Hispanic Heritage Month of 2025
Author: Martha Garcia Kampen, President & CEO
Date Published: September 3, 2025
Hispanic Heritage Month (celebrated from 9/15 through10/15 each year) provides us the opportunity to share some interesting information about the Hispanic and Latino population of the United States; and in particular St. Louis, Missouri.
My purpose in writing this blog is to help shed some light on the complex and interesting culture of the Hispanic/Latino people. In particular, I will share how the Hispanic population is contributing positively to our U.S., Missouri and St. Louis economy through our purchasing power, business ownership and workforce contributions.
But first, a little basic level-setting about this group of people we are talking about.
While the term “Hispanic” has only been around since the 1980’s for census purposes, the Spanish-heritage people known as Hispanics have been in the Americas since the early 1500’s.1 A quick recap of U.S. Hispanic history brings us to Latin America where the Spanish Explorers met with Indigenous peoples of Latin America such as the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas who actually descended from a more ancient people known as the Olmecs. These civilizations built great empires throughout what is now known as Latin America. Unlike other European colonists, the Spanish intermingled with the Indigenous people producing a new “mexcla” of people who became known as “mestizo/a” or Latin Americans/Latinos. (We will explore the difference between Latino, Latina and Latinx terms in a separate post).
Fast-forward to the early 1800’s when Mexico gained independence from Spain securing land held in now southwestern United States. Through U.S. annexation disputes that triggered the Mexican-American War in the mid-1800’s, Mexico ceded over 500,000 square miles of territory and sold an additional nearly 30,000 square miles to the U.S. (including California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico). While Texas had been a Mexican territory, Texas declared their independence from Mexico in 1836. Many Mexican citizens lived, worked and owned land in the territory that now belonged to the United States of America.
Knowing our collective history is the first step to understanding where we are today.
In subsequent posts, I will bring forward a variety of information about Hispanic/Latino Americans that may surprise and enlighten you. Especially as it relates to the Hispanic Economic Impact to the STL Metro.
About the Author: A first generation Mexican American by birth, Martha was raised bi-culturally with both parents coming from Guanajuato, Mexico. Martha earned her BSBA with a double-major in Marketing Management and Latin American Studies, with a Minor in Spanish from SEMSU. Her first career job was as Director of Hispanic Marketing for a consumer products company with distribution throughout the United States back when the term "Hispanic" was being determined.
