hispanic americans and modern challenges

Running Head: Hispanic Americans and Modern Challenges

Hispanic Americans and Modern Challenges

ETH/125 Cultural Diversity

February 23, 2012

Hispanic Americans and Modern Challenges

Conquerors (conquistadores) arrive from the Iberian Peninsula in the Americas four centuries ago, in pursuit of gold and reverence for God, their king, and themselves. These conquistadores and their native, European, and African wives are the ancestors of the modern Latin Americans. In the United States, members of this group are most often labeled Hispanics, out of consideration for their language instead of their ethnicity, and Latinos, because of their geographic origins (Guisepi, n.d.). According to the 2010 Census, Hispanics are the largest minority group in the country, and their history, like that of various minorities that preceded them, is one full of hardships and difficulties, assimilation and discrimination, poverty and struggle-a powerful reminder of the drawing power of the American Dream.

The history of Hispanic immigration to the United States from their various nations is one that is unique compared to that of other immigrants to this country. While Asians and Europeans mostly came to the United States of their own choice, many Mexicans became Americans by virtue of the outcome of the Mexican-American War and subsequent Gadsden Purchase, both of which changed the borders of the United States and led to annexation of much of California, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah-places where many of their descendents still live (Guisepi, n.d.). In a similar fashion, Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens in 1917 and joined the ranks of Hispanic Americans (Guisepi, n.d.).

Cuban Americans have arrived in waves to the U.S. mainly for political reasons since 1959; most recently Cubans have been forced to flee the island because of the declining economic conditions in Cuba. This group began migrating...