Humanity, although based on a singular species varies exponentially based on a variety of biological, social, economic, and cultural factors. Due to its history, the USA is among the nations with a wide array of human classes and classifications. Many of these classes are included in the once a decade US Census, as held by the US Census Bureau. Beginning with the 1980 US Census, a new class named Hispanic was added to the census (Florido, 2017). The issue, which came about inter alia so that the needs of the group can be included when canvassing government policy has also been the subject of much controversy. Part of the controversy includes individuals who have been termed as Hispanic preferring to be referred to by their countries of origin instead. Despite the controversy, Hispanic has remained a classification under the US Census limited only to cultural affiliation with no regard to race or other biological attributes.
The modern global cultural configuration is mainly to a large extent influenced by colonialism by European powers that took place after the end of the Middle Ages. Among the most powerful colonial powers was the Spanish Empire. The empire spread across North, Central and South America, the Caribbean and even some Indian Ocean Islands such as the Philippines. All these areas were influenced by the Spanish language and culture hence its people being referred to as Hispanics. Spains neighbor in the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal, whose culture closely resembles that of Spain was also a major colonial power, mainly in South America (González & Montero, 2010). Portuguese speakers from South America have also been included in the category of Hispanics.
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Hispanic culture is thus primarily adopted from the Iberian Peninsula. The most common language among Hispanics is Spanish but some also use Portuguese, more so those from Brazil. Finally, the predominant religion in the modern history the Iberian Peninsula was Roman Catholic hence most Hispanics are Roman Catholics or a variation thereof (González & Montero, 2010). The popular misconception that Hispanics are primarily immigrants is wrong because Spanish influence in some parts of the USA such as Florida, Texas, and California predates British influence. Many American Hispanics are indeed immigrants but some have been within the continental USA even before the advent of the 13 colonies.
The general term Hispanics refers to several categories of Americans some of who may be immigrants while others are native to the USA. For a start, there is the racial classification within which Hispanics can be divided into three main categories. The first is the White Hispanics which refers to Caucasian Americans who consider themselves to be Hispanic based on their cultural affiliation (Florido, 2017). The second is Black Hispanic which refers to African Americans who consider themselves to be of Hispanic culture. Finally, there is the Amerindian Hispanics which refers to Native Americans who affiliate with the Hispanic Culture.
Over and above the racial affiliation is the language affiliation within which there is the Spanish-speaking Hispanics who form the majority of Hispanics in the USA. However, the single largest Hispanic country is Brazil where the official language is Portuguese hence there are many Portuguese speaking Hispanics in the USA (González & Montero, 2010). Another classification of Hispanics would be based on the area of origin leading to four classes of Hispanics. The first is indigenous Hispanics which would refer to non-immigrant Hispanics whose families have lived in the USA for centuries. The second is Central American Hispanics who are mainly from Mexico and South American Hispanics who are from countries such as Brazil, Colombia, and Chile. All the above classes fall under the general class of Hispanics.
African-Americans also form part of Hispanics both within and without the USA. Other than for modern-day immigrants, most Africans in the two American continents and their islands arrived there as slaves. Black Hispanics are mainly those African slaves who fell in the hands of Hispanic slave masters hence adopting the Spanish language, culture, and mannerisms (González & Montero, 2010). It must be noted that in Central and South America, most blacks are Hispanic while in the US, the same is not the case. Among the primary reasons for the phenomenon is that in the US, most slave masters were affiliated to English-speaking Europe, not the Iberian Peninsula. Most continental US slaves thus underwent Anglicization and not Castilianization.
When it comes to absorption into the general population, the end of slavery in South America and other Hispanic nations led to periods of racial hegemony and intermarriage. However, in the USA, the end of slavery led to the Jim Crow era, which included institutionalized racial discrimination against black communities thus limiting absorption of blacks into the general Hispanic population which was primarily white. However, colorism is still a grave problem among Hispanics due to racism. Majority of US Hispanics are white and to some extent still, enjoy a lot of white privilege (Chavez-Dueñas, Adames & Organista, 2014). The available commentary shows that darker hued Hispanics are the subject of racial discrimination, even from fellow Hispanics who happen to be white. Several social justice organizations have been seeking to mitigate the Hispanic colorism problem.
As reflected above, Hispanic is a very wide classification within and without the USA as being only limited to people who have been culturally influenced by the cultural heritage of the Iberian Peninsula. Some Hispanics have lived in modern continental USA as far back as the 17th century while others continue to emigrate from South America to the even date. Among the different sub-group classification attributes among the Hispanics include race, language, and geographical area of origin. In the USA, most Hispanics are white by race but there are also black and Amerindian Hispanics. The primary consideration for all of them being termed as Hispanics, based on the US Census Bureau approach relates to whether or not they consider themselves to be Hispanic.
References
Chavez-Dueñas, N. Y., Adames, H. Y., & Organista, K. C. (2014). Skin-color prejudice and within-group racial discrimination: Historical and current impact on Latino/a populations. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences , 36 (1), 3-26
Florido, A. (2017, August 03). Heres why the census started counting Latinos, and how that could change in 2020. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/08/03/541142339/heres-why-the-census-started-counting-latinos-and-how-that-could-change-in-2020
González, R. D., & Montero, H. G. (2010). Colonial origins of inequality in Hispanic America? Some reflections based on new empirical evidence. Revista de Historia Económica-Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History , 28 (2), 253-277
