died right away. Radiation left by the
bomb killed many more people later on.
Hiroshima was rebuilt after the bombing.
It is now a large industrial city. Factories
in the city produce steel,
automobiles, rubber, chemicals, ships,
and machinery.
The place in Hiroshima where the bomb
exploded is now a park called Peace
Memorial Park. It has a museum and
monuments to the dead. The Atomic
Bomb Dome is the ruins of one building
that was left partially standing after the
blast.
#More to explore
Bomb • Japan
Hispanic
Americans
Hispanic Americans are people living in
the United States who are descendants
of Spanish-speaking peoples. Most Hispanics
are from (or have ancestors from)
Latin America. For this reason, they are
often known as Latinos. Latin America
includes Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba,
and the countries of South and Central
People leave artwork and origami (folded
paper) objects at the Peace Memorial Park
in Hiroshima, Japan. Origami in the shape
of a crane is a symbol of peace.
Because of the
oily red
substance on a
hippopotamus’s
skin,
people used to
think that the
animal
sweated
blood.
60 Hiroshima BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
America. In addition, some Hispanics
have ancestors who are African, American
Indian, or European.
Hispanics are the largest and fastestgrowing
minority group in the United
States. But Hispanics do not always
think of themselves as a single group.
Instead, many Hispanics identify with
the country or area that they or their
ancestors are from. Today more than
half of all Hispanics are Mexican Americans.
People with roots in Puerto Rico,
Cuba, El Salvador, or the Dominican
Republic make up the next largest
groups of Hispanics.
Coming to the United States
Hispanics have moved to the United
States for different reasons. Some have
come to escape poverty and find better
job opportunities. Others have fled
political problems and wars in their
home countries. In the case of many
Mexican Americans, their ancestors
were already living in the Southwest
before it became part of the United
States.
Mexican Americans
In the 1500s Spain conquered what is
now Mexico and made it a Spanish
colony. Spain also conquered what is
now the southwestern United States.
The Spanish ruled this territory as a
part of Mexico. After the Mexican War
of 1846–48, the territory became a part
of the United States. Many of the
people there spoke Spanish. Their
descendants are Mexican Americans. So
are the many Mexicans who have
immigrated, or moved, to the United
States since then.
Puerto Ricans
The United States took over the island
of Puerto Rico after the Spanish-
AmericanWar of 1898. In 1917 Puerto
Ricans became U.S. citizens. By 1940
there were nearly 70,000 Puerto Ricans
Alberto R. Gonzales, a Mexican
American lawyer, became the
U.S. attorney general in 2005.
The attorney general is the head
of the Department of Justice.
A quinceanera is a Mexican American celebration
of the 15th birthday of a girl.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Hispanic Americans 61
living in the mainland United States.
Puerto Ricans can move freely between
the mainland and the island. However,
the U.S. Census Bureau counts only
those Puerto Ricans living on the mainland
as Hispanic Americans.
Cubans
Large numbers of Cubans moved to the
United States after a new leader named
Fidel Castro took power in 1959. Many
of these immigrants were middle-class
shop owners, businesspeople, and professionals.
They were afraid that Castro
would change their way of life. The U.S.
government treated these immigrants as
refugees, or people seeking protection
from their home country’s government.
After the 1950s Cubans continued to
move to the United States.
Central Americans
From the 1970s to the 1990s a new
wave of immigrants came to the United
States from Central America. These
immigrants were from countries that
were involved in civil wars, such as
Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala.
Hundreds of thousands of people
moved to the United States (and other
nearby countries) to escape violence at
home.
Important Issues
MigrantWorkers
Migrant farmworkers are people who
move from place to place to harvest
crops. Migrant workers first came from
Mexico to work in U.S. cotton fields
after the American CivilWar (1861–
65). Hispanic migrant workers soon
became an important part of U.S. farming.
However, they usually received low
pay and suffered harsh working conditions.
In the 1960s a former migrant worker
named Cesar Chavez helped migrant
workers to form groups called labor
unions. He organized a five-year strike
by migrant grape pickers in California.
This meant that the grape pickers
refused to work until they got better
treatment. Chavez also convinced many
Americans to stop buying California
grapes.
Chavez helped to improve the lives of
many Hispanic migrant workers. However,
migrant workers today still earn
less than other U.S. workers.
English and Spanish signs mark
a street corner in the Cuban
American section of Miami,
Florida. The neighborhood is
called Little Havana because
Cuba’s capital is Havana.
62 Hispanic Americans BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
Illegal Immigration
Most people who have immigrated to
