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Thursday marks the start of the celebration f the National Hispanic Heritage Month, and it will end on Saturday 15th Oct.

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This is to honor the contributions and histories of Americans with roots in Spain, Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean.

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“It celebrates a vast community of Americans who have made invaluable contributions to the United States for over 300 years,” said Margie Huerta

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Margie Huerta is the executive director of the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque.

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According to Margie, “Hispanic and Latinx people are making important contributions to American arts, culture and humanities, and all aspects of society, every single day.”

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The celebration of the Hispanic Heritage began in 1968 as a weeklong commemoration under President Lyndon Johnson

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In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed into law a bill sponsored by Illinois Sen. Paul Simon expanding National Hispanic Heritage Week to its current 30-day period

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President Reagan used the moment to praise Hispanics and their cultural pillars of church and school, but most of all to extol the virtues of familia.

“As the great poet Octavio Paz has said: ‘In Hispanic morals, the true protagonist is the family,’” Reagan said in his address.

"I fear that too often, in the mad rush of modern American life, some people have not learned the great lesson of our Hispanic heritage" Reagan said.