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This page is devoted to web sites that provide useful information on the Hispanic population of the United States. Many questions focus on the history, people and culture of Mexico. To help answer those questions, please see the Mexico and the Hispanic Heritage Month page. You will find information on Latina writers, Tejano music, Hispanic genealogy, border issues and much more.
For information on Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and other Mexican artists, please see the Art and Architecture section of the Mexico page.
Chicano Murals in Tucson - While the subject matter covered in this site is not exactly in our neck of the woods, the library does get questions about mural art. At this site you will find examples of the mural artwork of five Chicano artists in the Tucson area with thumbnails of the murals which can be exploded for better viewing. These can also be printed. Each mural includes the address of the mural site and the date it was painted.
¡del Corazón! - Featuring the National Museum of American Art's collection of art by Latino artists, ¡del Corazón! is an interactive, educational webzine for teachers and students and produced by the National Museum of American Art in conjunction with the Texas Education Network. ¡del Corazón! is organized according to four topics: artists, activities, themes, and comments. Carmen Lomas Garza, Agueda Martínez, and Irvin and Lisa Trujillo are featured in the Artists section of the first issue. Each artist is introduced with contextual and multimedia information.
Los Angeles Murals - Provided by the Social and Public Art Resource Center, UCLA, and the Los Angeles Mural Conservancy, this site includes a brief history of Chicano murals as well as a Chicano Mural Tour of Los Angeles. Each photograph is accompanied by a description, artist name, and date. Although the page has not been updated recently, this is still a good resource for patrons seeking street art.
For biographies of people from Mexico, please see the Biography section of the Mexico page. You might also try the Biography page.
Chicana & Latina Profiles - This site links to profiles of twelve women in different fields and includes Selena, Gloria Estefan, Dolores Huerta, and Frida Kahlo.
Chicano ! Biographies - Biographical sketches are presented here of individuals featured in the PBS series Chicano! History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement. The biographies are quite short but may provide you a start. You will find people here like San Antonian, Rose Castro, as well as non-Hispanics such as John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Their biographies reflect their involvement in Hispanic affairs.
Famous Hispanic Americans in the Humanities - This site is maintained by Ithaca College Library and has hyperlinks to other websites that provide biographical information on important Hispanic American personalities of the 20th century living in the United States. The subject areas covered are art, education, literature, music, religion and theater. The biographical information varies greatly in length and quality. Some entries are detailed and contain photographs while others are very brief. You will find Jesse Trevino, Jaime Escalante, Sandra Cisneros, Patrick Flores, Xavier Cugat and Rita Moreno among others.
Famous Hispanics in the World and History - In both Spanish and English, this site covers over 200 Hispanics from around the world and throughout time. Browse the alphabetical list or choose from one of several categories - Antiquity, Musicians, Nobel Prizes, Painters, Scientists, Sports, U.S. Military, Women and Writers. Most of the names are hyperlinked to short biographies listing birth and death dates and achievements. You can get a short bio on the Army’s first Hispanic Medal of Honor winner, a medieval Spanish writer, and a Mexican revolutionary all at the same site.
Hispanic American Medal of Honor Recipients - This site provides an alphabetical listing of Hispanics who have received the Medal of Honor. Many of the entries have a picture of the medal winner along with a description of the battle and incident that won him the award. Two of the honorees, Miguel Keith and Cleto Rodriguez, have connections to San Antonio.
Hispanic Americans in Congress 1822-1995 - This site gives biographical information on 61 Congressmen telling of their accomplishments during their terms and how they entered political life. It includes photographs of many of the entries. This listing can be accessed in chronological order or by geographic location.
Latina Writers - This site offers links to biographical and literary information on nine Latina writers. Mainly contemporary except for Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz.
NBC Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month - Mixed among Other Hispanic Factoids are short biographical clips on famous Hispanics, such as Bobby Bonilla, Florida Marlins' third baseman, Ellen Ochoa, the first Latino astronaut, Oscar de la Hoyos, boxing champ, and Ambassador Bill Richardson. This page also has links to Hispanic women in sports, Hispanic actors on the NBC lineup, and some odd links such as Top Hispanic CEOs in South Florida.
SACNAS Biography Project - SACNAS stands for the Society for Advancement of Chicano and Native Americans in Science and they maintain this site, which is designed for K-12 educators and provides short biographies on prominent scientists currently working in the fields of biology, chemistry, ecology, earth science, mathematics, physics and psychology. Information can be accessed by scientist, subject, grade level or women scientists. Many of the biographies are written on two levels, one for high school and one for the middle school level.
Border Studies: Texas-Mexico Border - This virtual exhibit was organized by the Texas Humanities Resource Center. This is a graphically intense site, employing over 100 images. The interface is designed to showcase the full spectrum of an actual traveling exhibition. You may wish to navigate from the text side while the thumbnails are loading. This exhibition features 36 photographic studies of people and places along the Texas-Mexico border, from El Paso/Juárez to Brownsville/ Matamoros. These images are prefaced by a series of maps, one of which locates the exhibit in space, at the juncture of Texas and Mexico, and six which locate the Border in time, from 1700 to 1848, as it shifted west and south. Click on Reading Room for an essay on Human Interaction in the Texas–Mexico Borderlands.
You may find additional information regarding events celebrated in Mexico in the Festivals and Holidays section of the Mexico page.
Ana’s Quinceañera Page - Here is some help for a somewhat frequent reference question. What is the history of quinceañera? Ana Serrato has provided an overview with sources of the origins and the current practice of this rite of passage as well as a bibliography and a few traditional songs. As she mentions in her essay, there is a serious gap in the amount of information on this subject, so check her page out!
Legislative History of Hispanic Heritage Month - This site includes partial text of Ronald Reagan’s and Gerald Ford’s proclamations of Hispanic Heritage Week as well as the public laws concerning Hispanic Heritage Month.
Cesar E. Chavez - From the Cesar E. Chavez Institute for Public Policy at San Francisco State University. You will find sound clips, pictures, and documents on Cesar Chavez here. Sound clips include four speeches, one in Spanish. The documents include speeches given by Chavez, biographies written about him, and a chronology of the grape boycott. There is even a copy of the Prayer of the Farm Workers’ Struggle written by Chavez.
Si Se Puede! Cesar E. Chavez and His Legacy - "The consumer boycott is the only open door in the dark corridor of nothingness down which farm workers have had to walk for many years. It is a gate of hope through which they expect to find the sunlight of a better life for themselves and their families." For Cesar Chavez quotes on boycotts, labor unions and hope, check out the Quotes section of this useful page. This site includes a biography, chronology of Chavez and the United Farm Workers, a great bibliography covering Chavez, the United Farm Workers, migrant work, and more, and links to other information regarding women farmworkers, non-violence in the work of Chavez, and unions in the Themes section.
United Farm Workers - Here you will find another Cesar Chavez biography as well as biographies about San Antonio’s own Arturo Rodriguez, current president of the United Farm Workers, and Dolores Huerta, a key player in the UFW. In addition, you will find information about the rise of the United Farm Worker movement as well as a list of its achievements.
Are Chicanos the same as Mexicans? - Which term is correct: Hispanic, Latino, Mexican, or Chicano? Find the definition and meanings behind each of these terms at this link off the Azteca web page.
Census Bureau Facts for Hispanic Heritage Month - This site was produced in September 1997 based on information from the U.S. Census Bureau. It provides many interesting statistics on topics about the Hispanic population in terms of numbers, education, income and poverty, jobs etc. The information provided was taken from tables from the Census Bureau and put in short news release format.
Hispanic Customer Service Demographics - This is a one-page list of interesting statistics put out by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the Hispanic population that they serve. Here you will find short one or two sentence statements, such as "Hispanics are young: the median age is 26."
Hispanic Population - The statistics and tables found at this site are based on information gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau through its Current Population Survey. There are data tables from March 1997, 1996, 1995 and 1994. The tables give values or percents on topics based on race for age, earnings, educational attainment, family characteristics, marital status, occupation, types of households, etc. The information provided is on the national level. Site revised in August 1998.
AOL Hispanic Genealogy - This site links to select Hispanic-related genealogical resources. It covers genealogical societies, heraldry, links to personal sites, a list of Hispanic surnames, and other topics. Its focus is Central America, Europe, North America, Philippines, South America and the West Indies.
Cyndi’s List - Hispanic, Central & South America, and the West Indies - This is a very comprehensive site that leads to numerous other links under the topics of : general resource sites; mailing lists, newsgroups & chat; people & families; professional researchers; publications & software; societies & groups; and records.
Hispanic Genealogical Society - This genealogical site is based in Houston and offers databases on families of Northern Mexico, South Texas, California and New Mexico. It links to several family genealogical studies and some large general sites. There is a link to Additional Hispanic Links which lists many more excellent sites.
MexicoGenWeb - Links to Mexican genealogical resources and other WorldGenWeb sites, including those for Central America, South America, Puerto Rico, the Canary Islands , and the Caribbean. In English and Spanish.
Our Spanish Heritage History and Genealogy of South Texas and Northeast Mexico - This site divides its information into places and people. The Places section covers South Texas (historical towns and cities), Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Nueva Espana. In the People section you will find genealogy databases, a list of Spanish surnames, and lineages of prominent people such as the founder of Laredo, Tomas Sanchez, and the original owner of Padre Island, Jose Nicolas Balli.
Chicano, Hispanic, and Latino Poetry - An attractive site of links to individual poetry sites, indexed by poet’s last name. Maintained by faculty from Reed College. The emphasis is on contemporary Latino poetry. Also includes some links to critical essays on Chicano poetry, as well as other Chicano Studies related sites.
Hispanic Heritage - Spanish Reading List - This interesting site set up by the New York Public Library to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month is primarily in Spanish with English translations of the booklist itself. The site begins with a short article on Pura Belpre and then moves on to the list of children’s books. It begins with picture books (Libros de Imagenes), then moves on to folk and fairy tales (Historias Populares y Cuentos de Ada), stories (Cuentos), and poetry and song (Poemas y Canciones). The call numbers may not match those of other libraries.
New York University Literature, Arts, & Medicine Database - The Literature, Arts, & Medicine Database is an annotated bibliography of prose, poetry, film, video and art which is being developed as a dynamic, accessible, comprehensive resource in Medical Humanities, for use in health/pre-health and liberal arts settings. Of interest to us is the section with "annotations of authors of selected ethnicity." This site includes annotations of Latina/o works of literature ranging from Isabel Allende’s Paula to Mario Vargas Llosa’s The War of the End of the World. You may click on the author’s name for birthdate and country of origin.
Voces Americanas / American Voices: A Celebration of Writing by American Authors of Latino Heritage - Click on the Reading Room for an essay by Dr. Roberta Fernández, Thirty Years of Hispanic Literature in the United States that follows the theme of the exhibit. Both the exhibit and essay cover the literary heritage of the Chicano movement through today with short descriptions of regional literary trends in the United States. The exhibit includes reproductions of magazine and book covers as well as photographs of Hispanic authors and photographs and artwork of landmarks, honors and awards in Hispanic literature. This would be a great place for someone studying modern Hispanic literature to start.
Voices from the Gap: Hispanic/Chicana/Latina - Looking for reviews of Sandra Cisneros’ Woman Hollering Creek? Or a biography of Denise Chavez? From the University of Minnesota’s Department of English Program in American Studies, Voices from the Gap includes seven biographies of Latina writers, including Julia Alvarez, Ann Castillo, Denise Chavez, Sandra Cisneros, Nicholasa Mohr, Cherie Moraga, and Helena Maria Viramontes. Click on Hispanic/Chicana/Latina for information on each of these authors, including biographical pieces, bibliographies, photographs, book covers, and links to related sites.
History of the Mariachi - Excerpted from Mexico, The Meeting of Two Cultures, this site provides a great overview of the past and present of mariachi music. You can find out the meaning of the word, the traditional makeup of the ensemble, the relationship between the music and dance, the famous Mariachi Vargas, and the ways mariachi is used in celebrations. At the bottom of the page, select Conference & Concert Pictures to see photographs of mariachi groups. It is difficult to find good information on this music form. Perhaps this site will help.
The Roots of Tejano and Conjunto Music - This terrific site from the Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas provides photographs of major players in the history of Tejano and Conjunto music, such as Beto Villa and Armando Marroquín, as well as a pretty good overview of the start of this lively music. The history and photographs are courtesy of Arhoolie Records and taken from the liner notes of Tejano Roots: The Roots of Tejano and Conjunto Music. At the bottom of the page look for links to other useful pages on this subject: Orquestas Tejanas: the Formative Years, San Antonio's Conjuntos in the 1950s, Narciso Martínez ("Father of the Texas-Mexican Conjunto"), Tejano Roots: The Women, The Accordion, and Narciso Martinez "El Huracan del Valle": His first recordings 1936-1937.
The Texas-Mexican Conjunto - From a Smithsonian Institution exhibit on Migrations in History and written by Manuel Pena, an anthropologist who specializes in Mexican American folklore and music, this site provides a perfect starting place for a patron studying conjunto music. Pena explores the origins of conjunto music on the border as well as its relationship to the people of Northern Mexico and South Texas.
Tejano Home Page - From a devoted Tejano fan, this site includes a Tejano History link, links to Tejano lyrics sites, fan club sites, and Tejano news. The big draw is the list of Tejano artists complete with Photo Gallery and Music Gallery. Try the Photo Gallery for numerous photographs of each Tejano artist listed. The Music Gallery provides sound clips (fun but not particularly useful in terms of Reference). Click on Tejano Artists for a listing of all artists from Adrian y Destino to Xelencia. The information you receive varies by artist but can include photos, biographies, discographies and articles. Don't miss the link to the Selena Tribute Webpage.
Tejano Music Awards - For a listing of this year’s Tejano Music Award winners, performers, nominees, and presenters, check this site out. You will also find photographs of the event including photos of some of the major award winners, like Jennifer Peña and Bobby Pulido. In addition, the Tejano Music Awards site includes a link called What is Tejano Music? that explains what characterizes Tejano music.
For Mexican publications, see the News and Media section of the Mexico page.
Hispanic Online - This site is the part of America Online dealing with news and issues of interest to the Hispanic community. Information for Hispanic Online comes from the periodical Hispanic Magazine. There is an index which will pull up full articles from 1995 to 1998.
LatinoWeb, a Latino Virtual Community - This is a comprehensive listing of magazines and newspapers aimed at the Hispanic community. It is international in scope listing publications from South American countries, Mexico, Europe and the U.S.
Vista Magazine - This is the online version of the Vista Magazine found in the San Antonio Express-News. There is an archive for 1997-98 which links to the full-text of the cover stories. There are links to some of the magazine’s feature articles such as healthbeat, music, notas, rootsearch, etc. Some articles are in Spanish.
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