Trouble in
Europe-1940-45
Many historians feel that the Second
War was just a continuation of the
First One.
The US was ultimately involved after
Japan, who was part of the Axis
Powers, bombed Pear Harbor in
Hawaii.
Over 10 million men and women
served in the War.
Latinos in WWII
 About 500,000 Mexican
Americans served in the
War.
 In Los Angeles,
Mexicans composed an
estimated 1/10th of the
population, yet
accounted for 1/5th of
the war casualties
(Acuna, 2007:198).
Medals of Honor
 Twelve Mexican
Americans won Medals
of Honor during World
War II, proportionately
more than any other
ethnic group.
 Guy Gabaldon serving in
the western Pacific,
captured hundreds of
Japanese prisoners.
Guy Gabaldon
His Navy Cross citation reads, “Working
alone in the front lines, he daringly
entered enemy caves, pillboxes, buildings
and jungle brush, frequently in the face
of hostile fire, and succeeded not only
obtaining vital military information but
in capturing well over 1,000 civilian and
troops”. He learned to speak Japanese
when he moved in to live with a
Japanese American family in East Los
Angeles. At 17, he joined the Marines.
Guy Gabaldon
The Navy upgraded his Silver
Star to a Navy Cross after the
film Hell to Eternity (1960),
which documented Guy’s war
experiences. The movie
however, did not mention that
Gabaldon was a Mexican
American and not a blue-eyed
blond like the movie actor.
“Hell to Eternity”
Anna Torres
Vasquez
Mexican Women also joined the
Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps as
well as the Navy Women’s Service
and Women’s Air Force Service
pilots units. Women went oversees
as nurses and exercised other
options that the War opened for
them. For example, Anna Torres
Vasquez of East Chicago, Indiana,
volunteered for the WAAC, serving
as an air-traffic controller at a
Florida flight school.
Other Women During
WWII
Rosie Riveters
(Rositas)
Felix Longoria
 After the War, Mexican Americans were still
subjected to segregation and barred from
public facilities in schools, theaters,
swimming pools, restaurants, and housing
tracts.
 Mexican Americans organized the American
GI Forum in response to the refusal of a
funeral director in Three Rivers, Texas to
bury Felix Longoria, a soldier killed in the
Pacific. Longoria’s remains were finally
buried at Arlington Cemetery with full
honors after Congressman LB Johnson
intervened (Rosales, 1997;100).
The American GI Forum
 The Forum broke with LULAC tradition of not
involving itself in direct electoral politics. It
encouraged its members to vote and endorse
candidates. The GI Forum motto was;” Education is
our freedom, and our freedom should be everybody’s
business”. This new aggressiveness of Mexican
Americans in Texas and elsewhere signaled a new
intensity of involvement in civil rights (Acuna
2007;213)
Discrimination
 In Los Angeles during
wartime, segregation was
still common, and many
recreational facilities
excluded Mexicans. They
could not use swimming
pools in East Los Angeles
and in other Southland
communities. Often
Mexicans and blacks could
swim only on Wednesdaysthe day the County drained
the water. In movie houses
in places like San Fernando,
Mexicans sat in the balcony.
Pachucos!
 A minority of Mexican youth
joined gangs in their
neighborhoods like White
Fence, Alpine Street, El
Hoyo/Maravilla and Happy
Valley among others.
 These youngsters often adopted
the pachuco style of dressing.
Although there were many
other black and white gangs at
the time, the media, particularly
the Los Angeles Times, chose to
focus on these Mexican
youngsters and portrayed them
as careless hoodlums.
Sleepy Lagoon Case
 On August 1, 1942 members of the 38th Street Club
were involved in a fight with rival gang members.
When they went back to get reinforcements, they
ended up crashing a nearby party. At the party, a fight
ensued. Next morning a guest ended up dead and
members of the 38th Street Gang were blamed. In the
days that followed, 22 members were rounded up and
jailed. The police and prosecutors violated many of
their rights and did not have sufficient evidence to
point to their involvement. But still, they claimed that
“Mexicans were inherently criminal and violent”.
Sleepy Lagoon Case
 Thanks to the Citizen’s
Committee for Latin
American Youth, the
decision was reversed in
1944 but not after the
County prosecutors and
media painted the Mexican
American ethnic group as
bloodthirsty and unruly.
Zoot Suit Riots, 1943
 In the Spring and Summer
of 1943, several incidents
led to the so called “Zoot
Suit Riots” in Southern
California. According to
Rodolfo Acuna, “ Events
climaxed on the evening
of June 7, when thousands
of soldiers, sailors, and
civilians surged down
Main Street and Broadway
in search of pachucos. The
mob crashed into bars and
broke the legs off stools,
using them as clubs.
Zoot Suit Riots
 The press reported 500 zoot suiters ready for battle. By
that time, Filipinos and blacks had also become targets.
Mexicans, beaten and their clothes ripped off, were left
bleeding in the streets. The mob surged into movie
theaters, turning on the lights, marching down the
aisles, and pulling zoot-suit clad youngsters out of their
seats. Police arrested more than 600 Mexican youths
without cause and labeled the arrests ”preventive”
action (Acuna, 2007;204).
Zoot Suit Riots
Luis Valdez- Zoot Suit
Early Chicano
Activism ch.43
1. What is “chuco”?
2. Comment on the “Ayres’ Report”.
3. Who helped to organize the defense
of the Sleepy Lagoon case?
4. What’s your opinion on the quote,
”zoot-suit equals hoodlum”?
5. What were the recommendations of
Earl Warren’s committee?
From Occupied America: A History of
Chicanos by Rodolfo Acuna
Luis Valdez
 A playwright, actor, and
director born in Delano,
California in 1940. He has
used theater as a vehicle for
political activism and making
pointed social statements
through his art.
 Founder of El Teatro
Campesino who also wrote Zoo
Suit in 1977 and produced La
Bamba in 1987.
Luis Valdez
 Valdez became increasingly involved in the Chicano
movement as it gained strength throughout Southwest
and California. He particularly championed the the
cause of the underpaid, overworked migrant farm
laborers. In 1965, he joined Cesar Chavez movement
and formed the Teatro Campesino as a way to educate
and spread the message of the farm worker. They
would often perform one-act plays on the flatbed of
trucks in open fields, community centers, and church
halls.
El Teatro Campesino
Mexican Worker
 Eventhough the War raged
on and many Mexicans
joined the ranks of the
armed forces, many still
faced discrimination at
home. In California,
Mexicans numbered about
457,900 out of a total
population of 6,907,387;
Los Angeles had 315,000
Mexicans.
Mexicans in Los Angeles
As of the summer of 1942, only 5,000 Mexicans worked in the basic industries of
that city. Further, Los Angeles County employed about 16,000 workers, only 400
of whom were Mexican. The war had certainly not broken down racial barriers.
The same account reported that the Los Angeles Police Department employed 22
Mexican American officers out of a force of 2,547 (Acuna 2007:208)
The Bracero Program
 1942- The Emergency Labor Program was established
between US and Mexico. The contract stipulated that
Mexican workers would not displace domestic
workers, exempted braceros from military service, and
obligated the US government to prevent discrimination
against these Mexican workers. The contract also
regulated transportation, housing, and wages of the
braceros.
The Bracero
Program
Under this agreement, over
300,000 braceros were imported
into the US from 1942 and 1947.
Not all braceros worked on farms;
by August 1945, 67,704 braceros
had jobs with US railroads.
About 50,000 braceros were sent to
work in Washington, Oregon,
and Idaho (Acuna,2007:217-8).
Education
 -Mendez v. Westminster
School District , 1946
declared the segregation of
Mexican children in
schools unconstitutional.
There was considerable
cooperation between
LULAC and the National
Association for the
Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) during
the 1940’s and 1950’s.
Gonzalo & Felicitas Mendez
 Sylvia Mendez (born 1936) Mendez grew up during a time
when most southern and southwestern schools were segregated.
In the case of California, Hispanics were not allowed to attend
schools that were designated for “Whites” only and were sent to
the so-called “Mexican schools.”
 Mendez was denied enrollment to a “Whites” only school, an
event which prompted her parents to take action and together
organized various sectors of the Hispanic community who filed a
lawsuit in the local federal court. The success of their action,
would eventually bring to an end the era of segregated education.
Mendez v. Westminster