Hispanic Heritage Month takes place September 15 to October 15 every year as a time to recognize and celebrate the contributions and diverse cultures of the American Hispanic community. There are so many whose contributions are outstanding in their fields, but I chose a few who were FIRST in government and other public services.
Mario Guerra Obledo was born 1932 in Texas, one of 12 children of Mexican immigrants. He excelled in school and ultimately attained a pharmaceutical degree from the University of Texas, Austin, and a law degree from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. His focus was assisting the Latino community and bringing awareness of them to the U.S. political arena. To accomplish this, he established and/or co-founded several organizations, such as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Coalition of Hispanic Organizations, and the Hispanic Bar Association. His leadership positions also included serving as Texas assistant attorney general, professor of law at Harvard College, and California Health and Welfare secretary, the FIRST Mexican American to serve in that position. To recognize his outstanding contributions to civil rights, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor by President Bill Clinton who described him as having “created a powerful chorus for justice and equality.” Mario Guerra Obledo died in 2010.
Antonia Novello nee Coello was born 1944 in Puerto Rico. She attained BS and MD degrees from the University of Puerto Rico and then after coming to the United States received two fellowships, one from the University of Michigan and the other from Georgetown University. From Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, she was awarded a degree in public health and ultimately a Doctor of Public Health.
She held positions at Georgetown University School of Medicine, the National Institute of Health, vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commission Corps, Executive Director of Public Health Policy at Florida Hospital, deputy director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, New York State Health Commissioner, and Surgeon General of the United States resulting in her being the FIRST Hispanic and FIRST woman to hold that position. In all her positions, Novello’s focus was always to improve health care especially for women, children and minorities.
For her outstanding work she has received numerous awards including the Public Health Service Commendation Medal, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Medal, Order of Military Medical Merit Award, over fifty honorary degrees, and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. This year (2024) a book of her memoirs was published entitled Duty Calls: Lessons Learned from an Unexpected Life of Service which documents her incredible contributions to public service.
Sonia Sotomayor was born 1954 in the Bronx, NY to Puerto Rican parents. She was valedictorian of her high school class and graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University. During her time at Princeton, she realized that Princeton had no Hispanic professors or courses in Latin American Studies. A meeting with the president had no results. After an interview with The New York Times, and her frequent articles in the Daily Princetonian regarding discrimination, more activism resulted.
After Princeton, she received a JD from Yale Law School where she was editor of the Yale Law Journal. Law school was followed by her being hired as an assistant district attorney of New York County under the mentorship of district attorney Robert Morgenthau.
She served important roles on many boards such as the NY Campaign Finance Board, and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Board where she addressed issues such as hiring practices, police brutality, the death penalty, and voting rights.
She was nominated by President George H.W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate to serve on the United States District Court for the Southern District of NY. She was then later nominated by President Bill Clinton and confirmed by the Senate to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. As a result, she became the FIRST Hispanic federal judge in New York State and the FIRST Puerto Rican woman to serve as a judge in a U.S. federal court. In 2009, she was nominated by President Barack Obama to be an associate judge on the U.S. Supreme Court which was approved by the Senate resulting in her becoming the FIRST Hispanic and FIRST Latina to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor has received an incredible number of awards including at least 13 honorary law degrees, Outstanding Latino Professional Award, Esquire Magazine’s “The 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century,” elected
into the American Philosophical Society and celebrated in New York City by several sites named in her honor.
The aforementioned outstanding Hispanics — FIRST in their fields — are certainly inspirations for current and future generations. Please stop by the Grant Campus library and see the display that accompanies this article. If this subject is of interest to you, our college libraries have many resources referencing this and many other topics. Just ask a librarian.

 Grant Library Professor Bruce Seger

Suffolk County Community College Libraries (the HUBS of our campuses)