Himilce Novas - Everything You Need to Know About Latino History: 2008 Edition

Latinos, also known as Hispanics, comprise the largest minority group in the United States, a distinction they have enjoyed since 2003, and are also the nations fastest-growing ethnic minority. According to the Pew Hispanic Center tabulations of the U.S. Census Bureaus 2005 American Community Survey, Latinos numbered 41,926,302 in the year 2005. This figure represents a dramatic increase in numbers since 2000, when the U.S. Census Bureau counted 35,305,818 Latinos, and is nearly double the 1990 U.S. Census tally of 22,354,059 Latinos.

Latinos have also been measured in terms of their economic clout. In 2006, Latino consumers enjoyed a buying power of $798 billion, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia. The Selig Center estimates that Latino buying power will reach $863.1 billion in 2007. To meet the demand for goods and services, the number of Latino-owned businesses in the United States has risen exponentially in the last decade. In 1997, the U.S. Census Bureau counted 1.2 million Latino-owned businesses, and in 2006 the Small Business Administration tallied about two million such businesses. Mainstream businesses, realizing that Latinos represent a gold mine at the cash register, have directed many more advertising dollars toward this ethnic group than ever before. As Latinos have grown in visibility economically, corporate America has awakened to the realization that this minority group has much to contribute in the boardroom as well. The number of Latinos in the top echelons of major American corporationsfrom the late Roberto C. Goizueta, CEO of the Coca-Cola Company, to the family-owned and family-operated Bacardi International Limitedis mounting.

Latinos have achieved prominence in every arena, from the arts, science, technology, and politics to law, finance, journalism, and sports. In the post I Love Lucy decades (after long years when Desi Arnaz and maybe Charo and Xavier Cugat were among the truly recognizable Latins around), Latinos have become household names: Antonia Novello, U.S. surgeon general during the Bush (senior) administration; Henry Cisneros, former mayor of San Antonio and Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary under President Clinton; the late congressman Henry B. Gonzlez, who represented Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives for thirty-seven years; Joan Baez, Linda Ronstadt, Gloria Estefan, Jon Secada, Mariah Carey, Selena, Christina Aguilera, and Shakira, music superstars; Pancho Segura, Rosie Casals, and Mary Joe Fernndez, top professional tennis players; Anthony Quinn, Jos Ferrer, Rita Hayworth, Rita Moreno, and Chita Rivera, legends of the stage and screen; and many, many others.

Still, in spite of enormous demographic and social changes in recent years, mainstream societys greater recognition of Latinos, and the extraordinary number of Latinos who have contributed immensely to this nation throughout history, most Americans know relatively little about their Latino neighbors, about their culture, their rich history, their diversity, and their dreams for the future.

The history of Latinos goes back as far as American history itself. In fact, you could say that without Latinos, there would be no United States of America as we know it today. Christopher Columbuss voyages to the New World, under Isabella I and Ferdinand IIs flag, excited the imagination of the Spanish crown and the Spanish people, who were in the throes of empire building. Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, who discovered the Mississippi River in 1541, dreamed of finding hidden caves of gold in Florida. Francisco Vsquez de Coronado, who explored the American West in the early 1540s, thought he had found there a brave new world destined for Spanish conquest.