Video
Introducing Hispanic Heritage Month at Olympic!
Transcript
Hello, my name is Liliana Valderrama, I am glad that you're here to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with us at Olympic National Park. Hispanic Heritage Month commemorates the countless connections between people originating from Spain's former colonies in the Americas and the United States. President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a national Hispanic Heritage Week in 1968. President Ronald Reagan expanded it to a month in 1988. Hispanic Heritage month begins on September 15th and runs through October 15th to commemorate the independence days of Central and South American countries. The term Hispanic intersects with other identifiers like Latino/Latina/Latinx-and hyphenated Americans like Cuban-Americas. Given histories of the colonization of indigenous populations, the middle passage, and migration to Latin America, Hispanic people come in every flavor, color, size, and shape. Our identity is complex and each individual decides which terms suit them best. Sixty million Americans identify as Hispanic today. For example, I am Peruvian-American. I also describe myself with the terms Hispanic and Latina. My parents immigrated to Miami, Florida from Lima, Peru. My father's ancestry is mostly Italian, and my mother's is a mix of Spanish and indigenous Andean. For years I dreamed of working as a ranger for the National Park Service where I could delve into America's richest stories . I began working on Alcatraz Island, an NPS site, and in my home town at Biscayne National Park before coming to Olympic National Park. I cherish the chance to welcome visitors to this ecologically diverse corner of the United States. My most enriching day as a ranger at Olympic came when I was able to engage in bilingual community outreach at Forks Elementary. I shared my love of this park with students, many of whom were immigrants. I enjoy digging into the hidden gems of American history as a ranger. In our next video we'll discuss the Spanish Imperial dreams for the Pacific Northwest and the local place names that conserve this history.
Description
What is Hispanic Heritage Month, and how does it connect to national parks like Olympic? Meet Ranger Liliana, who introduces this month and how it connects to her experiences as an NPS ranger.
Music Credit: La petenera by La Masa Fina, used under Attribution NonCommercial Share Alike License.
Duration
3 minutes, 33 seconds
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