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Blogs Categories: Hispanic American History

Blogs Categories: Hispanic American History

Costa Rica Environmental Protections - Pic of the Week

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Did you know that while Costa Rica is only 0.03% of the land mass on earth, it contains nearly 6% of the world’s biodiversity? For a country that is slightly smaller than West Virginia, that is pretty impressive. As part of our ongoing celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, I want to look at some …

Shaping Latina/o Representation at the Movies with Junior Fellows, Scholars, and Filmmakers

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(The following is a guest blog post by Dani Thurber, Reference Librarian and Latino Studies Collection Specialist in the Hispanic Reading Room of the Latin American, Caribbean, and European Division.) This Hispanic Heritage Month, we are thrilled to share the release of the Latinx Representation in Film Research Guide. This guide is part of the …

Chichén Itzá - Pic of the Week

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A few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Chichén Itzá, a UNESCO world heritage site located on the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico. Since we’re celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15, I thought it would be appropriate to take a look at this pre-colonial city. The pre-Hispanic city of …

Meet Meg Medina: Family Office Hours with the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

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Young readers and families, Meg Medina, 8th National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, invites you to join special one-on-one sessions as part of her Cuéntame! Let’s Talk Books platform. On Saturday, October 7, Meg will meet with a select number of families in short sessions occurring from 10:00 am until 4:30 pm. Tickets are required …

The PALABRA Archive Turns 80

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This is a guest post Catalina Gómez, Reference Librarian and Curator of the PALABRA Archive in the Latin American, Caribbean, and European Division (LACE). It all started in the Library’s recording studio in 1943. Then Librarian of Congress, Archibald MacLeish, who was a prominent American poet, asked Francisco Aguilera, who was serving as the Hispanic …

Homegrown Artist Nani Noam Vazana Interviewed

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On Thursday, September 14, at Noon Eastern Time, in LJ-119 of the Thomas Jefferson Building (10 First Street SE, Washington DC), we will host a special concert with Nani Noam Vazana. Vazana is one of the only artists in the world who writes and composes new songs in the endangered Ladino (or Judeo-Spanish) language, a form of Spanish derived from Old Castilian which is spoken by Sephardic Jews living mostly in Israel, the Balkans, North Africa, Greece, and Turkey. We held our usual interview with Nani in advance, through the magic of internet communications, which means you can watch it now! In case you're still deciding whether to come to her concert, you should hear her tell her story and see if she can convince you! As she revealed to me, she was born in Israel to parents who had emigrated from Morocco. Her father, wishing to leave the past behind, forbade the Ladino language in the house--but her grandmother didn't have to obey. She learned some Ladino from her grandmother, and, more importantly, heard her singing Ladino songs. Years later, on a trip to play at a jazz festival, she heard a Judeo-Spanish singer in Morocco, which set her on a new path of researching Ladino songs and eventually composing her own. Of course, that's only the bare bones of the story, and Nani tells it much more fully, as well as discussing her music, her career, and her plans for the future. Watch the interview in this blog post!

“Aquí pero allá”: Telling the story of Chileans in the United States through the Library's Collections

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This is a guest post written jointly by Tatiana Cherry Santos and Melissa Flores, graduate students from the Center of Latin American Studies at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.   Tatiana “El pueblo, unido, jamás será vencido,” I chanted into the buzzing crowd around me. Even as a young child I knew these words, …

Homegrown Plus: Cambalache's Mexican American Son Jarocho from California

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Welcome back to Homegrown Plus! We're continuing the series with Cambalache, who perform son jarocho music, one of the regional Mexican styles that has become very important to the Chicano community in California. Like other blogs in the Homegrown Plus series, this one includes a concert video and a video interview with the featured performer, plus links and connections to Library of Congress collections. Cambalache, named for a Spanish word that means "exchange," is a Chicano-Jarocho group based in East Los Angeles. Founded in 2007 and led by Cesar Castro (sonero, maestro and luthier from Veracruz, Mexico), Cambalache plays and promotes traditional son jarocho through performance, music workshops, and educational demonstrations. Son jarocho comes from Veracruz, Mexico, on the gulf coast, a cultural region shaped by Indigenous, African, and Spanish culture. In the spirit of the fandango, a traditional celebration of music and dance, Cambalache engages its audience through participatory performances.