Hispanic Heritage Month

This research guide from the Hispanic Reading Room at the Library of Congress focuses on 20th and 21st century court cases, legislation, and events that had important impacts on civil rights in Chicana/o/x, Hispanic, Latina/o/x, Mexican-American, and Puerto Rican communities the United States.

Listen to Maritza L. Felix talk about the growing influence of Latino voters in Arizona on Notes from America with Kai Wright from WNYC Studios.

With more Latinos becoming eligible to vote through age and citizenship, the Latino electorate has become larger than ever. Since the last presidential election, Latinos have been the second-fastest-growing voter group in the U.S. after Asian Americans and have accounted for the largest numeric growth—half of all new eligible voters are Latino.1,2 However, despite this group’s size and growth, Latino voter turnout has remained the lowest of all major racial and ethnic groups.3 In 2020, just more than half of adult citizen Latinos turned out to vote compared to two thirds of all eligible voters.

This volume explores the role race and racism played in the Texas redistricting process and the creation and passage of the state's Voter Identification Law in 2011. The author puts forth research techniques designed to uncover racism and racist intentions even in the face of denials by the public policy decision makers involved. In addition to reviewing the redistricting history of the state, this book also provides an analysis of court decisions concerning the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, the Voting Rights Act, and a thorough discussion of the Shelby County decision.

California’s recent recall election offers an opportunity to understand how the state’s politics are changing with its electorate. Since the last recall election in 2003, the state’s electorate has grown more diverse and multiracial. According to UCLA LPPI research, Latino voters increased by nearly 150 percent since the last recall election in 2003, while Asian-American voters grew by 122 percent. In contrast, the growth of white voters over the past two decades was only 5 percent. As of the 2020 General Election, Latinos composed 27.9 percent of all registered voters in California.