Latino Social Movements in the 20th Century
Oberlin College
HIST 316
Instructor: María E. Balandrán-Castillo
Email: [email protected]
Fall 2015
Class Meetings: Wednesday 2:30-3:30
Room: Severance 204
Office Hours: Tuesday 1-3, King 141F
This course will provide a historical examination of the different political strategies used by the
Latino population of the United States, including US citizens and foreigners, to defend their civil,
economic, political and human rights throughout the 20th century. We will read about Mexicans,
Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Cubans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and their US born children,
paying special attention to the diplomatic, political and economic relations between the US and
their countries of origin. This will help us explain the political strategies used by each national
group at different historical moments.
These strategies included obtaining classification as whites, minorities, citizens, refugees and
foreigners, with interventions by foreign governments and appeals to US courts, religious
organizations, and labor unions. Latinos used pan-ethnic organizing, class action lawsuits,
protests, boycotts and lobbying to expand the rights available to citizens and immigrants. A
constant theme in this course is the tension between Latino efforts to attain full citizenship in the
US, and the struggle to achieve pan-ethnic solidarity despite distinct political realities. By paying
special attention to historical detail, students will be able to describe how US and international
law influenced Latino social movements, and how these in turn influenced the law.
Required Books
Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof, A Tale of Two Cities: Santo Domingo and New York after 1950.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008.
Maria Cristina García, Havana USA: Cuban Exiles and Cuban Americans in South Florida,
1959-1994. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.
Lorena Oropeza, Raza Si, Guerra No: Chicano Protest and Patriotism during the Chicano War
Era. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005.
Felix Padilla, Latino Ethnic Consciousness: The case of Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans
in Chicago. Notre Dame, Indiana: Notre Dame University Press, 1985.
Carlos Soltero, Latinos and American Law: Landmark Supreme Court Cases. Austin, Texas:
University of Texas Press, 2006.
Grading
Participation: 20%
Attendance is mandatory and students should inform instructor about anticipated absences.
Students are expected to complete all readings before class meetings to ensure active discussion.
Student Presentations: 10%
Students will present two readings of their choosing in advanced consultation with the instructor.
They will guide the class through the main arguments and structure of the text, and bring three
discussion questions for the class. Presentations should last 10-15 minutes.
Prospectus: 10%
October 7 (emailed by 5pm)
In 2-3 pages include your research question, the sources you will use, and the significance of
your question to the literature on Latino social movements. A draft is due September 25.
Literature Review: 20%
October 30 (emailed by 8pm)
In 4-5 pages you will provide an overview of the works relevant to your research question that
will help frame your project. Pay special attention to argument, method, and sources, and explain
how they inform your historical analysis.
Research Paper: 40%
First Draft November 18
Final Draft Dec 19 (emailed by 5pm)
Students will write a 10-15 page paper conducting original research on primary sources. You are
encouraged to describe the ways that US and international laws have influenced Latino social
movements, and the way that Latino social movements have influenced the law. Successful
papers should be focused, contain an argument, be clearly written, and sustain their claims with
evidence.
Plagiarism Policy:
Students are expected to do their own work and cite appropriate sources. Plagiarism will not be
tolerated and will result in a failing grade for the assignment. If you have questions about how
the honor code applies to any assignment or work done for the class, please feel free to consult
the instructor. Remember to include an honor code statement in your assignments, such as “I
affirm that I have adhered to the Honor Code in this assignment.”
Special Needs: Appropriate accommodations will always be granted to students with
documented disabilities. If you have a documented disability that requires modified instructional
procedures, please notify me within the first two weeks of the semester. Any questions about the
necessary process of documenting disabilities should be addressed to Jane Boomer, Director of
Services for Students with Disabilities. For further information, call (440) 775- 5588 or visit
http://new.oberlin.edu/office/disability-services/
Office Hours:
Students are encouraged to attend office hours to discuss the issues raised in class and learn
about additional texts in a particular subject.
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Course Schedule
Sept 9: The Origin of Latino Studies
Manuel Gonzales, “Introduction” in En Aquel Entonces: Readings in Mexican American History.
Bloomington, Indiana: University of Indiana Press, 2000, xi-xvi.
Frances Aparicio (interviewed by Juan Zevallos Aguilar), “Latino Cultural Studies” in Juan
Poblete ed., Critical Latin American and Latino Studies. Minneapolis, Minnesota:
University of Minnesota Press, 2003, 3-30.
Martha Biondi, The Black Revolution on Campus. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012,
12-42.
Helen Delpar, Looking South: The Evolution of Latin Americanist Scholarship in The United
States, 1850-1975. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2008, 153-183.
Sept 16: Legacies of US Conquest and Imperialism in Latin America
“Botiller v. Dominguez (1889), Mexican Land Grants, and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,” in
Latinos and American Law.
“Balzac v. Porto Rico (1922), The Insular Cases (1901), and Puerto Rico’s Status in the
American Legal System,” in Latinos and American Law.
Richard Griswold del Castillo, The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: A Legacy of Conflict. Norman,
Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990, 3-14, 62-86.
Bartholomew H. Sparrow, The Insular Cases and the Emergence of American Empire. Lawrence,
Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2006, 1-13, 31-56.
Sept 23: Holiday
Sept 30: Race and the Law
“Hernández v. Texas (1954) and the Exclusion of Mexican Americans from Grand Juries” in
Latinos and American Law.
Neil Foley, “Becoming Hispanic: Mexican Americans and the Faustian Pact with Whiteness” in
Neil Foley, New Directions in Mexican American Studies. Austin, Texas: University of
Texas Press, 1997, 53-66.
Clara Rodríguez, Changing Race: Latinos, the census, and the history of ethnicity in the United
States. New York: New York University Press, 2000, 129-152.
Oct 7: Chicano Movement
Lorena Oropeza, Raza Si, Guerra No: Chicano Protest and Patriotism during the Chicano War
Era. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005.
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Oct 14: Youth Movements
“Miranda v. Arizona (1966) and the Rights of the Criminally Accused” in Latinos and American
Law.
Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof, A Tale of Two Cities: Santo Domingo and New York after 1950.
Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2008, Chapter 4, 5, 6.
Fall Break: Oct 19-23
Oct 28: Affirmative Action and Latino Panethnicity
Nancy MacLean, Freedom is not Enough: The Opening of the American Workplace. New York,
New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2006, 155-184.
Félix Padilla, Latino Ethnic Consciousness: The case of Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans
in Chicago. Notre Dame: Notre Dame University Press, 1985, 54-173.
Nov 4: Are Immigrants also Minorities?
“United States v. Brignoni-Ponce (1975), Law and Order on the Border” in Latinos and
American Law, 48-60, 95-106, 107-117.
Hugh Davis Graham, Collision Course: The Strange Convergence of Affirmative Action and
Immigration Policy in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002, 131-165.
John D. Skrentny, The Minority Rights Revolution. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press,
2002, 179-229.
Nov 11: Exiles, Refugees and Political Asylum
Maria Cristina García, Havana USA: Cuban Exiles and Cuban Americans in South Florida,
1959-1994, Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1996, 13 - 168.
Nov 18: Central American Refugees
Ignatius Bau, This ground is holy: Church Sanctuary and Central American Refugees. New York,
New York: Paulist Press, 1985, 9-74.
Nov 25: Undocumented Immigration
“Plyler v. Doe (1982)” in Latinos and American Law, 118-131.
Daniel J. Tichenor, “The Politics of Immigration Reform in the United States, 1981-1990” Polity
26, 3 (Spring, 1994): 333-362.
Christine Marie Sierra, “In Search of National Power: Chicanos Working the System on
Immigration Reform, 1976-1986” in David Montejano ed., Chicano Politics and Society in
the Late Twentieth Century, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1998, 157-176.
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Dec 2: The Immigrant Rights Movement
Amalia Pallares and Nilda Flores-Gonzalez eds., Marcha: Latino Chicago and the Immigrant
Rights Movement. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2010, 3-36.
Walter Nichols, The DREAMers: How the Undocumented Youth Movement Transformed the
Immigrant Rights Debate. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2013, 1-19.
Dec 9: Immigration Reform
“The ‘i-word’ is un-American” CNN (July 4, 2014).
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/04/opinion/kohn-immigration-words/
“Immigration reform: Who qualifies and who doesn’t?” Los Angeles Times (Nov 21, 2014).
“Here’s why you shouldn’t call Obama’s executive action legalization” VOX, (Nov 22, 2014).
Research Papers Due December 19, 5PM VIA EMAIL
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