Market Economies, the
Mexican Revolution and the
“Mexican Problem”
Mexicans in the United States,
1910-1929
Major Themes

The U.S. and the Mexican national projects had a
profound impact on the lives of Mexicans in the
U.S., especially between 1910-1920.
 Between 1910-1930 the segregation of Mexicans
in the U.S. was completed, its establishment was
marked by extraordinary violence.
 Memories of the Mexican-American War of 1848
were reshaped during the Progressive Era in ways
that negatively affected Mexicans.
 Mexicans were negatively affected by the use of
popular scientific theories such as eugenics.
 After WWI and into the 1920s many Mexicans in
the U.S. pursued an American identity and rights.
Key Questions

How are different groups portrayed in the film,
Martyrs of the Alamo?
 What is historical memory?
 What impact did violence have on establishing
segregation?
 What were the main causes of the Mexican
Revolution?
 What effect did the Mexican Revolution have on
Mexicans in the U.S.?
 What was “The Mexican Problem”?
 What effects did World War I have on Mexicans in
the U.S.?
Nationalism, The Alamo and
Historical Memory

Martyrs of the Alamo
Lynching of Mexicans


What is lynching?
How prevalent was the lynching of Mexicans?
Rates of Mexican and African American Victims of Lynching
Time Period
1880-1930
Mexica n Victims per
100,000
African American Victims per
100,000
27.4
37.2
Lynching, continued
Lynchings of Mexicans by State, 1848-1930
State
Numbe r of Lynchings
Texas
282
California
188
Arizona
59
New Mexico
49
Colorado
6

Responses to
Lynching
The Mexican Revolution (1910-1920)
From top left clockwise: Porfirio Diaz-deposed Mexican President, Pancho Villa &
Emiliano Zapata-revolutionary leaders, revolutionary fighters, both men and women.
Effects of the Mexican Revolution
Ricardo and Enrique Flores Magon
“The Mexican Problem”
Clarence Barron
Press Release opposing Mexican immigration due to eugenic concerns
from C.M. Goethe. Goethe was a prominent California businessman
and founder of California State University-Sacramento. This document
is representative of Eugenicists’ beliefs about racial difference. Goethe
held onto such beliefs long after eugenics’ popularity declined.
World War I(1914-1918) & the League
of United Latin American Citizens
(LULAC) founded 1929
For Further Reading
Carrigan, William D. The Making of a Lynching Culture: Violence and Vigilantism in Central Texas, 1836-1916.
Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004.
Carrigan, William D., and Clive Webb. “The Lynching of Persons of Mexican Origin or Descent in the United
States, 1848 to 1928.” Journal of Social History 37, no. 2 (Winter 2003): 411-438.
Cole, Stephanie, Alison Marie Parker, and Laura F. Edwards. Beyond Black & White: Race, Ethnicity and Gender
in the U.S. South and Southwest. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2004.
Flores Magón, Ricardo. Dreams of Freedom: A Ricardo Flores Magón Reader. Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2005.
Flores, Richard R. Remembering the Alamo: Memory, Modernity, and the Master Symbol. Austin, TX: University
of Texas Press, 2002.
Gonzales-Day, Ken. Lynching in the West, 1850-1935. Durham: Duke University Press, 2006.
Gonzalez, Gilbert G. Culture of Empire: American Writers, Mexico, and Mexican Immigrants, 1880-1930. Austin:
University of Texas Press, 2004.
Harris, Charles H., III, and Louis R. Sadler. The Texas Rangers and the Mexican Revolution: The Bloodiest
Decade, 1910-1920. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2007.
León, Arnoldo De. They Called them Greasers: Anglo Attitudes toward Mexicans in Texas, 1821-1900. Austin:
University of Texas Press, 1983.
Montejano, David. Anglos and Mexicans in the making of Texas, 1836-1986. Austin: University of Texas Press,
1987.
Orozco, Cynthia. No Mexicans, Women, or Dogs Allowed: The Rise of the Mexican American Civil Rights
Movement. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2009.
Pfeifer, Michael James. Rough justice: Lynching and American Society, 1874-1947. Urbana: University of Illinois
Press, 2004.
Poniatowska, Elena. Las Soldaderas: Women of the Mexican Revolution. El Paso: Cinco Puntos Press, 2006.
Romo, David. Ringside Seat to a Revolution: An Underground Cultural History of El Paso and Juárez, 18931923. El Paso, Tex: Cinco Puntos Press, 2005.
Rosales, Francisco Arturo. Pobre Raza!: Violence, Justice, and Mobilization among México Lindo Immigrants,
1900-1936. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1999.
Stern, Alexandra. Eugenic Nation: Faults and Frontiers of Better Breeding in Modern America. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2005.