Hispanic Heritage Month: The Foundation of America's Civil Rights Movement

Read the article Hispanic Heritage Month: The Foundation of America's Civil Rights Movement, by Stephen Balkaran, Professor of Political Science.

An extract from the article:

«As anti-Hispanic rhetoric continues; it has taken away the best of who we are and what we can become as a nation and Americans. The immigration debate has now generated so many divisions in our society that it has become the "civil rights debate of 21st Century." Never in American history has an issue divided a nation of immigrants but more so left us scrambling for our true national identity. Civil Rights remain the pinnacle of debates, the protection of rights for all Americans, regardless of color, race, gender, age, sexual orientation and defending these rights against discrimination have long been important issue for all Americans. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, arguably one of the most important pieces of legislation in our country's history which ensured that legal barriers be torn down; which theoretically, should have eliminated barriers of discrimination against all Americans in our society. Despite this important legislation very few understand the historical foundations of the modern-day civil rights movement and the Hispanic influence. »

Read the article Hispanic Heritage Month: How Hispanics Are Defining and Redefining America by Stephen Balkaran, Professor of Political Science at Quinnipiac University. Article published on Huffington Post.

Read these extracts from the article (the underline has been added by me, it is not part of the original article):

« During the American Revolutionary War, Bernardo de Galvez, governor of the Louisiana Territory, sent gunpowder, rifles, bullets, blankets, medicine and other supplies to the armies of General George Washington in support of America's cause. Once the war began, Galvez, along with support and reinforcements from Spain's Cuba, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

What would our country's political history be without Hispanics? What would Manifest Destiny and America's expansion be without the role of Hispanics and the carving of America's great Western frontier? The Hispanic presence in the election of President James Polk in 1844 and his future policy of annexation of Texas, the stolen land, the creation of the artificial border, the Alamo, the great Southwest, and the Compromise of 1850 all help define our American history. What would America be like without the importance of The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican War, where the United States gained not only Texas, New Mexico and Upper California, making way for the vast expansion of American land, but also a cultural history like no other? Our Civil War would not be the same without the presence of Hispanics, often removed from our history books. Some 20,000 Hispanics fought in the Civil War, some serving in the 1st Florida Cavalry, others serving in the Union forces in Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts. From the first battle in Fort Sumter to the last battle in Palmito Ranch, Texas, their allegiance served in America's defining war over the issue of slavery. Hispanics have always met the challenge of serving America with commitment and admiration in the midst of the great American Split. »