A portrait of reporter Geraldo Rivera. (Bettmann, Getty Images)
This article was initially published in 2020. It has since been updated.
Hispanic Heritage Month is a great time to learn more: For some, more about your own heritage, or for others, perhaps another culture.
The month runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 every year. The observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson, and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988, according to the Library of Congress.
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The month is intended to celebrate the histories, cultures and contributions of people whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.
We found the following photos in an archival Getty Images album called “Influential Hispanic-Americans.” Some are recent and some might provide a trip down memory lane.
Federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor makes remarks after she's named by then-U.S. President Barack Obama as his choice to replace retiring Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court in 2009. She went on to become the first Hispanic and the third woman ever to serve on the Supreme Court. (Getty Images)Actor Danny Trejo poses for a magazine editorial in 2006 in the LA River. (Getty Images)A shot of Roberto Clemente, a Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder at the time. (Getty Images)A photo of Carlos Santana, circa 1970. (Getty Images)A full-length portrait of 13-year-old Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin, from the pop group Menudo, standing with his arms crossed in front of his chest in a hallway at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. (Fotos International/Getty Images)Singer Linda Ronstadt poses for a portrait for her first solo album, "Hand Sown ... Home Grown" on March 1, 1968 in Topanga, California. (Getty Images)American actor Martin Sheen in May 1980. (Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)Singer Tony Orlando poses for a portrait in 1981 in Los Angeles. (Getty Images)American singer and songwriter Christina Aguilera, circa 2000. (Getty Images)Jose Feliciano performs on the "This Is Tom Jones" TV show, circa 1970, in Los Angeles. (Getty Images)Graffiti artist Lee Quinones, at left, poses for a portrait with Latino hip hop artists Latin Empire (Ricardo Rodriguez, center, and Anthony Boston, right) on April 1, 1989 in New York City. (Getty Images)NASA astronaut Ellen Ochoa during a training at the Vance Air Force base in Houston in 1993. (Getty Images)Cheech Marin of the comedy duo Cheech And Chong performs onstage in January 1975 in Los Angeles. (Getty Images)Nancy Lopez chips the ball to the 16th green during the first round of the Colgate European Women's Golf Championship at Sunnigdale, England. (Getty Images)American model Christy Turlington (Sygma via Getty Images)American labor activist and co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America, Dolores Huerta, speaks onstage during a UFW rally, in California around 1975. (Getty Images)Democratic politician and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Designate, Henry Cisneros, at his Senate confirmation hearing in January 1993. (Consolidated News Pictures/Getty Images)American actress and singer Rita Moreno in 1954. She the only woman at the time to win the top four awards of show business: an Oscar, a Grammy, a Tony and an Emmy. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)Actor Desi Arnaz playing a conga drum in a promotional portrait for the film "Cuban Pete" in 1946. (Getty Images)Physicist Luis Alvarez is seen at his laboratory, preparing to evacuate a Geiger counter, which is used to measure radioactivity. (Getty Images)American actress Rita Hayworth (1918 -1987), shown in 1942. (John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images)Ritchie Valens (Richard Steven Valenzuela) poses for his famous album cover session in July 1958 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images)Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957) sits in a hotel bed with a plate of Lucia cakes and a cup of coffee on her lap after winning the Nobel prize for literature in 1945. (Getty Images)A portrait of Dolores del Rio, a Mexican film actress, taken by Ferenc, a noted Viennese photographer, in Hollywood, California in the early- to mid-20th century. (Getty Images)A portrait of Mexican-born actor Anthony Quinn (1915 - 2001) working on his original oil painting of his son Duncan. (Getty Images)Dennis Chavez, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, who has been appointed to succeed the late Sen. Bronson Cutting as Senator from New Mexico, is pictured at his desk in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)Dr. Severo Ochoa is shown in his New York University Medical School Laboratory in 1959. In October of that year, it was announced that he and Professor Arthur Kornberg were joint recipients of the Nobel Prize for Medicine. Dr. Ochoa, of Forest Hills, Queens, NY, was born in Spain. (Getty Images)Then-U.S. President Barack Obama and novelist Julia Alvarez share a moment after she was presented with the 2013 National Medal of Arts. Alvarez was honored for her extraordinary storytelling in poetry and in prose. (Getty Images)Newscaster and writer Jorge Ramos (Corbis via Getty Images)Jim Plunkett, the star quarterback at Stanford, poses with the Heisman Trophy. (Getty Images)Alberto Gonzales, then-White House Chief Counsel, in his West Wing office at the White House in Washington D.C., Nov. 14, 2002. President George W. Bush named him his choice for new attorney general. Gonzales went on to become the first Hispanic-American to serve as the country's top law-enforcement official. (Corbis via Getty Images)Lucrezia Bori, a Metropolitan Opera star, is shown smiling next to an NBC microphone in 1935. (Getty Images)Mario Molina, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in chemistry. (Sygma via Getty Images)Continental Airlines Chairman Frank Lorenzo holds up a scaled-down model of the new Boeing 737-300 aircraft that the company will be adding to its fleet. Lorenzo said the airline is embarking on the beginning of a long-term plan to upgrade its fleet by acquiring 12 of the new aircraft. (Getty Images)Dr. Antonia Novello, nominated to be the new surgeon general, testifies before the Senate Labor and Resources Committee. When she went on to be confirmed, Novello, a pediatrician born in Puerto Rico, became the first woman and first Hispanic to serve in the post. (Getty Images)Anita Page, a film actress, shown in 1928. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)Actress and singer Jennifer Lopez shows off her pool while posing for a portrait circa 1992 in Los Angeles. (Getty Images)Civil rights activist Sylvia Mendez becomes emotional during the 2010 Medal of Freedom presentation ceremony at the East Room of the White House, Feb. 15, 2011. (Getty Images)New Mexico Secretary of State Soledad C. Chacon, the first elected woman to hold statewide office, visits Miami while holding down the governor's chair while Governor J.F. Hinkle is in New York for the Democratic Convention. (Getty Images)A portrait of Admiral David Glasgow Farragut: 1807-1870. (Getty Images)American folk singer and songwriter Joan Baez on stage in Baalbek. (Sygma via Getty Images)John Ruiz celebrates after defeating Evander Holyfield after 12 rounds of their WBA heavyweight championship bout at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on March 3, 2001. (Allsport/Getty Images)A portrait of Jose Ferrer. (Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)Scott Gomez in the 1998 seasons. (BBS/Getty Images)Noted Mexican-American journalist Ruben Salazar (shown in undated file photo) was killed while covering a riot that broke out at the national Chicano Moratorium Antiwar Demonstration. Salazar was news director of KMEX-TV, a Los Angeles Spanish language TV station, and wrote a weekly column for the Los Angeles Times. (Getty Images)A scene from the Broadway musical "West Side Story." Shown from left to right are Lynn Ross, an unnamed actress, Chita Rivera, and Carmen Guitterez. (Corbis via Getty Images)A portrait of reporter Geraldo Rivera. (Getty Images)A photo of Charo from 1970. (Getty Images)A photo of Gloria Estefan from 1980. (Getty Images)Tom Flores of the Oakland Raiders drops back to pass against the New York Jets during an AFL football game Oct. 23, 1966, at Shea Stadium in the Queens borough of New York City. (Getty Images)A photo of Tito Puente from the 1970s. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)Tom Fears poses for a publicity photo during training camp at Loyola University on August 1, 1948 in Los Angeles. (Getty Images)American director Robert Rodriguez (Sygma via Getty Images)A portrait of Chicago White Sox player Luis Aparicio from 1960. (Getty Images)Anthony Munoz of the Cincinnati Bengals poses for a portrait circa 1983 at Riverfront Stadium in Ohio. (Bruce Bennett Studios via Getty Images Studios/Getty Images)Adolfo Luque poses in his Boston Braves uniform for a portrait circa 1915 at Braves Field in Boston. (Getty Images)
