History of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States

The history of people of Hispanic and Latino heritage in the United States, spanning Indigenous and Spanish colonial societies, territorial change, migration, and political and cultural life.

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Spanish colonization of the Americas: Spain’s conquest, settlement, and administration of territories across the Americas from the late fifteenth century onward. Spanish rule established the earliest enduring Hispanic communities in territories later incorporated into the United States.
Mexican–American War: The 1846–1848 war between the United States and Mexico over territory and national expansion. U.S. victory brought vast Mexican-claimed territories and their residents under U.S. rule.
César Chávez: A Mexican American labor leader who co-founded the United Farm Workers and organized agricultural workers. His organizing connected Mexican American activism to the broader struggle for farmworker rights.
Bracero Program: A U.S.–Mexico guest-worker program that brought Mexican laborers to the United States from 1942 to 1964. It institutionalized large-scale Mexican labor migration while exposing workers to exploitation and weak protections.
Hispanic: An identity category generally associated with heritage from Spanish-speaking countries or communities. Its language-centered scope differs from Latino, which emphasizes Latin American geographic heritage.
Spanish missions in California: A network of Franciscan Catholic missions founded in Spanish California between 1769 and 1823. The missions shaped colonial settlement while coercively transforming Indigenous communities.
Texas Revolution: The 1835–1836 revolt that separated Texas from Mexico and established the Republic of Texas. The revolution preceded U.S. annexation and altered the political status of Tejano communities.
Dolores Huerta: An American labor leader and civil-rights activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers. Her organizing and advocacy brought farmworker conditions and Latina leadership into public view.
Operation Wetback: A 1954 U.S. immigration-enforcement campaign that mass-deported people of Mexican descent, including some U.S. citizens. It demonstrates how enforcement policy affected Mexican American families as well as undocumented migrants.
Latino: An identity category generally associated with heritage from Latin America. It includes many communities whose histories and languages differ from Spanish-speaking Hispanic populations.