This is part of a compensated campaign with Latina Mom Bloggers and Ford. However, all opinions expressed are my own.
My husband’s Cuban family who came to America in search of a better life.
Last week, I shared a very special experience with my two sons who are ages seven and ten. We sat down as a family and watched the second episode in the PBS series Latino Americans which kicked off our official celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to spend quality time as a family and to reflect on the many contributions that Latinos have made over the last 500 years.
This episode focused on the struggles that Latinos encountered during the World War II years and years that followed the war. Although many Latinos proudly served this country and defended it during the war, they were still discriminated against and had to fight for civil rights during this time. We also learned about how Latinos from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Cuba came to the United States looking for better opportunities for their families.
I was very proud to learn that the Ford Motor Company is one of the corporate sponsors for this three part series. This demonstrates to me their commitment to the Hispanic community and makes me respect them as a brand that is diverse and supportive of Latinos. Many people are not even aware that Ford has been one of the longest standing partners of Latino initiatives in this country.
Watching Latino Americans with my boys created valuable opportunities to discuss how their great-grandparents immigrated to this country and overcame tremendous obstacles to bring our family the promise of a better life. My older son was very surprised to find out that my grandparents moved from Spain from Venezuela to work in factories for many years to save the money to come to America.
My beloved grandparents who left the farms they grew up in in Spain to search for a better life first in Venezuela and then the United States.
He also couldn’t believe that my husband’s grandparents left everything they owned in Cuba and came to the United States with the clothes on their back and the one duffel bag each of items they were allowed to take with them. I could tell that it really gave him a deeper appreciation of the sacrifices that were made to give him the opportunities that he and the rest of the younger generation in this family is taking full advantage of.
My son’s great grandparents who immigrated from Cuba with the clothes on their back celebrating my son’s Baptism. RIP Pipo.
Tomorrow night, on Tuesday, October 1st, we will be watching part 3 of Latino Americans from 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. (EST). The focus of this episode will be how Latinos pushed for better education and political empowerment. It will also highlight the past thirty years and how Latinos have made major contributions to sports, music, politics, media and entertainment. It is sure to bring viewers full circle in learning about Latinos in North America during the past 500 years.
We will be live tweeting during the show tomorrow night and would love to have you join us and follow @fordespanol and @toughcookiemom to be part of the chat and to watch part 3 of the series with us. Also, make sure you like Ford Espanol on Facebook to learn about the many ways that they support the Latino Community. It’s important to know where we came from in order to set goals about where we would like to go!
Disclosure: This is part of a compensated campaign with Latina Mom Bloggers and Ford. However, all opinions expressed are my own. I only recommend products or services I use personally and I believe will be “family friendly.” I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
© 2013, Tough Cookie Mommy. All rights reserved.
I think its very important to share our heritage with our children love how you are doing this with your boys!
Love that you share your heritage with your kids.
I love that you are celebrating your rich family history and sharing so much with your children. Our heritage and our traditions are something I also believe in respecting and keeping alive in our family. Lovely that Ford is supporting this initiative and programming!
I think it’s fantastic that you’re sharing your heritage with your children!!
This looks like a really interesting documentary! Glad I caught news of it before it aired. Thanks for sharing.
How wonderful that your kids… and you are getting to learn more about Latino Americans. I know very little of my heritage.
It was so great to read about Latino part 🙂
Can’t wait to see this!
This sounds like a great show and I think your husband’s family is an inspiration!
It’s great to know more about Latino’s heritage!
I live in Arizona, the house next to me are Mexicans and we have awesome relationship.
We share the love.
What a RICH CULTURE we have! My hubby is also Cuban and escaped Cuba in a raft filled with 20 other people, fighting 15 feet waves in the ocean, spent 2 years in Guantanamo Bay just to he can be a FREE citizen just like all of us who take it for granted.
I love this and it is so important to bring attention to our families and what they have done to provide a future for us.
thanks for sharing. Seems like a broad set of unique cultures to be “lumped” together but at least it is being celebrated
Thank you so much for sharing it’s so interesting to hear about others backgrounds and heritages.
Thanks for sharing! I forgot all about this, but I’d definitely love to see this documentary with my son.
I love that you had the opportunity to show your kids how people struggled and fought to get what they wanted in the past. This generation is such a immediate gratification generation. They want it and they want it NOW. It is great for them to understand how to work for what you want.
That’s wonderful that your son got to learn more about his family heritage than he already know.
Kudos to Ford for supporting this, and kudos to you for sharing.
This looks like a great documentary! Thanks for sharing this!
How neat that he learned about his heritage. I didnt know that Ford does stuff like that.
It is so important for kids to learn about their heritage. They will really appreciate it when they get older.
You have a beautiful family!
It is always so interesting to read these stories of people’s heritage. It’s good to educate everyone and especially young people so they remember the stories of those who have paved the way for them.
what history both sides of your family have. and what a great thing to be able to watch a program like that with your boys and share your own personal stories!!
I think it is so important to know where your family came from. Whether it is about their struggles, their celebrations, or even their comedic moments. This is what always drew me to my Granny, she always had the best stories about the past.
Hope you enjoyed part 3 with your family. What valuable time you are getting with your sons. They sound like great boys and it’s so great that the show is opening their eyes to the sacrifices made by their own ancestors.
It is great that kids learn family history,definately, they are proud of their family, and such a rich family history. They see how much parents can do for their kids.
It’s great learning more about the family history and finding out new things. I would love to know more about mine as well. Happy Ford is sponsoring as well. That’s pretty nice of them, makes me feel better to know they’re giving back a little.
Great that Ford is sponsoring something like this. I love learning more about everyone’s heritage. it’s fun
Awesome that Ford is sponsoring this.. when I left Germany 15 years ago, it was just me and my son and a bag of clothes.. We also started with nothing and worked/still are our way up with no help from anyone.. Gives you a lot more appreciation, that’s for sure
That is really moving. Thanks for sharing about your family. And for FORD, more power to them!