Resources

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, MAEC has curated a collection of books, videos, lesson plans, and other valuable resources designed for educators, families, students, and more. These materials aim to deepen understanding and appreciation of the rich histories and contributions of Latine communities in the United States. Most of the resources are available for free download and access. If you know of additional resources that should be included, we’d love to hear from you!

Community Organizations

1. Adelante (KY- Louisville) 
   • Adelante is a non-profit organization in Louisville, Kentucky devoted to empowering Hispanic and Latinx youth. We engage our Achievers and parents in long-term academic, mentoring, and personal enrichment programs. We believe that with proper guidance and support, every student can achieve, whatever that means for them. While we endorse higher education as the surest tool for success, we recognize there are various paths toward successful and fulfilling lives. Our programs are designed to encourage the holistic development of every Achiever in close partnership with our parents and families, focusing on five core pillars. 
2. Aspira of New York (NY- New York City) 
   • Since 1961, ASPIRA of New York has been dedicated to serving New York City youth and their families, providing opportunities that would otherwise not be available to them, and serving as an effective advocate, fighting to improve education in the Puerto Rican and Latino communities. 
3. Juntos (PA- Philadelphia)  
   • A Latino Immigrant community led organization in Philadelphia fighting for human rights as workers, parents, youth, and immigrants. Juntos combines leadership development, community organizing, and focused collaborations with other community-based and advocacy organizations to build the power of our community members so they may be active agents of change and work against their own oppression. 
4. Latin American Youth Center (Washington, DC, MD) 
   • Our mission is to empower a diverse population of youth to achieve a successful transition to adulthood through multi-cultural, comprehensive, and innovative programs that address youths’ social, academic, and career needs. 
5. La Esperanza (DE- Sussex County)  
   • La Esperanza is a non-profit organization that provides a wide range of services to Latino immigrants in Sussex County. Their programs include case management, education, and advocacy for immigrant families.
6. Mano en Mano (ME- Millbridge) 
   • Mano en Mano supports farmworkers, immigrants, and Latino communities in Maine through education, affordable housing, healthcare services, and community organizing.
7. Spanish Speaking Community of Maryland (MD) 
   • Here at Spanish Speaking Community of Maryland, Inc., we are driven by a single goal; to do our part in making the world a better place for all! We do this by empowering low-income families & immigrants from diverse backgrounds by promoting self-sufficiency, greater social change, education and legal rights.  

Events (2024)

Disability In Latinx Communities Series (virtual) 

• • The Michigan Disability Rights Coalition LEAD Team is excited to announce its series exploring disability in Latinx communities. This Hispanic Heritage Month, join us as we take a deeper look into the lives of Latinx people with disabilities. This three-week series will provide participants with a better understanding of the community’s barriers and challenges, hear their stories, and receive information about support resources.
  • Thursday, September 12, 19, 26, 12 – 1:30 pm (ET). The events are free, registration is required.

Gala Hispanic Theatre show calendar – (Washington, DC) 

• • Since 1976, GALA has been promoting and sharing the Latino arts and cultures with a diverse audience, creating work that speaks to communities today, and preserving the rich Hispanic heritage for generations that follow. By developing and producing works that explore the breadth of Latino performing arts, GALA provides opportunities for the Latino artist, educates youth, and engages the entire community in an exchange of ideas and perspectives. 

• • Dates and ticket prices vary.  

Hispanic Festival – (Adelphi, MD)  

• • The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), Department of Parks and Recreation presents the annual Hispanic Festival. Enjoy a variety of activities including music, live entertainment, delicious ethnic food, craft vendors, a children’s area, a teen area, displays, exhibitors, carnival games, and much more. Please bring a lawn chair or blanket to sit on.  
  • Sunday, September 15, 12:30 – 5:30 pm. The event is free and free shuttle rides are available; visit pgparks.com for details.  

Fotos y Recuerdos: Hispanic Heritage Month Festival (Washington, DC) 

• • Join the Hispanic Heritage Month fiesta at the National Portrait Gallery! Back by popular demand, our friends from Lil’ Libros are returning for another celebration for all ages. Learn about Latinx trailblazers with vibrant portraits from our collection and the Lil’ Libros book series The Life of/La vida de during this day of art, dancing, museum tours, story times, book signings, and more!
  • Saturday, September 28, 11:30 am – 3:00 pm.

Virginia Hispanic Chamber – 2024 Hispanic Heritage Month Calendar of Events 

• • List of Chamber, Partner, and Community events in the Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC area. See specific events for details.  

Young Portrait Explorers – Hispanic Heritage Month (virtual)  

• • Join the Portrait Gallery for our virtual workshop series for children ages 3-6 and their adult companions as we as we look at portraits in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery. This thirty-minute program incorporates close looking at art, movement, and art-making. Register to join sessions featuring Sonia Sotomayor on September 4th, Juan Marichal on September 18th, Celia Cruz on October 2nd, Carmen Herrera on October 30th, and Maria Tallchief on November 13th.
  • September – November. Sessions are 11–11:30 am (ET). The events are free, registration is required.  

Articles

1. ¡Adelante! Moving Forward!: A Guide to Empower Parents of English Learners to Advocate for Their Children (MAEC) 
2. Hispanic Heritage Month Activities for Kids: Celebrating Latino Culture with Our Children! (Modern Mami) 
3. Honoring LGBTQ Voices During Hispanic Heritage Month (Learning for Justice) 
4. How Hispanic Heritage Month Became a Thing (Salud America!) 
5. Latino, Hispanic, Latinx, Chicano:The History Behind the Term (History.com) 
6. Mexican Street Corn: The Cultural Significance of the Elote Recipe (How to Cook Recipes)
7. The Problematic History of the Word “Hispanic” (Teen Vogue) 
8. Recursos Educativos (Anti-Defamation League (ADL)) 
9. Top 8 Reasons Why and How We Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month (Smithsonian Latino Center) 
10. Unmaking “Hispanic”: Teaching the Creation of Hispanic Identity (Learning for Justice) 

Webinars & Videos

1. American Historia: The Untold Stories of Latinos, PBS (premieres September 27)
2. A Conversation with Latinx Families/Conversaciones con Familias Latinas, MAEC
3. Hispanic Heritage Month, PBS
4. Hispanic Heritage Month Authors Series: Celebrating Latino Experience, History, People, and Culture, Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) 
5. Hispanic Society Museum & Library YouTube Channel, Hispanic Society Museum & Library 
6. Latinx History is Black History, Learning for Justice
7. Leguizamo Does America, MSNBC – staff pick, Rita Perez
8. “¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States”, National Museum of the American Latino (virtual exhibition)
9. Mendez, Hernandez, and Beyond: A Conversation on Latinx Civil Rights, The Library of Congress
10. Reaching and Teaching English Learners, Newcomer Students, and English Learners with Disabilities during the Pandemic, MAEC

Books

Book Lists

1. 9 Must-Read Children’s Books for National Hispanic Heritage Month, ADL
2. 15 Picture Books that Celebrate Hispanic & Latinx Heritage, Brightly
3. 24 Books to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, Scholastic
4. Books to Read for Latinx Heritage Month, Penguin Random House
5. Hispanic Heritage Month – Diverstories’ Picks, Diverstories

MAEC’s Book Recommendations

1. Afterlife, by Julia Alvarez 
   • Set in this political moment of tribalism and distrust, it asks: What do we owe those in crisis in our families, including–maybe especially–members of our human family? How do we live in a broken world without losing faith in one another or ourselves? And how do we stay true to those glorious souls we have lost? 
2. Clap When You Land, by Elizabeth Acevedo 
   • In a novel-in-verse that brims with grief and love, National Book Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives. 
3. Dreamers, by Yuyi Morales 
   • Yuyi Morales brought her hopes, her passion, her strength, and her stories with her, when she came to the United States in 1994 with her infant son. She left behind nearly everything she owned, but she didn’t come empty-handed. Dreamers is a celebration of making your home with the things you always carry: your resilience, your dreams, your hopes and history. 
4. The House on Mango Street /La Casa En Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros 
   • The House on Mango Street is the remarkable story of Esperanza Cordero, a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago, inventing for herself who and what she will become. Told in a series of vignettes-sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous-Sandra Cisneros’ masterpiece is a classic story of childhood and self-discovery. 
5. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter / Yo No Soy Tu Perfecta Hija Mexicana, by Erika L. Sánchez 
   • The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian meets Jane the Virgin in this poignant but often laugh-out-loud funny contemporary YA about losing a sister and finding yourself amid the pressures, expectations, and stereotypes of growing up in a Mexican American home. 
6. Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism, by Laura E Gómez
   • An NPR Best Book of the Year, exploring the impact of Latinos’ new collective racial identity on the way Americans understand race, with a new afterword by the author.
7. Latine Characters & Cultures (First Book Marketplace) 
8. Latinx and Latin American Titles (Social Justice Books) 
9. Once I Was You: A Memoir, by Maria Hinojosa
   • An urgent call to fellow Americans to open their eyes to the immigration crisis and understand that it affects us all, this honest and heartrending memoir paints a vivid portrait of how we got here and what it means to be a survivor, a feminist, a citizen, and a journalist who owns her voice while striving for the truth.
10. Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Paolo Freire 
    • Paulo Freire’s work has helped to empower countless people throughout the world and has taken on special urgency in the United States and Western Europe, where the creation of a permanent underclass among the underprivileged and minorities in cities and urban centers is ongoing. 
11. The Poet X, by Elizabeth Acevedo
    • Fans of Jacqueline Woodson, Meg Medina, and Jason Reynolds will fall hard for this astonishing New York Times-bestselling novel-in-verse by an award-winning slam poet, about an Afro-Latina heroine who tells her story with blazing words and powerful truth. 
12. The Undocumented Americans, by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
    • Looking beyond the flashpoints of the border or the activism of the DREAMers, Cornejo Villavicencio explores the lives of the undocumented–and the mysteries of her own life. She finds the singular, effervescent characters across the nation often reduced in the media to political pawns or nameless laborers. The stories she tells are not deferential or naively inspirational but show the love, magic, heartbreak, insanity, and vulgarity that infuse the day-to-day lives of her subjects.

Lesson Plans

1. Hispanic Heritage Month, Colorin Colorado 
2. Hispanic Heritage Month, Learning for Justice 
3. Hispanic Heritage Month Lessons, Activities, and Videos, National Education Association 
4. National Hispanic Heritage Month Selected Resources for Teachers, The Library of Congress 
5. Teaching and Learning Resources, National Museum of the American Latino 
6. The Ultimate Guide to Hispanic Heritage Month Activities, Spanish Mama 
7. What is the DREAM Act and Who Are the DREAMERS?, ADL 

Podcasts

1. Alt.Latino
   • This podcast, hosted by NPR, is a spotlight on the world of Latinx arts and culture through music, stories and conversation.
2. En La Sala
   • This podcast is hosted and curated by Latin Music superstar Becky G, who interviews her favorite artists and other people she admires, and tackle topics that are important to her and the LatinX community — from growing up as a Mexican American and today’s Latin Music landscape to coping in the current climate, and the role of women in the music industry.
3. Latina to Latina
   • In often-hilarious and always-revealing episodes, Alicia Menendez and her guests take on the challenges of existing, and then thriving, as Latinas. They talk about everything, from growing their companies and careers while caring for their families, to breaking down the systems that keep many of us out. Through the laughter and sometimes tears, these intimate conversations feel like we’re listening to and learning from our most trusted friend. Latina-owned, produced, and made with love.
4. Latino USA
   • Latino USA offers insight into the lived experiences of Latino communities and is a window on the current and merging cultural, political and social ideas impacting Latinos and the nation.
5. Latinx Therapy
   • This weekly podcast discusses mental health topics related to Latinas, Latinos and Latinx individuals in efforts to demystify myths and diagnoses. Cultural and commonly stigmatized themes will be discussed with Latinx mental health professionals, psychiatrists, doctors, bloggers, tv personalities, social media influencers, entrepreneurs and many more. Spanish segments are aired every other week!
6. Tamarindo Podcast
   • Tamarindo is a Latinx empowerment podcast discussing politics, culture, and how to keep your calma with well-being practices and self-love, hosted by Brenda Gonzalez and Ana Sheila Victorino. Each week on the podcast, Brenda and Ana Sheila have insightful conversations on race, gender, representation and life.
7. Tres Cuentos 
   • Tres Cuentos is a bilingual seasonal podcast dedicated to Latin America’s narratives. Each episode is in Spanish and English. The podcast narrates all types of literature and later reflects on different cultural and historical aspects. Our goal is to bring attention and appreciation of Latin America’s diverse history and works of literature.
8. Yeah No, I’m Not OK
   • This new podcast by Diane Guerrero in collaboration with LAist Studios opens up the conversation about mental health. Every week we will explore issues that youth face all over the world (addiction, depression, anxiety, suicide, radical self love, and much much more) through conversations with friends, colleagues, activists, artists and health care professionals, all people who have gone through something life-changing and are now healing from it.

American pop culture that is inclusive of Hispanic communities

Movies and TV shows can provide a window into the lives and cultures of the characters depicted in ways that can both dismantle and reinforce cultural stereotypes. When consuming movies and TVs shows that depict characters and cultures different from your own, be careful not to allow the dramatization to nurture harmful stereotypes. No cultural dramatization can fully represent the spectrum of human qualities, characteristics and cultures of any particular group of people. 

Movies & Documentaries

1. Cesar Chavez (2014) 
   • A biography of the civil-rights activist and labor organizer Cesar Chavez. 
2. Dolores (2017) 
   • In the 1950s, a working-class wife and mother of eleven children helps to establish a farmer’s union, which later develops into a platform for feminism and gender equality.  
3. Frida (2002) 
   • A biography of artist Frida Kahlo, who channeled the pain of a crippling injury and her tempestuous marriage into her work. 
4. In the Heights (2021) 
   • A film version of the Broadway musical in which Usnavi, a sympathetic New York bodega owner, saves every penny every day as he imagines and sings about a better life. 
5. Real Women Have Curves (2002) 
   • In East Los Angeles, an 18-year-old struggles between her ambitions of going to college and the desires of her domineering mother for her to get married, have children, and oversee the small, rundown family-owned textile factory. 
6. Roma (2018) 
   • A year in the life of a middle-class family’s maid in Mexico City in the early 1970s. 
7. Selena (1997) 
   • The true story of Selena, a Texas-born Tejano singer who rose from cult status to performing at the Astrodome, as well as having chart topping albums on the Latin music charts. 
8. Stand and Deliver (1988) 
   • The story of Jaime Escalante, a high school teacher who successfully inspired his dropout-prone students to learn calculus.  
9. Stolen Education (2013) 
   • In 1956, eight elementary students facing prejudice and unjust treatment in a small school in Driscoll Texas, sued the district for discrimination. This is the story about the landmark court case and the corporal punishment the students suffered for simply being Mexican American. 
10. Zurdo (2003) 
    • Futuristic movie about Alejandro, a gifted left-handed child marble player who must win a competition as the entire town’s hopes – and money – rest on him. 

TV Shows

1. Legend Quest (2017-2019) 
   • In 19th Century America, 12 year old Leo and his ghost companions defend their world against supernatural threats. 
2. One Day at a Time (2017-2020) 
   • Follows three generations of the same Cuban-American family living in the same house: a newly divorced former military mother, her teenage daughter and tween son, and her old-school mother. 
3. Selena: The Series (2020-2021)
   • Late Tejano singer Selena as her dreams come true, and her family makes life-changing choices on the singer’s journey to success.
4. Taco Chronicles (2019-present) 
   • A journey through the colorful and varied world of tacos. 

Kids Corner

Books 

• Islandborn /Lola: Edición En Español de Islandborn, by Junot Díaz 
  • Gloriously illustrated and lyrically written, Islandborn is a celebration of creativity, diversity, and our imagination’s boundless ability to connect us–to our families, to our past and to ourselves. 
• Mango, Abuela, and Me / Mango, Abuela Y Yo, by Meg Medina 
  • While they cook, Mia helps Abuela learn English, and Mia learns some Spanish, too, but it’s still hard for Abuela to learn enough words to tell Mia her stories. Then Mia sees a parrot in the pet-shop window and has the perfecto idea for how to help them all communicate a little better. 
• Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice, by Mahogany Browne, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Olivia Gatwood 
  • Historically poets have been on the forefront of social movements. Woke is a collection of poems by women that reflects the joy and passion in the fight for social justice, tackling topics from discrimination to empathy, and acceptance to speaking out. 

Movies 

• The Book of Life (2014) 
  • Manolo, a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart, embarks on an adventure that spans three fantastic worlds where he must face his greatest fears.  
• Coco (2017) 
  • Aspiring musician Miguel, confronted with his family’s ancestral ban on music, enters the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather, a legendary singer. 
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) 
  • Teen Miles Morales becomes the Spider-Man of his universe, and must join with five spider-powered individuals from other dimensions to stop a threat for all realities. 
• Vivo (2021) 
  • Vivo, Sony Pictures Animation’s first-ever musical adventure featuring all-new original songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda, will take audiences on an epic adventure to gorgeous and vibrant locations never before seen in animation. 

TV Shows 

• Canticos (2018-present) 
  • Sing along to this award-winning, bilingual video series featuring beloved nursery rhymes from all over the Spanish speaking world. 
• Dora the Explorer (2000-present) 
  • Along with her friend Monkey Boots, Dora goes on adventures. 
• Maya and Miguel (2004-2009) 
  • Maya Santos interferes in the lives of those around her, often dragging her twin, Miguel, into her schemes.