American poet Ada Limón
Credit: Shawn Miller, Library of Congress

March is Women’s History Month, an annual observance of women’s achievements and contributions to society. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature woman pioneers in a variety of areas.

Pioneers venture into unknown territories and uncharted waters. A genuine poetry pioneer, Ada Limón has found new ways to interact with readers and big emotions. Limón was named poet laureate of the United States in 2022. The poet laureate is appointed by the librarian of Congress and works to increase the national appreciation and awareness of poetry. Limón, who is of Mexican American heritage, was the first Hispanic American woman chosen for the position. She succeeded the American poet and musician Joy Harjo, who was the poet laureate from 2019 to 2022.

Limon’s style is melodic and accessible. The images in her poetry often embrace the natural world, in which she frequently finds a sense of wonder. The librarian of Congress Carla Hayden praised Limon’s poems for exploring “the beauty and heartbreak that is living, in ways that help us move forward.”

Limon’s first poetry collections were Lucky Wreck and This Big Fake World: A Story in Verse (both 2006). Her third collection, Sharks in the Rivers (2010), considers the possibility of embracing change and finding beauty in a risky, ever-changing world. Bright Dead Things (2015) deals with carrying on and preserving one’s identity in the face of loss and alienation. Her poetry collections also include The Carrying (2018) and The Hurting Kind (2022).

Ada Limón was born on March 28, 1976, in Sonoma, California. She completed a B.A. degree in drama at the University of Washington in 1998. She earned an M.F.A. degree in creative writing from New York University in 2001. She worked in marketing for magazine firms in New York City, before she began writing full time in 2010.

In 2014, Limón began teaching in the M.F.A. program of Queens University of Charlotte, in North Carolina. She often gives readings of her poetry. In 2021 and 2022, she was the host of the poetry podcast called “The Slowdown,” which offers a few moments of reflection through the reading of a poem each weekday. The podcast was launched in 2019 by the poet Tracy K. Smith during her term as poet laureate of the United States.

Hispanic American politician, suffragist, and writer Nina Otero-Warren.
Credit: Library of Congress

March is Women’s History Month, an annual observance of women’s achievements and contributions to society. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature woman pioneers in a variety of areas.

Many women have paved the way for women’s rights without much recognition. This year, the United States Mint has decided to honor notable women who made a difference in the United States. Soon you might see Nina Otero-Warren’s face on a quarter with the phrase “Voto para la mujer” which means “votes for women.” Otero-Warren was a Hispanic American politician, suffragist, and writer. A suffragist is a supporter of voting rights, particularly the right of women to vote. Otero-Warren was one of the first women to hold government office in New Mexico. She became the first woman from New Mexico and the first Hispanic woman to run for U.S. Congress. Otero-Warren was a leader of the woman suffrage movement in New Mexico.

Maria Adelina Isabel Emilia Otero was born on Oct. 23, 1881, in Los Lunas, south of Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was known as Adelina Otero as a child. As an adult, she was called Nina. She was the second child of Manuel Basilio Otero and Eloisa Luna Otero. Her parents descended from Spanish settlers. The Oteros and Lunas were both wealthy, controlling a large amount of land in the area during her childhood. Her father was fatally shot in a land dispute before she turned two. Her mother remarried in 1886 to Alfred Maurice Bergere. Bergere was an English businessman of Italian descent. Nina attended St. Vincent’s Academy, a Catholic grade school in Albuquerque, until she was 11 years old. She attended Maryville College of the Sacred Heart, in St. Louis, Missouri, for two years. When she was 13 years old, Nina returned to live with her family. The Bergere family moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, when she was 16 years old.

In 1908, Otero married U.S. Army officer Rawson Warren. The two remained married for a brief time before she divorced him. Divorce was not widely accepted at the time, and she continued to use the name Otero-Warren, claiming to be a widow.

Otero-Warren joined the suffrage movement and became a leader in the Congressional Union (later the National Woman’s Party) in 1917. She advised printing suffrage literature in both English and Spanish to help win New Mexico’s ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote. Otero-Warren served as the first woman superintendent of public schools for Santa Fe County, from 1918 to 1929. She also worked for the American Red Cross, New Mexico State Council of Defense in the First Judicial District, New Mexico’s Republican women’s organization, and as inspector of Indian Services for the Department of the Interior. Otero-Warren was an advocate for bilingual and multicultural education at a time when English was the only language allowed in schools for Hispanic and Indigenous (native) children.

In 1922, Otero-Warren ran as the Republican Party nominee to represent New Mexico in the U.S. House of Representatives. She lost the election. Otero-Warren continued to work for the Board of Health, the Red Cross, and various literacy programs.

In the early 1930’s, Otero-Warren applied for a homestead outside Santa Fe with her partner, the American suffragist Mamie Meadors. They named the homestead Las Dos, meaning The Two Women. Otero-Warren and Meadors worked on the homestead building houses, maintaining roads, and fencing the property. They received the title for the land after five years, under the Homestead Act of 1862. Otero-Warren continued working the land after Meadors died in 1951.

Otero-Warren began writing in the 1930’s. Her article “My People” was published in the magazine Survey Graphic in 1931. She wrote a book, Old Spain in Our Southwest, published in 1936. Otero-Warren died on Jan. 3, 1965.

Camilla Cabello performs for her ‘Never Be The Same Tour’ live at The Fillmore Detroit on April 25, 2018.
Credit: © Brandon Nagy, Shutterstock

People in the United States observe National Hispanic Heritage Month each year from September 15 to October 15. During this period, many Latin American countries celebrate their independence. These countries include Cuba, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.

The latest princess to go from rags to riches in Cinderella (2021) is the Cuban American singer and songwriter Camila Cabello. Cabello creates pop music influenced by her Cuban and Mexican heritage. Cabello became known while she was a part of the all-female pop group Fifth Harmony. She now writes and performs her own songs, often addressing the immigrant experience in the United States.

Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao was born March 3, 1997, in Havana, Cuba. Her mother was a Cuban architect and her father worked a number of jobs, including construction while living in Mexico City, Mexico. Cabello and her mother traveled back and forth between Cuba and Mexico before moving to Miami, Florida. Her father later immigrated to the United States to join them. Cabello was shy growing up. She surprised her parents when she asked to audition for the television reality music competition program “The X Factor” in 2012.

Cabello auditioned in Greensboro, North Carolina for “The X Factor” and was listed as an alternate. She asked for another audition and then made it to the next round, which was a pre-season boot camp (intensive training session). At the boot camp in Miami, producers of the show grouped her with four other contestants: (1) Ally Brooke Hernandez, (2) Dinah Jane Hansen, (3) Lauren Jauregui, and (4) Normani Kordei. Later in the season, they formed Fifth Harmony. The group placed third on the show and landed record deals with its creator, the British record executive Simon Cowell, and Epic Records.

Fifth Harmony released its first EP Better Together in 2013 and its first album Reflection in 2015. EP stands for extended play and is a type of musical recording that includes several songs but is not considered a full-length album. Fifth Harmony’s “All in My Head (Flex),” featuring the American rapper Fetty Wap, was voted the song of the summer at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards. Outside the group, Cabello began working with other artists such as the Canadian singer and songwriter Shawn Mendes and the American rapper Machine Gun Kelly. In 2016, Fifth Harmony announced via Twitter that Cabello was no longer in the group.

Cabello’s first single as a solo artist, “Havana,” featuring the American rapper Young Thug, was released in 2017. The single held the number one spot on Billboard magazine’s “US Pop Singles” chart for seven weeks. Cabello headlined for Bruno Mars on his 24k Magic Tour in 2017 and Taylor Swift’s Reputation Stadium tour in 2018. Cabello released her first solo album, Camila, in 2018. It reached number one on the “Billboard 200” chart. She later released the album Romance in 2019.

Cabello won MTV’s video of the year award in 2018 for “Havana” and in 2019 for “Senorita,” with Shawn Mendes. She also won the MTV Europe Music Awards for best song and best video with “Havana.” She received a Grammy nomination in 2019 for best pop solo performance for “Havana” and best pop vocal album for Camila. She received a nomination for best pop duo/group performance for “Senorita.”

September 15, 2016

Today, September 15, marks the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month (Mes de la Herencia Hispana) in the United States. The month recognizes the achievements and contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans and celebrates their heritage and culture. September 15 was chosen to begin the month because it is the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Mexico (September 16), Chile (September 18), and Belize (September 21) also celebrate independence days during Hispanic Heritage Month. The observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon B. Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover the 30-day period from September 15 to October 15.

This 1984 U.S. postage stamp honors the service of Hispanic Americans in the military. It is one of several U.S. stamps honoring the heritage of Hispanic Americans. Credit: © Shutterstock

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June 25, 2012

The Supreme Court of the United States today struck down nearly all provisions of a strict 2010 Arizona law that had served as a model for states attempting to crack down on illegal immigration. In a 5-3 decision, the court ruled that, for the most part, immigration policy must be left to the federal government.

The court unanimously let stand one of the law’s most contentious elements, often known as the “papers please” provision. This provision requires police to check the immigration status of people they stop for another crime if they have a “reasonable suspicion” that the detainees are in the country illegally. The court said overturning this provision would have been premature because Arizona police had not yet adopted this practice. At the request of the Department of Justice, federal courts had blocked Arizona from implementing the law. However, the court left open the possibility that this provision could be challenged later if implementing the provision results in “racial profiling.” Discrimination on the basis of race and ethnic background is unconstitutional.

The decision was a major victory for the administration of President Barack Obama, who had criticized the law for undermining “basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans.” Critics had charged that the law authorized discrimination against Hispanic Americans. Supporters of the law, who had argued that such action was necessary to counter the problem of illegal immigration in the state, praised the ruling on the “papers please” provision.

Among provisions of the law rejected by the court were those that:

• made it a crime for undocumented immigrants to work or apply for work in Arizona;
• allowed police officers to arrest people without a warrant solely on the suspicion that the people were undocumented immigrants;
• made it a state requirement that immigrants register with the federal government;
• required immigrants to carry their alien registration papers at all times.

In its decision, the court recognized that while Arizona might have “understandable frustrations with the problems caused by illegal immigration … the state may not pursue policies that undermine federal law.” Justice Elena Kagan did not participate in the ruling, presumably because she worked on the case during her tenure as President Obama’s first solicitor general.

U.S. Border Patrol members ride all-terrain vehicles near El Paso, Texas, looking for signs of illegal immigration and other crimes. Juarez, Mexico, rises in the background. (© Jim Young, Reuters/Landov)

Arizona is one of many states that have passed strict anti-immigration laws in recent years. Those laws will now come under additional scrutiny in light of the Supreme Court decision.

Additional World Book articles:

• Immigration 2010 (a Back in Time article)
• Immigration 2011 (a Back in Time article)
• Immigration Politics 2006 (a Special Report)

May 17, 2012

Births of non-Hispanic white babies fell below 50 percent of all births in the United States for the first time, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. The bureau estimates that African American, Hispanic, Asian, and mixed-race births now account for 50.4 percent of all U.S. births.

Sociologists suggest that the ongoing economic slowdown that began in 2008 has contributed to a greater decline in birth rates among white people. Since 2008, the number of white births has fallen by 11.4 percent, compared with a 3.2-percent decline for minorities. “This is an important landmark,” notes Roderick Harrison, a sociologist at Howard University. “This generation is growing up much more accustomed to diversity than its elders.”

Population growth in the United States from 2000 to 2010. (World Book map)

The minority population of the United States currently makes up 36.6 percent of the total. Hispanics constitute the largest single minority–16.3 percent or 50.5 million people. However, demographers believe the Hispanic population boom has peaked. A Pew Hispanic Center survey reveals that migration to the United States from Mexico has begun to decline after 40 years of continuous growth. Sociologists again point to the sustained downturn of the U.S. economy as a major factor.

Additional World Book articles:

• Census
• Immigration
• By the Numbers: The 2010 Census (a special report)
• Economic Crisis: The Banking Meltdown (a special report)
• Economic Crisis: The Government Jumps In (a special report)
• Immigration: The Latest Wave (a special report)