Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican heritage. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United States. Mexicans born outside the US make up 53% of the total population of foreign-born Hispanic Americans and 25% of the total foreign-born population. Chicano is a term used by some to describe the unique identity held by Mexican-Americans. The United States is home to the second-largest Mexican community in the world, behind only Mexico.
Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans of full or partial Spanish and/or Latin American background, culture, or family origin. These demographics include all Americans who identify as Hispanic or Latino regardless of race. As of 2020, the Census Bureau estimated that there were almost 65.3 million Hispanics and Latinos living in the United States and its territories.
Richard Alfred Tapia is an American mathematician and University Professor at Rice University in Houston, Texas, the university's highest academic title. In 2011, President Obama awarded Tapia the National Medal of Science. He is currently the Maxfield and Oshman Professor of Engineering; Associate Director of Graduate Studies, Office of Research and Graduate Studies; and Director of the Center for Excellence and Equity in Education at Rice University.
Héctor Pérez García was a Mexican-American physician, surgeon, World War II veteran, civil rights advocate, and founder of the American GI Forum (AGIF). As a result of the national prominence he earned through his work on behalf of Hispanic Americans, he was instrumental in the appointment of Vicente T. Ximenes, a Mexican American and AGIF charter member, to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1966.
Arnulfo Duenes Trejo was a writer and Professor of Library Science at the University of Arizona. He was a leader in the movement to increase library collections of Latino literature and Spanish-language materials in the United States. He was also instrumental in efforts to train more Latino and Spanish-speaking people as professional librarians.
Rodolfo "Rudy" Francisco Acuña is an American historian, professor emeritus at California State University, Northridge, and a scholar of Chicano studies. He authored the 1972 book Occupied America: A History of Chicanos, an approach to the history of the Southwestern United States with an emphasis on Mexican Americans. An eighth edition was published in 2014. Acuña has also written for the Los Angeles Times,The Los Angeles Herald-Express, La Opinión, and other newspapers. Acuña is an activist and has supported numerous causes of the Chicano Movement. He currently teaches an online history course at California State University, Northridge.
Jimmie V. Reyna is an American lawyer, former president of the Hispanic National Bar Association, and a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Hispanic and Latino women in America have been involved in journalism for years, using their multilingual skills to reach across cultures and spread news throughout the 19th century until the common era. Hispanic presses provided information important to the Hispanic and Latin American communities and helped to foster and preserve the cultural values that remain today. These presses also "promoted education, provided special-interest columns, and often founded magazines, publishing houses, and bookstores to disseminate the ideas of local and external writers."
The city of Houston has significant populations of Mexican Americans, Mexican immigrants, and Mexican citizen expatriates. Houston residents of Mexican origin make up the oldest Hispanic ethnic group in Houston, and Jessi Elana Aaron and José Esteban Hernández, authors of "Quantitative evidence for contact-induced accommodation: Shifts in /s/ reduction patterns in Salvadoran Spanish in Houston," referring to another large Latino group in Houston, stated that as of 2007 it was the most "well-established" Hispanophone ethnic group there. Houston is the third city for Mexican immigrants after Chicago and Los Angeles.
Jose B. Gonzalez is a Latino poet and educator.
African American Texans or Black Texans are residents of the state of Texas who are of African ancestry and people that have origins as African-American slaves. African Americans formed a unique ethnic identity in Texas while facing the problems of societal and institutional discrimination as well as colorism for many years. The first person of African heritage to arrive in Texas was Estevanico, who came to Texas in 1528.
Precious Knowledge is a 2011 educational and political documentary that centers on the banning of the Mexican-American Studies (MAS) Program in the Tucson Unified School District of Arizona. The documentary was directed by Ari Luis Palos and produced by Eren Isabel McGinnis, the founders of Dos Vatos Productions.
Alma Flor Ada is a Cuban-American author of children's books, poetry, and novels. A Professor Emerita at the University of San Francisco, she is recognized for her work promoting bilingual and multicultural education in the United States.
Hispanic and Latino Texans are residents of the state of Texas who are of Hispanic or Latino ancestry. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, Hispanics and Latinos of any race were 39.3% of the state's population. Moreover, the U.S Census shows that the 2010 estimated Hispanic population in Texas was 9.7 million and increased to 11.4 million in 2020 with a 2,064,657 population jump from the 2010 Latino population estimate.
Héctor E. Sánchez Barba is the President and CEO of Mi Familia Vota (MFV), and a prominent leader in the Latino community with a strong focus on building Latino political power and driving policy and politics at the state and national levels. As a leading voice in the fight against extremism and xenophobia in public policy, he has devoted his career to protecting democracy, empowering communities, and championing the rights of Latinos, immigrants, and vulnerable communities across the country.
The Ohtli Award or Reconocimiento Ohtli is granted by the Institute of Mexicans Living Abroad from the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and its focused to strengthen relations with the Mexican community that resides outside our country.
Sister Melanie Maczka is an American nun. She is a member of the Society of Sisters for the Church and founder of Casa ALBA Melanie, a Hispanic resource center for the greater Green Bay area. She began serving the Hispanic population of Green Bay in 1982 as an associate at St. Willebrord Catholic Parish.
Gabriela Teissier Zavala is a journalist, news anchor and radio talk show host. She is the anchor for the early morning news formerly known as A Primera Hora on Univision's Los Angeles station KMEX-DT, and hosting Uforia Audio Network's morning radio show, Tu Voz En Los Angeles. and is known for her environmental issue reports.
Joseph I. Castro is an American academic and was the eighth chancellor of the California State University. Before that, Castro was the eighth president of California State University, Fresno, and the first California native and first Mexican-American to hold the position. In 2016, he received the Ohtli Award from the Mexican government. He resigned in 2022 as CSU chancellor after accusations of mishandling sexual harassment claims against a fellow administrator.
The state of Utah has an increasingly diverse population, home to hundreds of thousands of Hispanic/Latino people who share ancestry from Latin American countries. It is estimated that there are roughly 383,400 residents of Hispanic/Latino descent currently living in Utah.
