 Review immigration trends slides
Hispanics / Latinos in the 20th Century
Pamela Oliver
Sociology 220
Hispanic – Latino Population
Hispanic
population is
younger.
1990
2000
2010
9%
13%
16%
Mexican
60
59
63
Puerto Rican
12
10
9
Cuban
5
3
3
Dominican Republic
2
2
3
Central America
5
8
South America
4
5
18
7
Hispanic-Latino as % of Total US
Ethnicity as % of Hispanic-Latino
Other
1
Percent Distribution of Hispanics
by Type: 2006
“Race” (self-reported) of HispanicsLatinos
Puerto Rican
8.6%
Cuban
3.7%
Central American
8.2%
South American
6.0%
Mexican
65.5%
Other Hispanic
8.0%
1990
2000
2010
White
51.7
47.9
53.0
Black
3.4
2.0
2.5
Amer. Indian
0.7
1.2
1.4
Asian or Pac Isl
1.4
0.5
0.5
42.7
42.2
36.7
-
6.3
6.0
Other
Two or More
Source: Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement 2006
Race of Hispanic Groups, by Ethnicity, 2010 Census
Locations in US
90
80
 Chicanos, Mexican Americans mostly live in the southwest
70
60
50

40

30
20

10

(California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado) but also
elsewhere, Chicago etc.
Cubans mostly in Florida
Puerto Ricans mostly in New York, New Jersey.
But all are fanning out.
Immigration from other Latin American counties is growing.
0
White
Black
Mexican
Cuban
AmInd As/PI
Other
2+
Central Amer South Amer
Dominican
Puerto Rican
2
Percent Latino/Hispanic US Counties 2000
Names (part 1)
Names (part 2)
 In the US, Latino or Hispanic refers to a person in the
 Mexican = a Mexican citizen (in Mexico or US); as
US who is of Latin American origin. Nuances in
meanings of words, but referring to same groups.
Brazilians are in this group, although they do not speak
Spanish.
 (Spaniards are Hispanic, but not understood to be part of
the group called Hispanic or Latino in the US.)
 In Latin America, Latino often refers to a person who is
culturally Hispanic rather than culturally Indigenous
identity, a person from Mexico
 Mexican American = a US citizen of Mexican descent; as
identity, a US ethnic group
 Chicano = a self-identify of SOME Mexican Americans
(not all).
 Origins as radical, racialized identity (indigenous American)
 Now many Mexican Americans use it because they don’t
identify with Mexico
 Mexicans from Mexico NEVER identify as Chicano
3
Class Origins and Well-Being
Class, Immigrant Status, Well-Being
 A major predictor of an immigrant group’s “success” in
 Economic & educational “Success” of immigrants & their
US is CLASS
 CLASS = education, business/professional skills,
financial resources.
 Pre-WWII, White Catholics less successful than
Protestants.
 Used to be a lot of talk about how “Catholic culture” held
children depends largely (not exclusively) on what they bring
with them: education, business & professional skills, money,
English
 Economic & political factors in “sending” country +
immigration factors affect class mix of immigrants to US
people back
 Took 3 generations for immigrant class differences to dissipate,
but they are gone now.
 Today White Catholics & Protestants are educationally &
economically comparable
Politics & Immigrant Flow
Race in the Americas
 Class of refugees motivated by political violence depends on
 Substantial indigenous population remains in Mexico, Central
the regime they are leaving: Are lower class or upper class
people being threatened?
 Refugees from rightist regimes tend to be poor & uneducated +
political leftists
 Refugees from leftist regimes tend to be from business &
professional classes
 US politics influences how refugees from different regimes
are treated
America, Andes, interior of Amazon, Alaska & Canada,
southwestern US
 Substantial African population in northeastern Brazil,
southeastern US & US urban areas, Caribbean islands and as
part of the mixture throughout Latin America; history of
slavery
 Substantial post-colonial European migrations to US,
Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, & northeast South America
 Significant Asian migration to many South American
countries as well as US, Canada, Mexico; but still a minority
in all but a few cities
4
Skin Color and Class in the Americas
Consequences of Colonialism & Politics
 Colonialism, conquest by Europeans (white skin) left
 Latin American migrants who are poorer & less educated
their descendents in higher class position (economic,
political) throughout the Americas
 The indigenous people (the native Americans) were
conquered and subordinated. Their descendents are
mostly still poor, subjugated
 The African people were mostly slaves, their descendents
are still poorer than the former masters
Cuba and Puerto Rico
Caribbean Islands
Central America
are more likely to be of indigenous or African descent
 Refugees from leftist regimes are more likely to be light-
skinned, of European descent, well-off & educated, and
receive favorable treatment in US immigration policies
(Cuba, Nicaragua)
 Refugees from rightist regimes are more likely to be
poor, indigenous or Black, and treated unfavorably in US
immigration policies (Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador)
Caribbean
5
Cuba Historical
Guantanamo Bay
 After 1492 Spanish, Columbus, largely exterminated the




50,000 Indians.
Sugar plantations: population is mixed European and African
descent.
Spanish-American War 1898, independent but US dominated
US troops leave 1902 but retain control of Guantanamo Bay
as naval base in 1903 treaty, dominate economy
1959 Cuban revolution, Castro overthrows Batista (harsh
dictator); originally supported by US, but then opposed
when in 1960 Castro declares the country communist. US
embargo still in effect
Cubans in US
Puerto Rico
 Upper & middle class Cubans flee Castro. 1 million
 Spanish colony, plantations, mixed European & African. (Indians mostly
immigrate between 1960 and 1980. (Current Cuban
population is about 10 million.)
 Early refugees are educated, White; create "little Havana" in
Florida, militantly anti-communist, 2/3 vote Republican.
Despite initial hardships, most are doing well economically in
US.
 Later refugees are less educated, darker, having more
problems, but obscured by statistics. Cuban connections
help.
killed, but today many Puerto Ricans have some Indian ancestry)
 Becomes US colony 1898, Spanish-American War.
 English required in schools. US under-develops, as a colony
 1917 Jones Act, Puerto Ricans are citizens of US.
 1948 PR made a Commonwealth, Associated Free State. Part of US, but
not a state, less subordinate than a colony. Ultimately controlled by
Congress. Definition of Commonwealth unclear.
 Status a continuing issue: stay commonwealth, become US state, become
independent? Per US Supreme Court an “unincorporated territory”
“belonging to the US but not part of the US” A big debate about status.
 2006, 2009, 2011 UN calls for self-determination of PR. Generally
considered a separate nation internationally. Own Olympic team.
6
Puerto Ricans
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
 All Puerto Ricans are US citizens
 In 2000 3.4 million Puerto Ricans in US mainland; 3.8
million in PR.
 99% of those in PR consider themselves Hispanic.
 80% in PR say they are White, 8% Black, 7% “other,” 4% 2+
races.
 On the mainland, many who are “White” in PR are
considered “Black” (see Bonilla-Silva picture)
 Easy migration between Puerto Rico & mainland (all part of
US)
 “New Yoricans” & other identity issues
Caribbean Map
Other Caribbean Islanders
 Dominicans (Dominican Republic) Spanish
 Haitians (French)
 Jamaicans (English)
 US Virgin Islands (US)
 Smaller islands (varies)
 Population mostly African-European descent, some Asian
(Indian especially): colonial mix
 To Whites, those not White blend in to the “Black”
population, but cultural/ethnic differences are significant
7
O1
Central Americans
Central America
 Nicaraguans – fled Sandanistas (Communists). Largely
white, largely well-educated.
 Guatemalans, Salvadorans, Hondurans. Indigenous peasants
violently forced off the land. To US-ians, blend in to
“Mexican” population, but may not speak Spanish, are
culturally & ethnically distinct. Typically very poor.
 Refugees travel through Mexico, enter US as part of
“Mexican” illegal immigration. Border issues in Southern
Mexico.
 Conflicts between Central Americans and Mexicans,
especially in Southern California
Mexican Americans & Mexicans
Mexico
 Mexican Americans = born in US, identify as Americans of
 Little migration into US until 20th century. Population
Mexican descent.
 Many speak only English. Others are partly or fully bilingual.
Others, especially migrant workers in southern Texas, grow up
speaking mostly Spanish (or Spanglish)
 (Chicano a political self-identity of a subgroup of Mexican
Americans, more oriented to US)
 Mexicans = migrants from Mexico.
 Some are settlers, bring families, plan to stay
 Many are sojourners, working here, sending money home, no
depletion from colonialism
 Political instability: 1876 Portofio Diaz reactionary coup,
1910-1922 Mexican Revolution. Some political refugees.
 Population less than 10% European, about 60% mestizo,
30% indigenous (Mayans etc. who do not speak Spanish, not
culturally Mexican)
 Creation of mestizo identity in the Mexican revolution. La
Raza.
interest in staying
 Many are indigenous people for whom Spanish is a second
language
8
Slide 29
O1
ended here april 3 2014
Oliver, 4/3/2014
1910s - 1920s
Class & Race: early 20th Century
 European immigration shut off, Mexican migrants
encouraged as a source of cheap labor;
 No immigration quotas, no "papers" required, no real
distinction between legal and illegal.
 Varied experiences in different places
 Texas Ranger
 Farm labor
 Manufacturing labor
 New Mexico, southern California, parts of Texas: some
Spanish (White Mexicans) are landowners, parts of the upper
class. Indigenous/Native/Indian Mexicans often not
considered White.
 Other parts of Texas, Arizona, central valley of California,
Mexicans are lower class, landless, treated as a separate race,
segregated
 Lawsuits and court cases decide that generally Mexicans are
White for purposes of segregation laws, but they are often
discriminated against with language as the rationale
1930s
1940s
 Depression, economic collapse, high unemployment: "get rid
 WWII, workers needed,
of foreigners."
 Forced deportation of “Mexicans”. Majority are US-born
citizens unable to prove citizenship, or children.
 Social Security provisions enacted in 1930s exempt
agricultural and domestic work; explicitly meant to exempt
Mexicans and African Americans. (1950s changes to Social
Security add them)
 LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens),
English-oriented, civil rights: the "Mexican American
Generation." Not Spanish, full rights as US citizens.
 joint programs with Mexico to import workers, bracero
program;
 Mexican supervision means that Mexican workers often treated
better than US citizens of Mexican descent.
 Temporary workers, leave families in Mexico.
 “Zoot Suit” riots of 1943 in Los Angeles
 Anglo sailors vs. Mexican Americans; 10 days of attacks, riots;
climate of hostility & fear
 (Zoot suit was a style worn by Mexican youth)
 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/zoot/index.html
9
1950s, 1960s
Mexican Americans
 Operation Wetback: attack on Mexican workers, less than
2% have formal proceedings before expulsion.
 Urban renewal tears up MexAm settlements, creates
crowding; migration increases.
 GI Forum, LULAC, MAPA (Mexican American Political
Association): emphasis on citizenship, full civil rights,
integration.
 “Mexican American generation”
 de-emphasis on Spanish.
Dennis DeLeon
Becky Dominguez
10
Carlos Muñoz
Rodolfo Acuña. (Occupied America:
Banned in Arizona!
Education in Texas (1)
Education in Texas (2)
 Source: “Let all of them Take Heed” (Guadalupe San Miguel)
 Lawsuits for bilingual instruction a consequence of past
 Segregation of Mexican children: language as justification,
but really racial. Effectively, children are learning no
language
 MexAms support English instruction, struggle for equality
and real education
 “Other White” strategy through 1960s.
failures with English-only
 Shift to “racial” self-designation in wake of integration (whites
want to “integrate” by mixing Mexicans and Blacks)
 Source: Guadalupe San Miguel, Jr. "Let All of them Take
Heed": Mexican Americans and the Campaign for
Educational Equality in Texas, 1910-1981.
11
Late 1960s-1970s
 Chicanos become defined as distinct racial group for
purposes of desegregation, a response to White actions
(Texas “integrates” by mixing Blacks & Mexicans)
 1965 change in immigration law effectively lowers “legal”
quotas from Mexico.
Militant confrontation
 Reies López Tijerina, Alianza de Pueblos Libres, to win back land
grants in New Mexico, occupies areas in national forests, violent
confrontations with authorities in 1967, imprisoned in the 1970s.
After prison, continued to speak out, still living in New Mexico.
.
Link to summary &
pictures
Farm Workers Movements
 Mexicans and Mexican Americans are




major pool of migrant farm workers
Long history of labor struggle,
especially in California and Texas
California struggles involved
Mexicans & Asians; racial divisions as
well as alliances
Cesar Chavez, United Farm Workers
1960s-1970s. Ethnic images.
Outside allies: Grape, lettuce
boycotts.
Chicano Movements
 Increasing militancy and nationalist pride among MexAms,
inspired by Black movement: “Brown Power”
 MAYO (Mexican American Youth Organization), La Raza
Unida party, Brown Berets
 "Chicano" identity created; myth of Atzlan (Radical
connotations)
 El Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA)
12
La Raza Unida
Raza Unida
 Part of Chicano movement. Reject prior assimiliationist,
 Jose Angel Gutiérrez, La Raza Unida Party, son of Mexican
civil rights approaches
 Identify with Mexican culture. Chicano, myth of Aztlan.
Radical, militant
 Crystal City (Cristal): garden area of Texas. Home of
migrant workers.
 MAYO: School walkouts. Prom, education
 La Raza Unida: a Mexican American party. Political strategy.
Third party politics
Source: Ignacio M García,. United We Win: The Rise and Fall
of La Raza Unida Party.




nationalist, separatist political strategies. “Kill the gringo”
speech.
Raza Unida wins in some predominantly-Mexican American
areas
Governor election in Texas, substantial loss
Lessons of ethnic parties, third parties
Nationalist militancy
I Am Joaquin
Rodolfo (Corky) Gonzales
 Charismatic urban politico from Denver. Represented the
barrio youth punished for speaking Spanish, confusion of
identity.
 Epic poem I am Joaquín published 1967 in English and
Spanish.
 Speaks to the urban Chicano (Mexican American) who does
not know his history, faces the challenges of discrimination
and assimilation
 Interweaves a retelling of Mexican history and identity with
current conditions & issues. Indigenous racial identity.
 Fragments from the much longer epic give a flavor of it
Yo soy Joaquín,
perdido en un mundo de confusión:
I am Joaquín, lost in a world of confusion,
caught up in the whirl of a gringo society,
confused by the rules, scorned by attitudes,
suppressed by manipulation, and destroyed by modern society.
My fathers have lost the economic battle
and won the struggle of cultural survival.
And now! I must choose between the paradox of
victory of the spirit, despite physical hunger,
or to exist in the grasp of American social neurosis,
sterilization of the soul and a full stomach.
13
....
I am Cuauhtémoc, proud and noble,
leader of men, king of an empire civilized
beyond the dreams of the gachupín Cortés,
who also is the blood, the image of myself.
I am the Maya prince.
I am Neza-hual-cóy-otl, great leader of the Chichimecas.
I am the sword and flame of Cortes the despot
And I am the eagle and serpent of the Aztec civilization.
....
My knees are caked with mud.
My hands calloused from the hoe. I have made the Anglo rich,
Yet
Equality is but a word–
The Treaty of Hidalgo has been broken
And is but another treacherous promise.
My land is lost
And stolen,
My culture has been raped.
I lengthen the line at the welfare door
And fill the jails with crime.
I fought and died for Don Benito Juarez, guardian of the
Constitution.
I was he on dusty roads on barren land as he protected his
archives
as Moses did his sacraments.
He held his Mexico in his hand on
the most desolate and remote ground which was his country.
And this giant little Zapotec gave not one palm's breadth
of his country's land to kings or monarchs or presidents of
foreign powers.
I am Joaquin.
I rode with Pancho Villa,
crude and warm, a tornado at full strength,
nourished and inspired by the passion and the fire of all his
earthy people.
….
These then are the rewards
This society has
For sons of chiefs
And kings
And bloody revolutionists,
Who gave a foreign people
All their skills and ingenuity
To pave the way with brains and blood
For those hordes of gold-starved strangers,
Who
Changed our language
And plagiarized our deeds
As feats of valor
Of their own.
They frowned upon our way of life
and took what they could use.
14
And in all the fertile farmlands,
the barren plains,
the mountain villages,
smoke-smeared cities,
we start to MOVE.
La raza!
Méjicano!
Español!
Latino!
Chicano!
Or whatever I call myself,
I look the same
I feel the same
I cry
And
Sing the same.
PO6
I am the masses of my people and
I refuse to be absorbed.
I am Joaquín.
The odds are great
But my spirit is strong,
My faith unbreakable,
My blood is pure.
I am Aztec prince and Christian Christ.
I SHALL ENDURE!
I WILL ENDURE!
O3
Critical review of film “Chicano”
 http://www.albany.edu/jmmh/vol3/chicano
/chicano.html
1970s
 Economic crisis in Mexico forces many north to look for
work.
 New immigration laws reduce Mexican quotas, force more
migrants into "illegal" status.
 Civil wars in Central American create refugees, often seen as
Mexican in US, but don’t speak Spanish, poor
 Bilingual education in response to past discrimination,
neglect: lawsuits, laws require “appropriate” education for all
children.
15
Slide 59
PO6
pick up here April 11 2013
Pamela Oliver, 4/4/2013
Slide 60
O3
left off here on april 8 2014
Oliver, 4/8/2014
1980s - 1990s
Late 1990s
 Continuing poverty, turmoil in Mexico, Central American
 Political movements to require English, to suppress
lead to continuing “push” for immigration north.
 Late 1990s-2000, low unemployment in US -> high need for
low wage labor from Mexico, widespread employer violation
of immigration rules. Increased enforcement raises costs of
border crossing
 Growing Latino/ Mexican /Central American population in
US Southwest (former northern Mexico).
 Congressional relief on immigration quotas for technical
workers (mostly Asian), but no action on low wage workers.




bilingualism (supported by some Hispanics)
Political movements to bar welfare to legal immigrants
Amnesty for existing illegal immigrants coupled with greater
enforcement against new illegal immigrants.
Conflicts between Hispanic/Mexican-Americans and
immigrants from Mexico or Central America.
NAFTA: moving industry from US into Mexico
O2
2000s
Language Issues
 Vicente Fox elected 2000, ends PRI rule. Proposes open
 Most Mexican immigrants with children want them to
migration of workers. GW Bush has positive response prior
to 9/11, which shuts down discussions.
 2006 Felipe Calderon becomes president in a disputed election.
 2011 Enrique Peña Nieto, back to PRI
 Immigration to US, relations with US, treatment of Mexicans
in US are big issues in Mexico
learn English. Many who want English also want to
retain Spanish (bilingual)
 Past record of high drop-out rates, poor education in
“English immersion” led to bilingual movement
 English Only: kid’s responsibility to show up speaking
English. Not the schools problem.
 English immersion does not work well where only the
teacher speaks English
 Mother tongue
16
Slide 63
O2
current issues
Oliver, 11/7/2013
Immigration Issues
Collective Identity Issues
 Sojourners a major part of the Mexican migrant flow.
 Race: white or other?






Families in Mexico, no desire to immigrate permanently.
Wage differentials.
Need for Mexican labor in the US economy. “Surplus labor
force”
Illegal immigration largely a product of laws reducing legal
immigration
“The Wall”
May 1, 2006 “A Day Without Immigrants.” Marches &
Protests
Dream Act:Young people who have grown up in the US
 White Hispanics blend
 Indigenous & African ancestry do not
 Effects of physical appearance, accent, cultural choices
 Ongoing political consequences of “other white” strategy
 Nationality/ethnicity:
 Country of origin: esp. Mexican vs. others
 US minority vs. immigrant
 Language
 Cultural self-definition: respectful, quiet, hard-working,
endure vs. militant, stand up
Current debates
 Arizona
 Ethnic studies ban
 “possibly being illegal immigrant” as primary basis for police
stop
 Dominguez quip & my sister’s response
 Mexican Americans (Chicanos) + Puerto Ricans and other
non-immigrant groups (“the border crossed us”) vs.
immigrant groups.
 Dream Act, Deferred Action.
17