HISTORY OF MEXICAN AMERICANS IN THE UNITED STATES Fall 2012 Emilio Zamora Garrison 2.104B, 475-­‐8706 (office), 739-­‐0168 (cell) [email protected] Office Hours: W: 9-­‐12, and by appointment Course Description The lecture course examines the historical development of the Mexican community in the United States since 1848. The primary intent of the course is to describe and explain time and place specific variations in the socio-­‐cultural incorporation of the Mexican community as a national minority and bottom segment of the U.S. working class. Within this experience of incorporation, I will emphasize the following: Texas, inequality, trans-­‐border experiences, migrations, social struggles, identity, and the process of historical production. Also, I will treat Mexican American history within the context of U.S., Latino, and Mexico history and, whenever possible, relate it to African American history. This course meets the cultural diversity requirement in the new core curriculum that calls for at least one-­‐third of its content to address the culture, perspectives, and history of one or more underrepresented groups in the United States. The course meets this requirement with its focus on Mexicans as an underrepresented group, but it also incorporates relationships with African Americans and communities in Mexico. The course also addresses the following competencies: critical thinking skills, communication skills, personal responsibility, and social responsibility. Critical thinking and communication skills will be promoted primarily with the use of reading assignments, class discussions, and oral reports. A sense of personal responsibility will be encouraged by emphasizing regular attendance and academic honesty. The value of social responsibility will be addressed with numerous examples, including the practice of hard work as an act of family responsibility and successful legal cases that extended 14th amendment rights to Mexican-­‐origin children in our schools. We will accommodate students with special challenges. Notify me it you have this need. Do not use your personal computer while in class, unless you are using it to take notes. Course materials, including a copy of my resume, this syllabus, lecture notes, and notes on interviewing techniques, will be available on Blackboard, UT’s course management site. If you have questions accessing the site, call the ITS help desk at 475-­‐
9400. Course Requirements 1
Your course grade will be based on a mid-­‐term examination (20%), a final examination (20%), a research report (20%), five chapter reports (25%), and three film reports (15%). Your final grade will be computed cumulatively. The final examination will cover the material from the middle to the end of the semester. I will discuss the requirements more fully in class. Mid-­‐Term Examination. The mid-­‐term examination will be administered on October 18, and will include essay questions. I will post a review sheet for the examination. Final Examination. The final examination will include essay questions and cover material since the mid-­‐term examination. I will post a review sheet and will announce the date of the examination once the Office of the Registrar announces it. Research Report. Prepare a three to five -­‐page report on two related topics on Mexican American history appearing in the Handbook of Texas, the most important Texas history reference work that is available online, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online. Possible topics could be the Mexican American Youth Organization and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. You should compare and contrast salient issues in the Handbook of Texas essays. The report is due on September 18. You have the option of preparing a family biography report. If you choose this option, visit with instructor as soon as possible. Chapter Reports. Select four assigned chapters and prepare three-­‐sentence reports for each. Select your four chapters from the following assigned chapters: Gonzales, Chapters 4, 5, 7 (pp. 163-­‐78), 7 (178-­‐93), 8, 9; Zamora, Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5. Your reports should address the following questions with one-­‐sentence responses: What is the issue or point that the author is explaining or arguing? How does he go about doing this? How effective is his explanation or argument? Each report will be worth 5 points and will be due on the meeting after the chapter is assigned. A report on Gonzalez’ Chapter 4, for instance, should be submitted at the end of the class period on September 13. Film Reports. Students can earn a maximum of 15 points by selecting 3 of the 4 films that will be screened in class and prepare reports on each. The three-­‐sentence reports should provide responses to the following: the overall purpose of the films, the supportive arguments and techniques that the film makers used, and the relevance of the films to the immediate course content. The report will be due one class meeting after the showing of the film that you will have selected. For instance, if you select “The Texas Rangers,” submit the report on October 10. 2
Attendance. You are expected to be on time for class and to remain in the classroom for the duration of the class. I will reward students who attend regularly with three extra points in the course for full attendance, two extra points for persons who only register one unexcused absence, and one extra point for persons who only register two unexcused absences. More than three unexcused absences will result in a five-­‐
point deduction on the final grade, and one more point deduction for every class missed after the three unexcused absences. Excuses for absences must be presented within one class meeting after the absence. I may ask for written evidence before I accept an excuse for an absence. Textbooks Manuel G. Gonzales, Mexicanos, A History of Mexicans in the US (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999). Hector Tobar, Translation Nation (New York: Riverhead Books, 2005). Emilio Zamora, Claiming Rights and Righting Wrongs in Texas, Mexican Workers and Job Politics during WWII (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2009). Films The Texas Rangers, October 2 A Class Apart, October 25 Hunger in America, November 1 Taking Back the Schools, November 13 Schedule I will initiate the classes with general comments or lectures based on outlined notes that I will post on Blackboard prior to each class meeting and then encourage class discussion with questions related to the assigned readings and my comments. Part I. Introduction 8-­‐30 Introduction I will explain course requirements, assignments, expectations, and Mexican American History as a relatively new field of study in U.S. history. 9-­‐4 Empathy and Perspective in the Study of History: Comments and Discussion I will also address the issues of empathy and perspective as necessary to the study of “othered” communities. I will do this with the help of a portion of an interview with Mr. Miguel Morado, a WWII veteran, and a short clip of the demolition of a building that once housed a Mexican American college in Austin. Mr. Morado’s memory makes evident the importance of empathy in building “acercamiento,” or closeness, in the study of others. The clip by Gilberto Rivera, 3
a community activist from Austin, suggests that we can also know others better if we understand their perspective, or vantage point. My point is that you don’t have to agree with someone else, but you should at least grant them their humanity and understand, if only momentarily, their point of view if you wish to learn from their experiences. • Miguel Morado, Voces, University of Texas at Austin, DVD in my
possession
• Gilberto Rivera, “We Will Always be Here,”
http://blip.tv/zgraphix/we-will-always-be-here-sol-rojoproductions-5502379
9-­‐6 Part II. Conquest Generation, 1848-­‐1900 Pre-­‐20th Century Review: Independent Mexico, U.S. Expansionism, and Wars An expansionist United States reached the current American Southwest as Spanish colonial rule was waning (1821-­‐48) and Mexico was achieving its independence (1821). The result included wars (Texas insurrection, 1835-­‐36; Mexico-­‐U.S. war 1846-­‐48), Mexico’s loss of more than one-­‐half of its territory, the absorption of the “Mexican cession” into a politically charged environment in the United States, and the incorporation of Mexicans as a territorial minority. I will also address different interpretations in Mexican American history with reference to works by Carey McWilliams (North From Mexico), Juan Gómez-­‐
Quiñones (Roots of Chicano Politics), and Mario García (Mexican Americans). 9-­‐11 The Incorporation of the Annexed Territories, The Case of Santa Barbara, California. Assignment: Gonzales, Chapter 4, “The American Southwest, 1848-­‐1900.” We will continue the discussion from the previous class, paying closer attention to the consequences of the wars to regions and communities in Southern California. I will use Albert Camarillo’s study of Santa Barbara (Chicanos in a Changing Society) to illustrate how military occupation, racial conflict, and the arrival of Anglo newcomers introduced important social and political changes. I will use the concepts of proletarianization and barrioization to explain social marginalization and community building. 9-­‐13 The Mexican Social Structure Collapses and New Relations Emerge Submit Chapter Report We will discuss Gonzales’ treatment of the last half of the nineteenth century and expand on Camarillo’s local and regional analysis into New Mexico and Texas with studies by Sara Deutsch (No Separate Refuge) and David Montejano (Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas). 4
9-­‐18 Discussion on the Pre-­‐1900 period. Assignment, Gonzales, Chapter 5, “The Great Migration, 1900-­‐1930.” Submit Research Report We will review the ground covered in the previous class meetings in preparation for the following period in Mexican American History 9-­‐20 I will be attending a conference, class will be cancelled. Part III. Mexicanist Generation, 1900-­‐1940 9-­‐25 Work, Migration, and Community Building Submit Chapter Report Unequal and racialized social relations emerged with the continuing incorporation of the Southwest. The development of the southwestern economy had profound consequences for the Mexican population. The development of basic industries (railroads, mining, agriculture and urban-­‐based industries like construction) increased the demand for labor and triggered a massive movement of Mexican workers who joined earlier arrivals and U.S.-­‐born Mexicans in low-­‐wage, low-­‐skilled jobs. The ideas that emerged “naturally” from this racialized form of economic development were reinforced by negative ideas associated with the wars (1835-­‐36, 1846-­‐48) and the undeclared “low intensity” fighting of the late nineteenth century. Studies by Montejano (Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas), Anoldo De León (They Called Them Greasers), Carey McWilliams (North From Mexico) and Emilio Zamora (The World of the Mexican Worker in Texas help us understand these racial ideas and the way Mexicans adjusted to their new position in the United States as a bottom segment of the working class and an ethnic minority 9-­‐27 A Moralist and Mexicanist Political Culture in U.S. Settings This class will provide a closer examination of Mexican agency associated with emerging identities, communities and political causes of mutuality, protest, and alternative visions. Organizations, especially mutual aid societies, reflected and reinforced popular “Mexicanist” collectivist values of self-­‐help and mutualism in communities attached culturally to Mexico and a Mexican way of life, but functioning within “Americanist” cultural and political settings. Sara Estela Ramirez, a teacher, poet, and early supporter of an anarchist-­‐syndicalist exiled group, was a major exponent of these cultural values and her writings illustrate how intellectuals promoted mutualism, reciprocity, and even altruism to sustain different social causes. Works by Gómez-­‐Quiñones (Sembradores) and Zamora (The World of the Mexican Worker in Texas) will serve as points of reference. 5
10-­‐2 Film: The Texas Rangers This is a recent film that focuses on memories and the different ways of telling the history of border violence during the early 1900s. 10-­‐4 Americanization, Political Divisions and a New Ethnic Ethos Submit Film Report I will refer to three important political leaders—Clemente Idar, Emilio Flores, and José de la Luz Saenz—to illustrate how class and political differences led to divisions over identity, immigration, and political ideas during the first three decades of the twentieth century. The armed Mexican revolt of 1915 and the emergence of the moderate League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in 1929 reflect these differences and divisions. I will use Zamora (The World of the Mexican Worker in Texas and “Fighting on Two Fronts: José de la Luz Saenz and the Language of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement”) and Saenz, (Los México-­‐Americanos y La Gran Guerra) to demonstrate this. 10-­‐9 The Depression Years: Hard Times, Survival, and Activism Assignment: Gonzales, Chapter 7, “The Second World War and Its Aftermath, 1945-­‐1965,” pp. 163-­‐78, Zamora, Chapter 2, “Wartime Recovery and Denied Opportunities” Mexicans were especially hard hit by the Depression. Hard times, however, also reinforced mutualism and unity, and energized the Mexican social movement, especially the cause for workers’ rights. Studies by Zaragosa Vargas (Labor Rights and Civil Rights) and Zamora/Calderon (“A Tribute to Emma Tenayuca and Manuela Solís Sager”) will help us address the hard times of the Depression and Mexican political responses. Part IV. Mexican American Generation, 1940s-­‐1960s 10-­‐11 War, Recovery, and Postwar Disillusionment, Overview Submit Chapter Reports Assignment: Zamora, Chapter 3, “Elevating the Mexican Cause to a Hemispheric Level” I will post a review sheet for the mid-­‐term examination on this date. It will contain six essay questions. Four of the questions will appear on the examination. Each will be worth five points. Mexicans, like others in the nation, recovered from the hard times of the Depression when the expanding wartime economy provided them better-­‐paying jobs, especially in urban areas. Mexicans, however, did not benefit from wartime opportunities to the same extent as Anglos and Blacks. I will use the works of Carlos E. Castañeda (“The Second Rate Citizen and Democracy”), Pauline Kibbe (Latin Americans in Texas), Walter Fogel (Mexican Americans in Southwest 6
Labor Markets), and Mario Barrera (Race and Class in the Southwest) to make my point. 10-­‐16 Alonso Perales and The Internationalization of the Mexican Cause Submit Chapter Report The war provided Mexican activists new opportunities to register important advances in employment and to challenge inequality and discrimination in education, employment, and public establishments. I will focus on a relatively new strategy that Perales, a co-­‐founder of LULAC, used to capitalize on the growing hemispheric attention to racial ideas and discrimination in the United States. Drawing primarily on Chapter 3, I argue that Mexico’s decision to intervene on behalf of Mexican rights in the United States encouraged the State Department “to bring the Good Neighbor Policy home” and elevated racial discrimination to a point of major importance in relations between Mexico and the United States. 10-­‐18 Mid-­‐Term Examination Assignment: Zamora, Chapter 4, “The Fight For Mexican Rights in Texas” 10-­‐23 The Mexican Cause for Civil and Labor Rights in Texas Assignment: Zamora, Chapter 5, FEPC and the Mexican Worker in Texas” Submit Chapter Report The war, with its language of democracy and justice, and Mexico’s advocacy policy on behalf of Mexicans in the United States energized the Mexican cause for equal rights in places like Texas. This is part of the context within which the work of the Fair Employment Practice Committee (the federal agency responsible for implementing the nation’s first non-­‐discrimination in industrial employment) must be assessed. 10-­‐25 Film: A Class Apart Assignment, Gonzales, Chapter 7, pp. 178-­‐93, Occupational Table, 1930-­‐70 (posted on Blackboard) Submit Chapter Report The case of the FEPC and the United States Employment Service demonstrates that the activist state of the 1940s pursued two seemingly contradictory trends; it promoted upward mobility and reinforced inequality. This observation becomes more important during the post-­‐war period as Mexican American civil rights leaders increasingly turn to government as the final arbiter in promoting equal rights. 10-­‐30 The 1950s: Incorporation, Social Differentiation, Biculturation My purpose is to demonstrate the growing social, cultural, and political complexity that becomes evident beginning in the immediate post-­‐war period. 7
The unequal incorporation of Mexicans—characterized by significant social gains and the persistence of segregation—has resulted in marked social differences among them and between Mexicans and the larger society. The internal social differences have often manifested themselves in significant cultural differences and some political divisions. A framework that accounts for upward social mobility alongside inequality helps us explain seemingly contradictory trends in education, health, and employment. For instance, Mexican youth graduate from high school in record numbers while their high dropout rates remain significantly high. 11-­‐1 Film: Hunger in America Assignment: Gonzales, Chapter 8 This film offers stark images of poverty in San Antonio that, like Mr. Morado’s interview, will help us empathize with families and communities facing difficult challenges in the 1950s and 1960s. Part V. Chicano Generation and Beyond, 1960s-­‐2000 11-­‐6 Socio-­‐Economic Realities and Possibilities, and the Emergence of a New Cause Assignment: Gonzales, Chapter 9 Submit Film Report 11-­‐8 Political Leadership and Cultural Renaissance An examination of the major leaders—César Chavez, Reies Lopez Tijerina, Rodolfo Gonzalez, and José Angel Gutierrez—will allow us to examine the major trends in the Mexican social movement. Activism was not limited to organized action against injustices and inequality. It was also evident in the intellectual activity that accompanied it and that generated new and reformulated ideas about group identity, civic culture, social entitlement, and strategies for change. The Cultural Renaissance found expression in literature, public performances, and popular culture. 11-­‐13 Film: Taking Back the Schools The school walkouts by high school students in Los Angeles reflected a larger trend of protest by the increasing number of young people who were making use of court-­‐ordered school desegregation. 11-­‐15 Immigration and a Developing Community Immigration continues to be an important overriding issue in relations between Mexico and the United States, between Mexican communities on both sides of the international line, and between Mexicans and the larger American society. As the public discourse focuses on issues emanating from outside the Mexican community (immigration policy, enforcement and public perceptions) 8
Mexicans continue to undergo uneven social development, but managing to maintain pan-­‐Mexican as well as Pan-­‐Latino identities. 11-­‐20 Latinos in the United States I will use the work of Marcelo Suárez Orozco (Latinos: Remaking America) to introduce Tobar’s travelogue and description of the Latino population. Students should come to class prepared to explain how each of Tobar’s assigned chapters support his overall argument in the book—that Latinos are transforming the country as they themselves undergo major change. 11-­‐22 11-­‐27 11-­‐29 12-­‐4 Thanksgiving Assignment: Tobar, Part I Discussion Assignment: Tobar, Part II Discussion Assignment: Tobar, Part III Current Issues Submit Research Papers 9