Portal:Hispanic and Latino Americans/Did you know/Archive


 * DYK didnt begin until March 2014, with Migdia Chinea Varela. The DYK's listed below prior to that date were placed on the main page of WP.

2005

 * ... that Tomás Rivera, a Chicano author, poet, and educator, was the first Mexican American chancellor of the University of California system?
 * ... that after the first demonstration by members of Catolicos Por La Raza at St. Basil's Cathedral, in downtown Los Angeles, California, the archbishop resigned?
 * ... that Chicanismo is a cultural movement by Mexican Americans to recapture their Mexican, Native American culture, which began in the 1930s in the Southwestern United States?
 * ... that on Christmas Eve 1969, when California lawyer and noted political activist Ricardo Cruz was a law student at Loyola Law School, he was arrested for leading a march of several hundred demonstrators protesting the newly constructed, $4 million St. Basil's Cathedral?
 * ... that the first gang injunction to make headlines was obtained by Los Angeles City Attorney James Hahn against the West Los Angeles-based street gang the Playboy Gangster Crips in 1987?
 * ... that Rini Templeton created works of graphic art for the New Mexico Land-Grant movement before moving to Mexico to collaborate with the Labor movement there?
 * ... that the parents of Chicana fiction writer and Cornell University English professor Helena Maria Viramontes (pictured) met while working in the fields, and that the impact of César Chávez and the United Farm Workers later influenced her fiction?
 * ... that Moctesuma Esparza is a Chicano filmmaker who produced the movie Selena?

2006

 * ...that Hispanics have participated in every conflict in which the United States has been involved, and over forty Hispanics have been awarded the Medal of Honor?
 * ...that American sculptor Luis Jiménez, known for his large Southwestern and Hispanic polychromed fiberglass sculptures, was killed when a large piece of his work fell on him?
 * ... that Sal Castro (pictured) was the teacher that inspired Mexican American students to protest unequal conditions in Los Angeles Unified School District schools, resulting in the 1968 East L.A. walkouts?
 * ... that having served as both Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton, Maria Echaveste is one of the highest-ranking Latinas to have served in a Presidential Administration?
 * ... that the Chicana artist Yolanda Lopez became famous with the painting "Virgen de Guadalupe", which represents Lopez's personal investigation into Virgen de Guadalupe's status in Mexican society?
 * ... that although the parents of Juan Bautista Rael, a Stanford University professor and folklorist, sent him away for schooling due to limited educational options in their town, he focused his academic career on the folk plays and religious songs of that region?
 * ... that Estela Ruiz claims to have seen and spoken with the Blessed Virgin Mary in South Phoenix, Arizona continually from 1988 to 1998?
 * ... that the East Los Angeles community arts center Self Help Graphics & Art has been producing Chicano art for more than thirty years?
 * ... that Teatro Campesino or "farmworkers theater" began performing in 1965 on flat bed trucks in the fields with the United Farm Workers in Delano, California and still puts on performances today?

2007

 * ... that Héctor López was the first Panamanian-born Major League Baseball player to play in the World Series with the New York Yankees?
 * ... that 8-year-old Sylvia Mendez played an instrumental role in the 1946 Mendez v. Westminster case, which successfully ended de jure segregation in California schools?
 * ... that in 1992 about 10-15% of the Nicaraguan population emigrated to the U.S.?
 * ... that Richard E. Cavazos (pictured), recipient of two Distinguished Service Cross awards, was the United States Army's first Hispanic 4-star general?
 * ... that Linda Chavez-Thompson was the first woman, person of color, and Hispanic elected an officer of the AFL-CIO?
 * ... that the Farm Labor Organizing Committee's 2004 collective bargaining agreement with the Mt. Olive Pickle Co. marked the first time an American labor union represented guest workers?

2008

 * ... that although Iván DeJesús, Jr. (pictured) was selected to play in the 2008 Southern League All-star game, he instead played in the 2008 All-Star Futures Game?
 * ... that Ron Arias, a senior writer and correspondent for People magazine and People en Español, was influenced by twentieth-century Latin American literature?
 * ... that the origin of Chicano literature, the literature of Mexican-Americans in the U.S., has been traced back as far as 1542 and the chronicle of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca?
 * ... that 19th-century California bandit Procopio, also known as Red-Handed Dick, was said to "love the feel and the color of warm blood," and his name was used by mothers to frighten their children?

2009

 * ... that fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez discovered Jessica Lange, Grace Jones, and Jerry Hall?
 * ... that the Salad Bowl strike of 1970–1971 caused the price of iceberg lettuce to triple overnight, and thousands of acres of lettuce were plowed under as crops spoiled on the ground?
 * ... that Amalia Mesa-Bains, a Ph.D. psychologist, was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for her artwork?
 * ... that the 1969 dedication of St. Basil Church (pictured) in Los Angeles prompted a "club-swinging mob" of Chicanos to break into the church during Christmas Midnight Mass?

2010

 * ... that Crash actress Arlene Tur played professional beach volleyball during her time at Florida International University?
 * ... that Arizona SB1070, the state's new immigration enforcement law, has attracted national attention as the broadest and strictest anti-illegal immigration measure in decades within the United States? (protest pictured)
 * ... that Eliseo Medina is the first Mexican American to serve on the executive board of the Service Employees International Union?
 * ... that playwright Josefina Niggli is believed to be the only Mexican-American woman to have a theatre named after her?
 * ... that a co-founder of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Mario G. Obledo, organized a boycott of the Taco Bell Chihuahua, citing the dog's stereotypical Mexican accent?
 * ... that San Diego artist Salvador Torres led the movement to paint murals on the support columns of a freeway in Chicano Park?
 * ... that an entire regiment of the Mexican Army was despatched to expel Mexican folk healer and mystic Teresa Urrea from the country?

2011

 * ... that "Donde quiera que estés", a collaboration with Mexican-American singer-songwriter Selena, became the first number-one hit for the Barrio Boyzz?
 * ... that Richard Chavez (pictured with Hilda Solis) designed the black eagle logo of the United Farm Workers while his brother, César Chávez, chose the red and black coloring?
 * ... that Mexican-American singer-songwriter Selena was murdered by an employee who (falsely) claimed she was raped and needed the singer's help?

2012

 * ... that the Chonga has become a Miami icon, influencing fashion in South Florida and beyond?
 * ... that Havana on the Hudson takes it name from the influx of Cuban émigrés and exiles to towns on the Hudson River?
 * ... that Oregon's Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center (Hillsboro clinic pictured) started in a garage and now has over US$20 million in annual revenue?

2013

 * ... that New Jersey Assemblywoman-elect Maria Rodriguez-Gregg plays for a local roller derby team?
 * ... that Puerto Rico's diverse musical heritage influenced Ivy Queen's Christmas composition of "Vamos a Celebrar", which includes the traditional sound of the plena?
 * ... that the Mission olive was brought to California in the 18th century by Spanish missionaries?
 * ... that the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (pictured) is housed in a former stables, built in a dramatic architectural style named for a British Queen, in a park honoring a famous German?

January–June

 * ...That Cuban-American actress, writer and director Migdia Chinea Varela (pictured) had an essay on minority quotas published in Newsweek in 1988?
 * ... that a 1963 bus crash in California's Salinas Valley, which claimed the lives of 32 Mexican farmworkers, highlighted unsafe conditions and helped to spur the end of a 20-year-old guest worker program?
 * ... that in 2001 "A Puro Dolor" by Puerto Rican band Son by Four won Lo Nuestro Awards for both Pop Song of the Year and Tropical Song of the Year?
 * ... that support for the free association movement in Puerto Rico expanded by a hundredfold in 14 years?
 * ... that Stop the Music, the debut album by brother-sister hip hop duo New Breed, features a Latin influence that highlights the duo's Puerto Rican heritage?

July–August

 * ... that 2014's Cesar Chavez premiered in the Berlinale Special Galas section of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival? (actor Michael Peña, who portrays Chavez, pictured)
 * ... that the 1930-1931 Lemon Grove Case was the United States' first successful school desegregation case?
 * ... that XELD-TV was the first Mexican television station to affiliate with an American network?

September–October

 * ... that Orange County based columnist Gustavo Arellano (pictured) wrote his first ¡Ask a Mexican! column in 2004 as a one-time spoof?
 * ... that Barbara Rosenblat decided that her Orange Is the New Black character Miss Rosa has a Hispanic accent?
 * ... that the word "Coyote", became so prevalent in New Mexican English, that it itself became a loanword into American English?

2021

 * ... that mathematician Pamela E. Harris co-founded the online platform Lathisms to promote Hispanic and Latino American participation in mathematics?