More than 50 years ago, the United States launched “Hispanic Heritage Week” to formally recognize the countless contributions that Latinx people have made to our communities. Today, the celebration spans one month—September 15 to October 15—to coincide with the anniversaries of independence in many Central and South American countries, including Belize, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.

Hispanic Heritage Month officially lasts for 31 days, but that doesn’t mean we should limit our celebrations of Latinx heritage to this month alone. Instead, we can use this month as a reminder to reconsider our goals related to equity for Latinx communities, gather resources to help us build our understanding and toolkit, and set a plan to meet our equity goals during the year ahead.

Use the resources below to develop your students’ understanding of Latinx heritage. They offer lessons, activities, and other resources that teachers can use all year long to celebrate the contributions and culture of the growing Latinx community in the U.S.

Latinx Heritage Month Teaching Resources

Anti-Defamation League – National Hispanic Heritage Month Ideas for Teachers

The Anti-Defamation League’s resources for teachers include eight K–12 activities that help students understand the Latinx experience “in its complexity, incorporating literature, history, art, civil rights, film, music, and more.”

National Education Association – Hispanic Heritage Month

These Hispanic Heritage Month lessons, activities, quizzes, and multimedia are broken into grade bands (K–5, 6–8, 9–12).

Teaching Tolerance – Latinx History is Black History

This webinar clarifies the confusion between race and ethnicity and provides a historical primer on Afro-Latinx identities: (transcript of the webinar is also available.)

WeTeachNYC – Celebrate Latinx Heritage Collection

WeTeachNYC has compiled a rich collection of lessons, videos, artwork, music, and living testaments from diverse Latinx people from across the U.S.