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Article: Hispanic Cultures
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Public Health
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HISPANIC CULTURES
In popular usage, terms such as Hispanic and Latino are often a descriptive umbrella to refer to any American whose ancestry includes people of Spanish, Mexican, or Central or South American origin. Although, the "Hispanic" label can be found in the literature going back at least twenty centuries, its official introduction to the modern lexicon has come in recent decades. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the term refers to anyone with linguistic or cultural antecedents in Latin America or Spain.
Hispanics are commonly considered a monolithic group of Americans, but this notion could not be further from the truth. This population is more ...