Fast Facts

Who was the first Latino U.S. Supreme Court Justice?
Sonia Sotomayor

What year was National Hispanic Heritage Month established?
1988

Known for her role in the renowned musical, “West Side Story” who was one of the only two female performers ever to be given a Tony, Grammy, Emmy, and Oscar?
Rita Moreno

Who were the first male and female Latino Astronauts?
Franklin Chang-Diaz and Ellen Ochoa

What body of water did Latino explorer
Hernando de Soto discover?
Mississippi River

Who was the first Latino Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee?
Carlos Santana

Which famous fast food restaurant has a Latino President
and CEO?
McDonalds – Ralph Alvarez

Which entertainer was the first Latin American to be on the
cover of Time magazine?
Joan Baez

Who was the first Latino to be voted the Most Valuable Player in Major League Baseball?
Roberto Clemente

Severo Ochoa won the Nobel Prize in 1959 for medicine in his discovery for what process?
RNA in test tubes

What movie made actor Jose Ferrer the first Latino to win an Academy Award?
“Cyrano de Bergerac”

Who was the first Latino author to win a Pulitzer Prize?
Oscar Hijuelos

During what war did Philip Bazaar become the first Latino
to earn a Medal of Honor?
Civil War

Which famous Latina writer is founder and publisher of the only Spanish-language children’s magazine in the United States?
Christianne Meneses Jacobs

What team did first Latino NFL football player, Ignacio “Lou” Molmet, play for?
Frankford Yellowjackets

Which famous Latino activist co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (now the United Farm Workers)?
Cesar Chavez

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, who is
the top selling tropical salsa artist of all time?
Marc Anthony

Who is the first female singer to be awarded the “Person of the Year” at the Latin Grammy Awards Ceremony in 2008?
Gloria Estefan

Who identified the cause of yellow fever, a disease spread by mosquitoes, which had no known cure for over 100 years?
Carlos Juan Finlay

Who was the first female and first Latin American to be a
U.S Surgeon General?
Antonia Novello