Rebecca Lukens: A woman of iron
A sudden tragedy thrust Rebecca Lukens into the family business and into history, making her the nation’s first woman industrialist and the...
How one girl helped build a Latinx civil rights movement
As a little girl, Jessica Govea had become accustomed to rising early and making her way to the fields with her family. During the cotton...
Pennies and nickels add up to success: Maggie Lena Walker
Maggie Lena Walker was one of the most important Black businesswomen in the nation, and today too few people have heard of her.Maggie Lena...

Blog Posts in "Latino History & Culture"

Sponges of diverse shapes and colors arranged in a line
Rea Ann Silva: The woman behind Beautyblender
While the iconic egg-shaped Beautyblender sponge is wildly popular and used by makeup professionals and everyday people from all...
Boycott Grapes button
Essential and expendable: The rise of agricultural labor and the United Farm Workers
Until the successes of the United Farm Workers (UFW) in the 1960s, agriculture was one of the last industries to hold out on unionization...
Desert Camo bat
The artistry behind a baseball bat
Custom Baret bat, Woodbridge, Virginia, 2018Gift of Juan Baret Bate Baret personalizado, Woodbridge, Virginia, 2018Donación de Juan...
How butterfly wings helped a new collecting initiative take flight
The museum has created a new collecting initiative focused on how undocumented activists are leading fights for political representation....
Lobby cards for the film "Saludos Amigos"
Donald Duck: An American Diplomat?
Every April, people throughout North, Central, and South America celebrate Pan American Day. The roots of Pan American Day go back to 1890...
Two advertisements for the 1947 Amateur World Series with cartoon illustrations of a baseball pitcher and catcher
Baseball in December: Leopoldo Martinez and the 1947 Amateur World Series
Over seventy years ago, in 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first African American athlete to play in the World Series, having famously...
The Washington Senators couldn’t win—but excelled at scouting Latino talent
Today, the Washington Senators are most remembered for their ability to finish in last place. Despite their successful early history marked...
Photo of Jose Feliciano playing guitar at Smithsonian
Musician José Feliciano shook up a baseball tradition at age 23
José Feliciano will remain forever celebrated for his perennial Christmas classic "Feliz Navidad," one of his many hit recordings that have...
A book of poetry
The literary Luisa Moreno
Curators at the National Museum of American History often rely on scholars in the field to illuminate new areas of collection and research...
A woman with styled hair leans out a window.
The case of Luisa Moreno
In my first week as a curator at the National Museum of American History, I made a list of women I wished were present in the museum's...
Photograph of exhibition section under label, "Incorporating Western Lands"
Creating home, creating legacies: how the Del Valles built Camulos
This group portrait of Del Valle family members is on display in “Many Voices, One Nation.” This photo of the Del Valle family and...
Family members gather around a Thanksgiving table and smile.
The worker's turkey
Like many homes across America, in my home Thanksgiving meant turkey. Lots of turkeys. Five or six turkeys. The day before Thanksgiving, my...
Natalia Flores’s pink quinceañera gown
Collecting la fiesta de quince años
Light pink and very full, the organza and tulle gown took up a major portion of the sofa. Beside it, Natalia had placed her glittery high...
Selena laughs and holds a Coke. She wears a silver vest, white t-shirt, and black pants.
Advertising photography is more than a thousand words: Al Rendon remembers a photography session with Selena
Advertising agencies have relied on images to engage consumers since the late 19th century. Images convey both information and emotion in a...
Cover of Leopoldo Martinez's red leather scrapbook. The embroidered book has features the text: Scrap Book.
Commemorating a LIFE: How one Latino ballplayer remembered his career
Leopoldo “Polín” Martinez was a highly talented semiprofessional baseball player who toured with clubs in Mexico, Texas, and Southern...
Photograph of Ernie Martinez's re-stitched baseball glove and repair tools.
Innovative solutions to baseball problems: Latina/o style
After hitting a double, the runner goes for glory and tries to stretch the hit into a triple. A throw, a slide, a cloud of dust, and...
Four figurines lined up against a background. They wear colorful clothing, carry different items and have objects on their heads
The small town sculptor and the American collector
When Janice Hatfield, a collector of Mexican American folk art, first visited Mexico in the 1960s, she had an instantaneous feeling of home...
A dark-haired woman in a gold hat and top holds up a bottle of Coca Cola and smiles. There is a dark border created by the visible film strip around the photograph.
Yo Te Sigo Queriendo (I Still Love You): Memories of Selena
From the 1950s to 1970s, U.S. advertising started to shift from mass marketing to recognizing and defining distinct target markets. A...
The tails side of a standard quarter. It is a Puerto Rico quarter, with a bay and flowers and the year 2009
Through a Puerto Rican lens: The legacy of the Jones Act
What do Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, legendary baseball player Roberto Clemente, salsa icon Tito Puente, actor Raúl Juliá, and...
Sara Sunshine’s Clio Award, 1987
Collecting the history of Hispanic advertising
Over the past two years, the museum's business history curator, Dr. Kathleen Franz, has been collecting a wide range of materials related...
A group of young women in white, button up, short sleeved shirts stands and kneels for the photograph. In the middle of the back row there is a man with a serious expression. The young woman kneeling in the center is holding a baseball bat.
Collecting, preserving, and sharing our history: The Latinos and Baseball: In the Barrios and Big Leagues Project
On February 20, 2016, former Smithsonian fellow Mark Ocegueda, currently a Ph.D. candidate in history at the University of California,...
Gold medal with portrait of a man's face. He wears a helmet and stares past the viewer. Behind him, other soldiers in uniforms and helmets hold guns in a tactical position.
"Honor Et Fidelitas:" The awarding of a Congressional Gold Medal to the "Borinqueneers"
As the rain clouds began to blow out to sea over the fortress of Castillo San Felipe del Morro, I looked out over the crowd of...
Dozens of soldiers on horseback stand in a line, shoulder to shoulder. Mountains visible in background. Desert sand.
General Pershing's Mexican Expedition to capture Pancho Villa predates his World War I career
The small American town of Columbus, New Mexico, was the site of a major event 100 years ago today. On March 9, 1916, spurred by events in...
Group of small wooden carved figures, some with painted details.
Remembering collector Teodoro Vidal, who preserved Puerto Rican history and culture in the national collection
The first job I had at the museum was working with a collection of more than 3,000 objects from Puerto Rico, all collected by Teodoro Vidal...
The journey and business success of "La Chiquita"
"Chiquita, can you bring me a soda?" "Chiquita, how much is two pupusas and a bag of mangos?" These are the things neighborhood...
KCOR Radio Microphone, early 1950s
Earning a place on the dial: Raoul Cortez, KCOR, and Spanish-language radio
In the U.S. today, Hispanic media is big business. In 2013, Advertising Age reported that spending in the U.S. Hispanic media market...
Photo of white overalls splattered with paint
Three new collections represent Latinas from L.A.
As a curator at the National Museum of American History, I find that exhibitions are one space in which I can bring history to the public....
The sazón in hip-hop
A slow disco melody spins on the turntable, interrupted by the metallic sound of symbols. Right after that, the running sounds of bongo...
Tarima and shoes used by Martha Gonzalez in California, 1999
The beat goes on: New acquisitions once stomped out the soundtrack of Los Angeles
As the Museum gears up to open new exhibitions in 2015, 2016, and 2017, our curators have combed the country, looking for the richest...
"A Room of Her Own" by Sandra Cisneros at the National Museum of American History
Exploring Día de los Muertos with Sandra Cisneros
If you've ever confused Día de los Muertos with Halloween, you might be surprised to learn how very different these fall holidays are from...
On the right, the motorcycle parked in a driveway with a license plate that reads "Guatemala 1979-1983."
Making sense of our Harley-Davidson with Guatemalan connections
In museums, it's common for a single artifact to tell many diverse stories, far beyond the scope of any one exhibition. Christine Miranda,...
Mexican-style dress
8 tips for experiencing Latino History at the museum
Looking to discover Latino history during your museum visit this Hispanic Heritage Month? Christine Miranda, who interned with our Program...
Selena's outfit in the collection
Still dreaming of you: Selena's outfit at the Smithsonian
Iconic cultural objects have the power to preserve beloved chapters of history long after they come to a close. As we approach the 20th...
Official U.S. citizens with their certificates in hand, waving their flags
My Smithsonian internship, my American identity
Vanessa Chicas, an intern in the museum's Program in Latino History and Culture, reflects on the unique experience she had as a Smithsonian...
Three statuettes of kings complete with robes and gowns stand on the same base.
Who arrives on the 12th day of Christmas? Three Wise Men, of course
Dr. Margaret Salazar-Porzio, curator of Latino History and Culture in the Home and Community Life division, and intern Jonathan Borda...
Poster show child playing with blocks that spell "E L R E T O"
Critical intersections: Histories of Latinos, reproduction, and disability
Smithsonian Latino Center Fellow Jessica Lott's dissertation research led her to our medicine and science collections, where she...
Fierce fashion from 19th century Puerto Rico
We doubt leg-of-mutton sleeves will make an appearance on runways during Fashion Week, but there's one thing that never goes out of style:...
Container of Abuelita hot chocolate on colorful fabric
Sniffs of cinnamon-scented hot chocolate draw visitors into immigration history
Spotting a familiar artifact at the Smithsonian can be an exciting moment for visitors—and, in this case, a moment of cultural connection....
Remembering Diosa Costello, "The Latin Bombshell"
Curator Dwight Blocker Bowers remembers Diosa Costello. "I was the original J. Lo.," Costello said at a 2011 Smithsonian donation...
A woman checks actors' makeup on a movie set
Part III: On the set of "Rebel," the story of a woman who fought in the Civil War
When filmmaker María Agui Carter first came across the 1876 memoir of a Latina woman who fought in the Civil War, she recognized "a voice...
The signature image for "REBEL" is a composite of two portraits of Loreta Velazquez passing as Lieutenant Harry T. Buford, soldier and spy of the American Civil War, played by actress Romi Dias.
Part I: "Rebel:" Loreta Janeta Velazquez, Civil War soldier and spy
When filmmaker María Agui Carter first came across the 1876 memoir of a Latina woman who fought in the Civil War, she recognized "a voice...
The author as a child missing her two front teeth
No fairy here: A mysterious mouse took my two front teeth
Spread the word: the Tooth Fairy is using the Museum as a secret drop spot for the teeth she collects. We even have it all on video....
Feeding America: The people and politics that bring food to our table
Latino and food history expert Steve Velazquez looks beyond the plate to discover the people, technology, and systems that bring food to...
Small statuette of the Three Kings, or "Reyes Magos." The three figures are joined together by a shared base. Though they have different expressions and garb, they all wear crowns and are posed carrying a small gift.
Waiting for Los Tres Reyes Magos, The Three Kings
Editor’s note: January 6th is Three Kings Day. Magdalena Mieri, director of the Program in Latino History and Culture at the museum, shares...
Chef holding a tray of apple pies
As American as apple pie
Editor's note: If you're planning a visit to the museum after Thanksgiving, save room for dessert—and check the hours of our cafés. In...
A colorful biographical portrait of Celia Cruz, painted by Robert Weingarten, featuring aspects of her life
Celia Cruz portrait unveiled
Biographical portrait of Celia Cruz by Robert WeingartenIt's a pop of vivid color and glimmering textures, tinted with memories of home,...
A photograph of Celia Cruz taken in the 1950's
And the winner of the Frame an Iconic American contest is…
We asked you to vote on which of five iconic American figures should be memorialized in a new biographical portrait by Robert Weingarten, a...
People on a stage
Capturing D.C.'s rich Latino history
The Latino D.C. History Project is an initiative to document, preserve, interpret, and display the varied stories of Latino life in the...

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