscar while Brando, nominated for the lead, lost to Gary Cooper.

Guillermo del Toro won Best Director and Best Picture Oscars for which 2017 film?

The Shape of Water began as del Toro's pitch for a Creature from the Black Lagoon remake in which the monster gets the girl; Universal rejected it, and his own version won four Oscars, including Best Picture.

Which actress produced and starred in a 2002 painter biopic?

Salma Hayek produced the film through her own company and got it shooting ahead of a rival Hollywood version of the same life; it won two Oscars and made her the first Mexican actress nominated for Best Actress.

Bill Richardson served as governor of which state from 2003 to 2011?

New Mexico's governor from 2003 to 2011, Bill Richardson became known as a freelance negotiator, travelling to Iraq, Sudan and North Korea to win the release of detained Americans.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was working in which job when she launched her 2018 run for Congress?

Bartender and waitress at a Manhattan taqueria, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez unseated 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley in the June 2018 primary and, at 29, became the youngest woman elected to Congress up to then.

Ted Cruz became the first Hispanic American to hold what office in 2013?

U.S. senator from Texas was the office Ted Cruz took in January 2013; born in Calgary, Canada, to a Cuban-born father, he renounced his Canadian citizenship the following year.

Which boxer was known as 'Manos de Piedra', or Hands of Stone?

Roberto Durán beat Sugar Ray Leonard in June 1980, then abruptly quit their rematch that November, a bout remembered as the 'No Más' fight.

Fernando Valenzuela was the first to win which two MLB awards together, in 1981?

Cy Young and Rookie of the Year both went to Fernando Valenzuela in 1981; a 20-year-old pressed into the Opening Day start by a teammate's injury, he threw a shutout and won his first eight games.

Which golfer won nine LPGA tournaments in her first full season, 1978?

Nancy Lopez was 21 when her five-in-a-row streak put her on the cover of Sports Illustrated; she finished 1978 as the tour's leading money winner and Player of the Year.

Lionel Messi was the first player to win which World Cup award twice?

The Golden Ball goes to the tournament's best player: Messi won it in 2014 after Argentina lost the final to Germany, then again in 2022, when Argentina beat France on penalties.

Diego Maradona led which Italian club to its first Serie A title?

Napoli had never won Serie A before Maradona arrived in 1984 for a world-record fee; he delivered titles in 1987 and 1990, and the club's stadium was renamed for him days after his death in 2020.

Simón Bolívar was born in which city?

Simón Bolívar was born in Caracas in 1783 to a wealthy creole family; in 1805 on Rome's Monte Sacro he swore to end Spanish rule in the Americas.

Which Argentine general, the southern counterpart to Bolívar, led an army across the Andes in 1817?

José de San Martín crossed the Andes with his army in early 1817 and went on to take Lima, but after one closed-door meeting with Bolívar at Guayaquil in 1822 he resigned his command and left for Europe.

Which Asian country, ruled by Spain for more than three centuries, is usually left out of the label Hispanic?

The Philippines was under Spanish rule from the late 1500s to 1898, but English took over under American rule and Spanish is not a predominant language there, so Filipinos are not usually counted as Hispanic.

Which animated film opened Mexico's Morelia film festival a month before its U.S. release in 2017?

Coco went on general release in Mexico a week later and had set the country's box-office records before it reached American cinemas; nearly all of its voice cast was Latino.

Which family with magical gifts is at the heart of Disney's Encanto?

The Madrigals each receive a magical gift at the age of five, all except Mirabel; it is she, the one without powers, who saves the family's fading magic.

Which Encanto song topped both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart?

'We Don't Talk About Bruno' topped both charts in early 2022, yet Disney had not even submitted it for the Oscars: expecting less, the studio entered the ballad 'Dos Oruguitas' instead.

Jaime Escalante, subject of Stand and Deliver, taught calculus at Garfield High School in which neighbourhood?

East Los Angeles made headlines in 1982 when 18 of Escalante's students passed AP Calculus; the testing service suspected cheating, so 12 of them sat the exam again and passed a second time.

Which actor played teacher Jaime Escalante in Stand and Deliver?

Edward James Olmos played the Bolivian-born teacher, who had taught in Bolivia and then worked odd jobs in the United States while teaching himself English before returning to a classroom.

The Mendez family's 1940s court fight against 'Mexican schools' took place in which state?

California's Westminster school would enrol Sylvia Mendez's lighter-skinned cousins but not her or her brothers, so her father sued; in 2011 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The 1947 Mendez school case came seven years before which ruling?

Brown v. Board followed in 1954 with two familiar figures: Thurgood Marshall, who had signed the NAACP's brief in the Mendez appeal, argued the case, and Earl Warren, a governor in 1947, wrote the opinion as Chief Justice.

Journalist and activist Jovita Idar of Laredo, Texas, was honoured in 2023 on which U.S. coin?

The quarter bearing Jovita Idar is the ninth in the American Women series; she is said to have stood in the doorway of the newspaper El Progreso in 1914 to keep Texas Rangers from shutting it down.

Which Manhattan neighbourhood has a boulevard named for Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos?

East Harlem's 106th Street carries her name: she collapsed on a pavement in the neighbourhood in 1953 with no identification and lay in a pauper's grave until friends traced her and brought her remains home.

Which sticks of fried dough, a café breakfast in Spain, are often dipped in hot chocolate?

Churros get their ridges from the churrera, a syringe-like tool that pipes the dough through a star-shaped nozzle straight into the hot oil.

Which Spanish novel about a would-be knight who charges at windmills is often called the first modern novel?

Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes, is one of the most-translated and best-selling books in history, and its windmill scene gave English an idiom.

Which Texas landmark began as Misión San Antonio de Valero, a Spanish mission, before a famous 1836 siege?

The Alamo likely got its name, Spanish for 'cottonwood tree', from a military company housed there once the old mission had become a fortress.

Which spirit, produced mainly around a Jalisco town of the same name, may be made only from blue agave?

Tequila owes much to red volcanic soil: the land around its namesake town suits blue agave so well that over 300 million plants are harvested there each year.

Which Barcelona basilica, the life's work of architect Antoni Gaudí, has taken more than 140 years to build?

Sagrada Família was not begun by Gaudí: he took over in 1883 when the first architect resigned, gave it the rest of his life and is buried in its crypt.

Which U.S. state takes its name from a Spanish adjective meaning 'snow-covered', after a mountain range?

Nevada was shortened from Sierra Nevada, the 'snow-covered mountain range', when the territory split from Utah in 1861.

Which sponge cake, popular across Latin America, is soaked in a sweet dairy mixture after it is baked?

Tres leches spread widely after companies including Nestlé began printing the recipe on their evaporated and condensed milk cans.

Which holiday do many Hispanic families mark with a ring-shaped sweet bread that hides a baby figurine?

Three Kings' Day, January 6, comes with a forfeit: whoever finds the baby Jesus figurine in the rosca de reyes is expected to host a party on Candlemas.

Which South American nation hosted and won the first FIFA World Cup in 1930, beating Argentina in the final?

Uruguay was picked as host because 1930 was the centenary of its first constitution, and its team were the reigning Olympic football champions.

Which bright flower, called cempasúchil in Spanish, do families lay on altars for departed relatives each November?

Marigolds are believed to guide souls home with their bright petals and strong scent; cempasúchil comes from a Nahuatl name meaning 'twenty flowers'.

Which city, founded by Spain in 1565, is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the contiguous US?

St. Augustine was founded 42 years before Jamestown; only San Juan, on Puerto Rico, is an older continuously inhabited European-founded city on U.S. soil.

Which hot infusion, sipped from a hollow gourd through a metal straw, is Argentina's national drink?

Yerba mate is sipped through a bombilla, a straw traditionally made of silver that doubles as a sieve to hold back the leaves.

Which 1937 anti-war painting, a response to the bombing of a Basque town, hangs in Madrid's Museo Reina Sofía?

Guernica spent decades in New York because its painter wanted it kept out of Spain until democracy was restored; it finally arrived in 1981.

Which city, made capital of a Spanish province in 1610, is the oldest state capital in the United States?

Santa Fe is short for La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís, the Royal Town of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Which nine-night Christmas tradition, held from December 16 to 24, re-enacts Mary and Joseph's search for shelter?

Las Posadas runs for nine nights to represent the nine months of Mary's pregnancy, with the procession calling at a different house each night.

Which game, often called Mexican bingo, swaps numbered balls for a deck of 54 illustrated cards read out by a caller?

Lotería reached New Spain from Italy in 1769, and its best-loved pictures, such as the rooster and the mermaid, come from a version first published in 1887.

What name is given to the 1943 Los Angeles clashes in which U.S. servicemen beat and stripped Mexican American youths?

The Zoot Suit Riots were named for the victims' baggy outfits, which attackers called unpatriotic because they used so much fabric during wartime rationing.

Which Cuban dance is set to a style of music that violinist Enrique Jorrín introduced in the early 1950s?

Cha-cha-chá is named for the shuffling sound of dancers' feet: they improvised its triple step when Jorrín made his danzón-mambo less syncopated.

Under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexicans living in lands annexed by the United States were offered what?

American citizenship was the choice of over 90% of residents, who had one year to decide between it and remaining Mexican citizens.

Which guest-worker scheme, the largest in U.S. history, brought millions of Mexican farm laborers north from 1942?

The Bracero Program, named from the Spanish for 'one who works using his arms', ran until 1964 and in wartime also supplied contract workers to U.S. railroads.

Which Nickelodeon cartoon follows a seven-year-old Latina girl on quests with her talking purple backpack?

Dora the Explorer was developed to be pan-Latina, standing for many Latino cultures instead of a single country, and taught young viewers basic Spanish words.

Which Barranquilla-born actress played Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in the ABC sitcom Modern Family from 2009 to 2020?

Sofía Vergara was two semesters short of a dentistry degree when she left for modelling; her first screen job was a Pepsi commercial at 17.

Which ABC comedy-drama, adapted from a hit telenovela, starred America Ferrera as an assistant at fashion magazine Mode?

Ugly Betty made America Ferrera the first Latina to win the Emmy for lead actress in a comedy series, alongside a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Which former lead of the Disney Channel sitcom Stuck in the Middle was cast as Wednesday Addams in Netflix's Wednesday?

Jenna Ortega struggled to land early roles because few parts existed for Latinas, then earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations as the Addams daughter.

On which children's television series did actress Sonia Manzano play Maria for 44 years, from 1971 to 2015?

Sesame Street got more than an actress: Manzano also wrote scripts for the series, and won 15 Emmy Awards as one of its writers.

Which Univision variety show, hosted by Don Francisco, ran for 53 years as television's longest-running variety series?

Sábado Gigante began life in 1962 as Show Dominical, meaning 'Sunday's Show', and its host Don Francisco was really named Mario Kreutzberger.

Which Spanish series, whose characters use city names such as Tokyo and Berlin, became a global hit on Netflix?

Money Heist first aired on Spain's Antena 3 in 2017; by 2018 it was Netflix's most-watched non-English-language series and an International Emmy winner.

Which Santiago-born actor played Joel in HBO's The Last of Us and the title bounty hunter in The Mandalorian?

Pedro Pascal was nine months old when his family fled the Pinochet regime, after sheltering for six months inside the Venezuelan embassy.

Which 2017 Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee hit was the first YouTube video to pass three billion views?

Despacito tied the Billboard Hot 100 record of the time with 16 weeks at number one, helped by a remix on which Justin Bieber sang in Spanish for the first time.

Which dance hit by Spanish duo Los del Río spent 14 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1996?

Macarena began on a 1993 album; the Bayside Boys' remix with added English lyrics stalled at No. 45 in late 1995, then surged back to the top a year later.

The word 'Hispanic' goes back to Hispania, the name ancient Rome gave to which European peninsula?

The Iberian Peninsula under Rome produced the emperors Trajan and Hadrian, who were counted as 'Hispani' long before the word reached any census form.

By the usual definitions, a person born and raised in Madrid, Spain, would be described by which label?

Hispanic but not Latino is the answer because Hispanic follows the Spanish language, while Latino follows Latin American geography, which leaves Spain out.

Which is the only Central American country where English, not Spanish, is the official language?

Belize was called British Honduras until 1973 and became independent only in 1981; Spanish is still widely spoken there, alongside Belizean Creole.

Which Caribbean nation, a former French colony, is usually counted as part of Latin America but is not Hispanic?

Haiti speaks French and Haitian Creole, so it is Latin American without being Hispanic, while its neighbour on the same island is Spanish-speaking.

From 1980 to 2020, U.S. census forms asked about Hispanic origin separately from race, treating it as what?

An ethnicity, in census terms: every respondent was sorted into 'Hispanic or Latino' or 'Not Hispanic or Latino', whatever race they also chose.

Which federal agency's Directive No. 15 first defined 'Hispanic' for U.S. government record-keeping in 1977?

The Office of Management and Budget defined Hispanic as a person of 'Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race', which is why Hispanic people can be of any race on official forms.

Which gender-neutral term for people of Latin American descent did Merriam-Webster add to its dictionary in 2018?

Latinx swaps the masculine -o and feminine -a endings for an x; in Pew surveys, no more than 4% of U.S. Latino adults have said they use it for themselves.

Which French ruler's government popularised the term 'Latin America' in the 1860s to justify intervening there?

Napoleon III's regime did not invent the phrase: the Chilean politician Francisco Bilbao had already used 'Latin America' at a conference in Paris in 1856.

In Pew Research surveys, which label do U.S. Hispanic adults use most often to describe themselves?

Country of origin came first for 53% in Pew's 2025 survey, ahead of umbrella terms such as Hispanic or Latino (27%) and plain 'American' (18%).

Which term for the cultural unity of Spanish-speaking peoples lends its name to Spain's October 12 national day?

Hispanidad was revived in 1909 by the writer Miguel de Unamuno, who used it to cast Spain and the Hispanic American republics as sisters, not mother and children.

Which singer, a member of boy band Menudo at twelve, is credited with starting the late-1990s 'Latin explosion'?

Ricky Martin's bilingual performance of 'La Copa de la Vida' at the 1999 Grammys drew a standing ovation, ahead of his first English-language album.

Which boxer, nicknamed the Golden Boy, won lightweight gold at the 1992 Olympics, as his late mother had hoped?

Oscar De La Hoya later turned the nickname into a business, founding the fight company Golden Boy Promotions in 2002.

Which Spanish-born chef founded World Central Kitchen, the non-profit that serves meals after natural disasters?

José Andrés made his name at Jaleo, a Washington tapas restaurant he was hired to lead in 1993, and received a National Humanities Medal at a White House ceremony in 2016.

Which folk singer, daughter of a Mexican-born physicist, sang at the 1963 March on Washington and at Woodstock?

Joan Baez's father Albert was later credited as a co-inventor of the X-ray microscope; growing up, she faced slurs because of her Mexican heritage.

Which Yankees closer, baseball's career saves leader, was the first player elected unanimously to the Hall of Fame?

Mariano Rivera grew up in a poor fishing village, the son of a boat captain, and was still an amateur player when the Yankees signed him in 1990.

Which author's debut novel The House of the Spirits grew out of a letter she wrote to her dying grandfather?

Isabel Allende began that letter on January 8, 1981, and has made a tradition of starting every new book on the same date.

Which Santo Domingo-born designer, trained by Balenciaga, became famous in the 1960s for dressing Jacqueline Kennedy?

Oscar de la Renta later designed haute couture for Balmain from 1993 to 2002, becoming the first Dominican to design for a French couture house.

Which Chicago-born author, raised with six brothers, wrote the coming-of-age novel The House on Mango Street?

Sandra Cisneros has said her family's constant moves across the border left her always straddling two countries without belonging to either culture.

Which Harlem-born bandleader, called the King of the Timbales, wrote 'Oye Cómo Va', later a worldwide hit for Santana?

Tito Puente was drafted into the Navy in 1942 and afterwards used the G.I. Bill to study conducting and orchestration at the Juilliard School.

Which Civil War commander, son of a Spanish merchant captain from Menorca, became the U.S. Navy's first admiral?

David Farragut went to sea young: he served in the War of 1812 at the age of 11 and received his first command at 22.