HIDDEN HISPANIC HERITAGE
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Which book title is best?

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INTRODUCTION

I didn't ask for this. I was perfectly happy with my life as a journalist. And yet, little by little, in ways that are still hard to explain, my life turned me into a historian!

I think it's all based on passion. I never thought anything could top my passion for writing news, and covering the U.S. Hispanic community, until I discovered my passion for writing history, especially the Hispanic events and contributions that have been whitewashed by American history.

For me, there came a point when Hispanic history became more important than Hispanic news. But it was a slow process, and it was the news that led me to the history!

Ironically, it was during Hispanic Heritage Month that I began to develop an interest in our hidden Hispanic heritage – not because of how much history we were all learning during that month, but because, as a reporter, I would discover how little Hispanic history we actually knew!

In the late 1970s and the 1980s, I was a reporter and columnist for The New York Daily News, and my job was to cover the Hispanic community – the good, the bad and the ugly. Everything from a parade to a hostage standoff involving Latinos, writing about it was my job.

And you would think that covering a parade would be fun, right? Interviewing parade marchers would be cool, right?

Wrong! Amazingly, parades were always a struggle!

As a reporter, you want a variety of comments. You don’t want everyone telling you the same thing, because you want to avoid repeating the same quotes in your story. But it was always difficult to get a variety of quotes to illustrate my parade stories. I would approach young Latinos who were marching in beautiful ethnic costumes, and I would ask them a simple question: "Why are you here?"

And I would always get the same answer: “Because I’m very proud of being Hispanic,” they would say. Unfortunately, the next, and the next and the next person would tell me exactly the same thing. It was terribly frustrating.

“So why are you proud of being Hispanic?” I would insist. And much to my amazement, they had nothing more to say. It was as if someone had zippered their lips! Zilch! Nada!

So that’s when I knew we had a huge problem in our Hispanic community. That's when I began to write about how little we know. That’s when I began to notice that we throw a lot of Heritage Month fiestas, but we learn very few history lessons during that time. I began to see the difference between how Latinos and African Americans celebrate their months, and I soon realized that Black History Month is so much more about education than cocktail parties.

But then something happened that would intensify my interest in U.S. Hispanic history. During one of those Hispanic Heritage Months, I was assigned to interview and write a feature story about a historian who had just received a huge grant to go around the country researching Hispanic American history. His name was Joe Monserrat. I had already met Monserrat. He was a Puerto Rican educator and scholar who had led Hispanic community organizations and served on the New York City Board of Education.

So, I set up an interview with Monserrat, and I met with him in his office, where he proceeded to embarrass the hell out of me!
​
“Oh, so you cover the Hispanic community, right? he asked. “Let’s see how much you know!”

Mind you, I was already in my late 20s and, since I grew up in Florida, I had some knowledge of the Ponce de Leon discovery and the establishment of St. Augustine. I thought I knew a moderate amount of the history of the Spanish presence in what is now the United States.

And then Monserrat proceeded to ask me a series of rapid-fire questions, most of which I could not answer, making me feel exactly like the people who had zippered their lips at the parades. It was a revelation! I had so much more to learn!

“So, you know about Ponce de Leon,” he said. “How about Hernando de Soto? Or Cabeza de Vaca? How about David Farragut? Or Bernardo de Galvez? Surely, you know Eusebio Kino, right? How about Junípero Serra? How much do you know about the Black Legend?”

Joe Monserrat became my mentor. After that initial interview, I had him as a frequent guest on my radio and TV shows. On my live talk-radio program on Radio WADO is Spanish, we would have three-hour discussions with dozens of callers. On television, when I hosted a half-hour show called Images/Imagenes on the New Jersey Network, the producers ran out of the control room after we had finished tapping, insisting that Monserrat had to stick around so we could record a second show. They were so impressed with our discussion that they wouldn’t let him leave! Of course, by that time, a decade after our first interview, I had become a Hispanic history buff and a Monserrat disciple. I knew what questions to ask. That interview is in Youtube.

Monserrat died in 2005, before he finished writing a book he intended to publish. And as his disciple, I’ve carried the torch, to continue shining some light on our hidden Hispanic heritage.

Since I was an opinion columnist, able to pick my own topics to write about, I decided that every so often -- instead of current events — I would write a history column. I would research a topic, like for example, The Black Legend, or the First Thanksgiving, and then write a column about it. Some of those columns were written for The Bergen Record in New Jersey, and some for the Creators Syndicate, and so they were distributed and published in newspapers around the country.

Even after I left my full-time job as a journalist and became a full-time journalism professor at Lehman College, CUNY, in 2006, I continued writing my syndicated opinion column, including many more history columns, for several years. My series was already up to 27 parts when I gathered them all together and launched my HiddenHispanicHeritage.com website on Oct. 16, 2012.

But I was teaching only journalism, both news writing and TV production courses. I even became chairman of the department! And yet my passion for Hispanic history kept pulling me in a different direction. 

As a journalist, I felt it wasn’t enough to just read about historic places. I had to go and do some reporting, and then write my own history chapters. As I wrote in a column, “I want to see the relics left by our great-grand Spanish ancestors. I want to follow their trails. I want to visit the towns that have been named by them and the monuments built to recognize their great accomplishments. I want to pray in the churches they built.”

So, in 2014, with the goal of expanding my series and creating a course based on my website, Lehman gave me a leave of absence so I could go on a cross-country road trip to visit dozens of Hispanic heritage sites. I called my journey “The Great Hispanic American History Tour.”

By the time I finished reporting on my tour, my series was up to 76 parts! And then in 2015, I wrote four more columns from Washington, D.C., where Hispanic history was on display everywhere – except the museums!

In the Spring of 2017, while still teaching journalism, I created and began to teach “U.S. Hispanic History,” a course based on my 80-part series. In the summer of 2018, I went back on the road for my California Road Trip, and expanded my series to 107 parts. In 2019, I retired from my full-time job as a journalism professor, but kept teaching my history class, which I then converted into an online course, so that I could continue traveling to historic places I had not yet visited.
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My ultimate goal is to turn my series into a book. But unfortunately, Covid-19 has delayed my travel plans.

And there is another problem: Where do I put my photos? My students constantly tell me that my photos in my website make the reading much more interesting. So if I publish a book with a lot less photos, would my message be as effective?

If you can spare a few minutes, now that the semester is over, give me your advice through the “354 Survey,” now visible in the “Tests and Quizzes” section of Blackboard!

Mil gracias!

My TV interview with Joe Monserrat

So what do you think? / ™Entonces, qué piensas?
Please join our dialogue on Facebook / Por favor únete a nuestro diálogo en Facebook
Hidden Hispanic Heritage

​And to share, please click on these buttons:

Y para compartir, por favor haga clic sobre estos botones:

                   CHAPTERS/CAPITULOS

1. Our Pre-Mayflower Thanksgivings
Nuestros Días de Acción de Gracias Pre-Mayflower
               
2. A Tale of Two Cities
                 
3. Our Pre-Hispanic Heritage
              

4. The Black Legend Returns

4. La Leyenda Negra Regresa
                
5. Even on HBO, The Black Legend Lives
                   
6. Our Spanish Heritage
                     
7. Exalted or Offended?
                    
8. We are all 'Americanos'
                  
9. Latinos are Failing
                  
10. Hispanic, Columbus or Indigenous Day?
10. 
™Dia Hispano, De Colon o Indigena?
                   
11. Two Good Places to Rest
11. Dos buenos lugares para descansar
                  
12. Whitman's Prophetic Letter
12. La Carta Profética de Whitman
                  
13. America’s Cradle
13. La Cuna de America
                 
14. Our Quincentennial is Coming!

14. ´Nuestro Quinto Centenario Se Avecina!
                   
15. 
This chapter was merged with Chapter 29
                
16. A Time To Welcome the Spirits
                  
17. A Hispanic Christmas
17. Una Navidad Hispana
                  
18. JOSE MARTI:
     His Legacy Lives Here
     Su Legado Vive Aquí 
                
19. Hyphenated and Proud!
                   
20. Politicizing Education

21. Speak Any Spanish Lately?
              
22. Happy Three Kings Day!
22. ​
´Feliz Día de Reyes!
               
23. 
This chapter was merged with Chapter 29

24. A Long-Overdue Museum
                 
25. America's First Christmas was celebrated in Spanish
25. La Primera Navidad Americana fue celebrada en español

26. The Grand Canyon
and the Bucket List
 Of Hispanic Heritage
26. El Gran Canyon
y la Lista de Lugares de la Herencia Hispana

                  
27. Now That Fiesta Month Is Here,
Can We Talk About Heritage?

27. Ahora que el mes de fiesta hispana esta aquí,

​™Podemos hablar de nuestra herencia?
                  
28. Our Hispanic Heritage: On Exhibit and Yet Hidden
28. Nuestra Herencia Hispana: En Exhibición y Sin Embargo Oculta

29. Florida's Birthday Should Be a National Holiday

             
30. A Local Celebration that Should be National               

31. 
This chapter was merged with Chapter 30               
​

32. The Conveniently 'Forgotten War'
32. La Guerra Convenientemente Olvidada

33. Guantanamo Has a History  June 4, 2013

34. Exposing the Social Media Bigots  June 18, 2013
34. Exponiendo a los Intolerantes
     de los Medios Sociales June 18, 2013

35. Thinking of Cusi On the Fourth of July
35. Pensando en Cusi en el Cuatro de Julio

36. The Discovery of White Hispanics
36.  El Descubrimiento de los Hispanos Blancos

37. Let's Build a Timeline Of Hispanic-American History
37. Vamos a Construir una Cronología
     De la Historia Hispanoamericana

38. In the Name of Heritage
38. En el Nombre de la Herencia

39. Hispanics or Latinos?
39. ™Hispanos o Latinos?

40.  Hollywood's Hidden Hispanic Heritage
40. La Herencia Hispana Oculta en Hollywood

41. Obliviously Living in ‘The Land of Estevan Gomez’
41. Viviendo Inconscientemente
       En la ‘Tierra de Estevan Gómez’

42. Marking America's Birthplace
42. Marcando el Lugar de Nacimiento De Estados Unidos

43. Hispanics in Denial Should Be Infamous
43. Los Hispanos en Rechazo Deben Ser Infames

44. 
Gay Marriage's Hidden American History
      Started in Spanish
 CABEZA DE VACA'S JOURNEY
44. La Historia Oculta del Matrimonio Gay
      En América Comenzó en Español
        EL VIAJE DE CABEZA DE VACA​

45. Super Bowl Coke Commercial
       Draws Out Ugly Americans

45. Comercial de Coke en Super Bowl
     Hace Relucir a los Americanos Feos


46. 
The 'Discovery' of Self-Loathing Hispanics
46. El ‘Descubrimiento' de los
     Hispanos que se Auto Desprecian


THE GREAT HISPANIC AMERICAN HISTORY TOUR 
June 2014 - January 2015


47. My Pilgrimage to San Xavier
47. Mi Peregrinaje a San Xavier

48. The Great Hispanic American History Tour
48. La Gran Gira por la Historia Hispanoamericana

49. On the Trail of Conquistadors
49. En el Camino de los Conquistadores

50. Beyond St. Augustine
50. Más Allá de San Agustín

51. A Hidden Hispanic Role Model
51. Un Modelo Hispano Oculto

52. The Hispanic Flank of the American Revolution
52. El Flanco Hispano de la Revolucion Americana
​

53. New Orleans Has a Spanish ‘Ne Sais Quoi’
53. Nueva Orleans Tiene Un ‘Ne Sais Quoi’ Español

54. Galveston: Still the Isle of Misfortune?

55. Extracting Compacted History
     Unveils Hidden Hispanic Heritage

56. 'Remember The Alamo' Was a Spanish Mission

57. San Antonio: The Showcase Of Our Hispanic Heritage

58. There Was Compassion On the Spanish Mission Trail

59. A Hidden Latina Role Model

60. Time Portals on the Road

61. The First Thanksgiving
     In the (Southwest) United States

62. The World's Biggest Statue
of a Nameless Horseback Rider


63. A River Runs Through Our Hispanic Heritage

64. A Beacon of Hope On a Border Mountaintop

65. A Mexican-American Town
65. Un Pueblo Mexico-Americano

66. The Crossroads of Conquistadors

67. Hiking In Search of Coronado's Trail

68. The Real American Pioneers

69. Keeping My Pledge to San Xavier

70. If They Knew Arizona's History,
     They Wouldn't Be So Xenophobic

71. 'Tucson' is a Spanish Adaptation

72. Under a Utah Lake, Hispanic Heritage Lives

73. A Hilltop View Of Hispanic Heritage

74. Searching for Coronado's Quivira

75. The Spanish Savior of St. Louis

76. 
Jefferson's Spanish Library

WASHINGTON, D.C.
February-June 2015

77. When Galvez Came to Congress
77. Cuando Gálvez Vino al Congreso


78. A Tour of Our Extraordinarily Hispanic U.S. Capitol

79. Searching for Not-S0-Hidden
Hispanic Heritage in Washington, DC


80. Smithsonian Omits Hispanics In U.S. History Exhibit
80. Smithsonian Omite a los Hispanos
     en Exhibición de Historia de EE.UU.
MIAMI - August 2015
​
81. Finding Dad in a Museum
81. Encontre a Mi Padre en un Museo


​CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP - 2018
82. International Friendship Park ​at U.S.-Mexico Border
​- A Jagged Corner of the World


83. Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
​
84. Cabrillo National Monument

85. ​It took more than 2 centuries

86. Presidio Park: The Birthplace
of the Spanish Colonization of California


87. Junípero Serra Museum Transcends the Story of a Great Man

88. Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá:
California's First Spanish Mission


89. Old Mission (Padre) Dam: California's First Aqueduct

90. Even at the beach in San Diego, you can't avoid Spanish history

91. Chicano Park: Mexican-American ​painted under highway ramps

92. Balboa Park: Candy for your eyes amid a painful controversy!

93. San Diego: An American Town
Named After the Saint from Alcalá

93. San Diego: Un Pueblo Americano
Lleva el Nombre del Santo de Alcalá


94. San Luis Rey de Francia: The King of the California Missions
94. San Luis Rey de Francia: ​El Rey de las Misiones de California

95. San Antonio de Pala:
A Sub-Mission to Reach
 the Natives of the Interior
95. San Antonio de Pala:
Una Asistencia para Alcanzar los Nativos del Interior

96. San Juan Capistrano:
The Home of the Mission Swallows
 from Argentina
96. San Juan Capistrano:
El Hogar de las Golondrinas Desaparecidas ​de Argentina

97. San Gabriel Arcángel: A Mission that Launched Cities
97. San Gabriel Arcángel: Una Misión Que Lanzó Ciudades

98. El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Ángeles:
Hispanics had to be imported

98. El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Ángeles:
Hispanos tuvieron que sen importados


99. La Plaza de Cultura y Artes:
A Walk through Mexican-American History

99. La Plaza de Cultura y Artes:
Un Paseo por la historia 
​mexicoamericana


100. Strolling the Hispanic Walk of Fame
​100. Caminando por el Paseo Hispano de la Fama

101. San Fernando Rey de España Teaches
California's Colonial History

101. ​​San Fernando Rey de España Enseña
la historia colonial de California


​102. Mission San Buenaventura Survived Earthquakes and Pirates
102. Misión San Buenaventura Sobrevivió Terremotos y Piratas

​103. Father Serra Cross: On a hill,
​overlooking ​the land he shepherded

​103. La Cruz del Padre Serra: En una colina,
​con vistas a la tierra que pastoreaba


104. The Birthplace of Santa Barbara
104. El Lugar de Nacimiento de Santa Barbara

105. The Queen of the Spanish Missions
105. La Reina de las Misiones Españolas

106. Mission Santa Ines: Built to relieve other overcrowded missions
106. Misión Santa Inés: Construida para aliviar otras misiones superpobladas

107. Mission La Purísima Concepcion:
​Going back in time ​to Spanish California

107. Mision La Purísima Concepción:
Retrocediendo en ​el tiempo a la California española


XXX. Saluting an exile: ​Father Félix Varela
XXX. The Meaning of 'Sotomayor'
SPECIAL SECTIONS
• Great (pro-Hispanic) Americans
​
• 16th Century in the Hispanic American History Timeline
• 17th Century in the Hispanic American History Timeline
• 18th Century in the Hispanic American History Timeline
​
• Spanish-American expeditions before Jamestown
• NYC ​Hispanic Landmarks
• NYC Hispanic Art
• Do You Know/Sabes?
• Garita Art
​
• Do You Speak Spanglish?
HISPANIC AMERICAN HISTORY TIMELINE
​1513 Ponce de Leon Discovers North America, Names Her 'Florida'

April 22, 1513 ​Alaminos discovers the Gulf Stream

1517 De Cordoba, wounded in Yucatan, stops in Florida

1518 Grijalva Reaches Galveston Island

1519 De Pineda confirms Florida ​is not an island​

1521 Ponce de Leon Returns to Florida, Falls Mortally Wounded

1524-25 Estevan Gomez Explores North America's East Coast

1526 Ayllón lands in S.C., settles in Georgia


1528 Narváez expedition succumbs to storms and natives

1528-36 Cabeza de Vaca treks across North America

1537-42 Cabeza de Vaca Returns to Spain, Writes 'La Relación'

1539 De Niza Searches for Golden Cities of Cibola
​

1539-42 De Soto celebrates first American Christmas

1540 Hernando de Alarcon Reaches California

1540-42 Coronado Explores the Southwest,
Cardenas Discovers ​the Grand Canyon


1542-43  ​Cabrillo explores California coast​

1559 De Luna Builds Santa Maria de Ochuse​


1565 Pedro Menendez de Avilés Establishes San Agustin

1566 Santa Elena Built in South Carolina

1598 ​Juan de Oñate Explores New Mexico

1602 Sebastian Vizcaino ​explores the West Coast

1610 Pedro de Peralta establishes Santa Fe

1610-26 The Birth of San Miguel, oldest church in the U.S.A.

1613 Juan Rodriguez becomes the first Manhattan immigrant

1633 Misión San Luis de Apalachee is born in Tallahassee

​1682 San Antonio de la Ysleta becomes first mission in Texas

1691 Father Eusebio Kino builds Tumacácori and Guevavi

1692 ​Father Kino builds San Xavier del Bac 

1692 Diego de Vargas leads ​'Bloodless Reconquest" of Santa Fe

1695 Castillo de San Marcos ​Completed in St. Augustine

1718 Mission San Antonio de Valero is born
​- long before it became The Alamo
​

1738 Runaway slaves establish Fort Mose,
​the first free African-American community​


​1738 Francisco Menendez Leads Fort Mose

1742 Spanish Soldiers ​Open Fort Matanzas

1752 Spanish Soldiers Build Presidio de Tubac

1763 Spanish Florida Goes to England

1765 Juan Antonio Maria de Rivera ​explores ​Colorado and Utah
​
1769 
Father Serra opens ​San Diego de Alcalá,
California's first ​Spanish mission


1771 Father Serra establishes San Gabriel Arcángel

1772 Good hunting determines site
​of ​Misión San Luis Obispo de Tolosa


1775 Captain Hugh O’Connor
​builds Presidio San Agustin del Tucson


​1776-83 Hispanics in the American Revolution

1776 The Birth of San Francisco

1781 Spanish troops defeat the British, capture Pensacola

1781 Pobladores of Los Angeles are imported

1791 ​Alessandro Malaspina Alaska Reaches Alaska

1797 Fermín Francisco de Lasuén
Establishes Misión San Fernando Rey de España


1797 The Birth of Villa de Branciforte

Herencia Hispana Oculta de America:
La Lista de Lugares, Ideas, y Evidencia Historica para Reconectár a los Americanos con sus Raíces Hispanas

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America's Hidden Hispanic Heritage:
The Bucket List of Places, Ideas and Historical Evidence to Reconnect Americans with their  Hispanic Roots
  • HOME
  • ABOUT US/QUIENES SOMOS
  • CHAPTERS/CAPITULOS
  • EN ESPAÑOL
  • ON FACEBOOK
  • IN THE NEWS/NOTICIAS
  • ACCOLADES/ELOGIOS
  • VIDEO LECTURES/CHARLAS
  • MIGUELPEREZ.COM
    • MY STUDENTS
  • ABOUT/SOBRE MIGUEL
  • VIDEOS WE LIKE
  • CONTACT US/CONTÁCTENOS
  • TIMELINE/CRONOLOGIA
  • THE HISPANIC AMERICAN HISTORY MUSEUM
  • THE GREAT TOUR/LA GRAN GIRA
  • CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP
  • NYC HISPANIC LANDMARKS
  • NYC HISPANIC ART
  • ON THE ROAD AGAIN
  • EN EL CAMINO OTRA VEZ
  • OUR MEDALLIONS SAGA