Becoming Mexican American Essay

In this article Mexicans: Pioneers of a Different Type Gonzalez gives us an outlook different from what we generally read when taught about American History. His effort is to explain how each of the different Latino groups came. What was happening in their home towns that caused them to leave. If people want to accept it, eventually they will have to. That this country is bound to go through an enormous Latino population explosion. Gonzalez writes “Mexican Americans meanwhile, face a frustrating identity problem like that of Puerto Ricans” (pg97). Being a Mexican American myself I could agree that it is at times frustrating identifying. We are either too American to be Mexican. Or too Mexican, to be American. In 1749 because of what was called the promise

While many remember the Great Depression as a time of terrible trials for Americans, few understand the hardships faced by Mexicans and Mexican Americans in the U.S. This paper examines the experiences of Mexicans in America during the Great Depression and explores the devastating impact of repatriation efforts. America has an extensive history of accepting Mexican workers when they are needed for cheap labor, and demanding that they be deported when the economic situation is more precarious in an attempt to open jobs for Americans. In the 1930s, “Americans, reeling from the economic disorientation of the depression, sought a convenient scapegoat. They found it in the Mexican community.” Mexicans were blamed for economic hardships

The Latino/a experience within the racial system in America was similar to that of Indian immigrants from Asia. In the early 1800s, Indians were granted free access to immigrate to America and naturalize as American citizens because they were perceived as whites. However, as social tensions between Indian and Anglo men began competing for jobs, housing, and women, Members of Congress racialized Indians. They justified that Indian men were no longer privileged to be white because Indians left Europe and traveled backwards to the East, making them inferior (Aoki, and Takeda). These examples of racialization are important to understand how Latino/as have been unwanted in the job

One of the largest Hispanic-origin population in the United states are Mexicans (Gonzales-Barrera & Lopez, 2013). Mexican American’s are considered minorities in the United States. There are many reason why I am choosing to explore Mexican Americans for this paper. As a minority myself, I can relate to some of the struggles that Mexican American’s may face. However, there are some things that I will never relate to or know the personal aspect of the Mexican culture. Just like any other population, Mexican Americans have their own culture, values, and challenges.

The reason why there were so many Mexican was because after the Mexican-American War, when the United States (US) took two-thirds of Mexican land, part of this land became California. Many Mexicans who lived in that land were still allowed to stay, but they were stripped of their property.3 Thus, most Mexican Americans became poor. One of the few jobs that would allow Mexicans to work in were in cannery farms. These jobs, however, did not pay enough for the Mexicans to afford their living expenses.4 Many Mexican families needed to live with other families in small houses to keep up with the rent.5 Since these Mexican families were living in such poor conditions, they felt they needed to negotiate with the companies and get better wages. There is also the possibility that the effects of American culture on Mexican women swayed them to unionize. Women were becoming more independent, and teenage girls, including Mexicans, wanted to be able to go on dates without chaperones. These teenagers needed to argue with their parents or get around them to succeed in doing this.6 It is possible that these rebellious attitudes toward their parents would create that mindset needed to “rebel” against companies by forming

The book “Quixote’s Soldiers,” by David Montejano was written in clarity to describe and inform readers the injustice the Mexican Americans endured during the mid 1960s through the early 1980s in which they successfully battled for, “a new and more representative political order.” The following critique of “Quixote’s Soldiers,” includes how the Chicano Movement was introduced, the author's purpose and interpretations, and the overall successes and weaknesses of the book.

The framework for American immigration policy began around the 1750-1820 period through the incorporation of colonial legacy with existing state and federal policy (Zolberg, 2009). The United States legislation has excluded whole nations and regions from migrating due to internal and external factors. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Page Act of 1875 restricted Chinese female immigration. In 1917 and 1924, quota systems were adopted to prohibit considerably “undesirable and “inferior” ethnic groups and races. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, between 400,000 and 1 million Mexican laborers and their families were deported under the “repatriation” programs. Approximately

Haney Lopez describes the racialization of Mexicans in terms of ancestry and skin color. Although granted de facto White racial status with the United States conquest of much of Mexico in 1848 and having sometimes been deemed as White by the courts and censuses, Mexican Americans were rarely treated as White (5). Historically and legally, Mexicans have been treated as second-class citizens. Mexicans suffered the degradation accorded members of an inferior race, treatment nearly equivalent to the coinciding conquest of blacks and Native Americans (64). In 1857, for instance, Anglo mobs lynched eleven Mexicans in Los Angeles (67). The demographic and geographic custom of segregation in Los Angeles contributed to the growing cultural isolation and socioeconomic vulnerability of the Mexican community.

Mexican Americans also shared problems of poverty and discrimination with African Americans. According to Healy, Mexican Americans, like African Americans, have been viewed as cheap, unskilled agricultural labor that has been methodically excluded from mainstream America. Unlike most immigrants from Europe, who lived in urban areas, Mexican Americans and African Americans were prone to live and work in rural parts of the United States. Because both groups lived in less urban areas they had limited resources for education, skill development and economic opportunities. At the same time, however, Mexican Americans

In the twentieth century, even with citizenship status, Mexicans and Mexican-Americans were considered and consequentially treated as outsiders or intruders (Oboler, 32). It is not surprising that at the end of Valdez’s play, the whitest model is most desirable to the Anglo government.

The 1940’s inevitably signaled the beginning of the Mexican American civil rights era in the west as Mexican Americans rose to immeasurable heights in an attempt to terminate the de jure segregation they were unwillingly victims of. Their notable attempts to prove that they were worthy of the natural rights granted by the founding fathers brought light to the intense hatred shown towards Mexican Americans that was centralized in Los Angeles, California as

The stock market crash in 1929 that marked the start of the depression led Congress to halt immigration and seek repatriation of Mexicans and Filipinos (Kim, pp, 58). American welfare organizations blamed Mexicans for the lack of jobs and for draining public resources by participating in public relief programs (Kim, pp. 61). Although Mexicans were legally citizens, harsh response form American welfare organizations reflects persisting views of Mexicans as foreign unassimilable aliens who cannot provide for themselves so just consume the nation’s resources. Secretary of Labor during the Depression, William Doak, coordinated with unemployment agencies to find individuals to deport (Kim, pp. 62). By the end of the 1930’s, an estimated half million Mexican nationals and US citizens of Mexican descent were deported back to Mexico (Kim, pp. 62). In times of economic crisis, it made sense to get rid of a population who was perceived to be an economic and social

In the Mexican communities, were taught as second-class citizens in America, because of their low paying agriculture or labor jobs. Mexicans still kept it traditional, conservative and self contain, as for the first generations, many of their hard working parents watched their own children ventured out to learn the aspects of the American culture at the time. It led to them learning the new slang's, the music, and fashion.

The ethnic- Mexican experience has changed over the years as American has progressed through certain period of times, e.g., the modernity and transformation of the southwest in the late 19th and early 20th century, the labor demands and shifting of U.S. immigration policy in the 20th century, and the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. Through these events Mexican Americans have established and shaped their culture, in order, to negotiate these precarious social and historical circumstances. Throughout the ethnic Mexicans cultural history in the United States, conflict and contradiction has played a key role in shaping their modalities of life. Beginning in the late 20th century and early 21st century ethnic Mexicans have come under distress

Understanding how Mexican Americans felt about Mexican Immigrants is important to understanding a specific aspect of the Mexican Struggle. Mexican Workers also had to work against Mexican Americans in the United States. Not only were white rallying for immigration restrictions, but so were Mexican Americans. Lots of Mexican Americans didn’t like Mexican Immigrants due to the state of the job market. Many whites believed that Mexican workers were temporary and had no staying power. “They simply want work…, they are not immigrants at all. They do not try to buy or colonize our land, and they hope someday to be able to own a piece of land in their own