TIMELINE
Timelines are important because they connect what happens to the
consequences. For example, the Mexican American War occurred 1846-1848;
one of the many consequences was a continuous migration or return of
Mexicans to their former homeland. Causes often produce domino effects
(more than one consequence). A timeline helps us to line up events, and
relate them to the past. The following is a timeline of Latino history – mostly
within the boundaries of the Euro-American nation. It helped the authors to
conclude that to date there is no Latino history because of the lack of a Latino
presence in the United States prior to 1980. Using the term Latino history
also thwarts the development of the history and identity of other Latino
groups within the United States. The timeline proves that the groups with the
longest history within the United States are Mexicans who were invaded
beginning in the 1820s, and Puerto Ricans whose territory was forcefully
taken in 1898. The timeline is incomplete and readers are encouraged to
email us and expand it.
Citation: Rodolfo F. Acuña, Guadalupe Compeán, eds. Voices of the U.S. Latino
Experience [Three Volumes]. p lvii. Westport: Greenwood, 2008, and
Greenwood eBooks.
<http://ebooks.greenwood.com/reader.jsp?x=GR4020&p=lvii&bc=EGR4020>.
Timeline of U.S. Latino History
1803 The Louisiana Purchase makes New Spain (Colonial Mexico) the
neighbor of the United States and U.S. exploration of the area west of the
Mississippi begins.
1810 In Mexico, Fr. Miguel Hidalgo issues the call for Mexican independence,
beginning 11 years of warfare.
1819 Simón Bolívar, the great Latin American liberator, addresses the
Congress of Angostura and expresses his vision of one Latin America strong
enough to resist the encroachments of Europe and the United States.
Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819, in which Spain cedes Florida to the United States,
is signed after years of border wars.
1821 Treaty of Córdova, in which Mexico gains independence from Spain, is
signed on August 24.
A Congress of Central America declares independence from Spain on
September 15.
Texas Gov. Antonio María Martínez authorizes Euro-American Stephen Austin
to colonize 300 families in Texas. The Spanish originally made this grant to his
father, Moses Austin, who died before completing the contract. Meanwhile,
Texas, while still part of Mexico, gets its independence from Spain.
1823 In his December 2 speech to a joint session of Congress, U.S. President
James Monroe declares that further European colonization in the Americas
will not be permitted. The Monroe Doctrine serves as the justification for U.S.
intervention in the hemisphere to this day.
1824 Mexico's Congress abolishes slave trade in Mexico.
1829 Mexican President Vicente Guerrero abolishes slavery.
1832 Former U.S. congressman Sam Houston arrives in Texas.
1836 White Texans and Mexican elites declare the independence of Texas on
March 2.
Treaty of Velasco between Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Anna
and Texas dissidents is signed on May 14 but never ratified by Mexico's
Congress.
1845 President James Polk's December 2nd State of the Union Address
blames Mexico for tensions between the two countries and makes public
Polk's commitment to the expansion of the United States through the
annexation of Texas, the Oregon territory, and the purchase of California.
1846 The Mexican-American War begins.
1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo forces Mexico to cede 52 percent of its
territory to the United States. In return, the United States pays Mexico $15
million. Article V of the treaty establishes the boundary between both
countries, pending a survey. The controversy over this treaty continues to the
present.
Nearly 600 Mexicans are lynched in the Southwest from this year to 1928.
1849 Survey efforts to establish the border between Mexico and the United
States as required by Article V of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo begin in
San Diego.
1850 Clayton-Bulwer Treaty is signed by the United States and Great Britain,
both rivals in colonizing Central America and particularly concerned over a
proposed isthmian canal. Both agree not to attempt to gain exclusive control
over the canal or Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito Coast, or any part of
Central America.
1853 U.S. Senator Pierre Soulé's January 25 speech, “The Cuban Question,”
heats up the rhetoric to take Cuba from Spain. Soulé and other expansionists
are supported by southern interests.
The Gadsden Purchase is made on December 30 after heavy-handed U.S.
tactics and threats that if not allowed to purchase southern Arizona and parts
of New Mexico from Mexico, the United States will take this land. For $10
million, Mexican authorities cede 45,000 square miles of land—including the
Mesilla Valley as well as use of the Gila River—to the United States.
1854 The Ostend Manifesto, a secret document written by U.S. diplomats
instructing Senator Pierre Soulé to try to buy Cuba from Spain, is signed on
October 18.
1856 Filibusterer William Walker overthrows the government of Nicaragua,
gaining a foothold for slave interests.
1859 In South Texas, Juan Cortina rebels and is chased by the Texas Rangers,
the U.S. Army, and local authorities for the next 15 years.
1868 On September 23, between 600 to 1000 men, mostly Puerto Rican–born,
demand Puerto Rico's independence from Spain but their revolt fails.
The unsuccessful Ten Years War begins and is fought under the leadership of
attorney Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, who issues the Grito de Yara
proclaiming Cuban independence.
1875 Report of the Mexican Commission on the Northern Frontier Question is
issued.
California social bandit Tiburcio Vásquez is executed for murder and his
alleged outlaw activities.
Cuban cigarmakers strike in Florida for better work conditions and higher
wages.
1876
La Ondina del Plata, an Argentine journal, publishes an article by María
Eugenia Echenique on the emancipation of women. Echenique was among a
group of feminist writers who were read throughout the Americas.
1877 Salt War over Euro-American monopoly of salt deposits near El Paso
leads to Mexican American opposition and one of the largest white vigilante
actions against Mexicans in Southwest history.
1880 Mexican Central Railroad links Mexico City to El Paso, accelerating
migration to the United States.
1882 U.S. passage of Chinese Exclusion Act keeps Chinese from entering the
United States for the next 10 years and is the first serious immigration ban in
U.S. history. It was renewed in 1892 and again in 1902, when Congress moved
to make the ban permanent. It remained in effect until 1965.
1890 Manifesto of the Las Vegas, New Mexico White Caps ( Las Gorras
Blancas) declares war on land encroachers who monopolize the land and
water.
1894 The Alianza Hispano Americana, a mutual aid society, was founded by
Tucson, Arizona, elites in response to the growing nativism against Mexicans.
By 1932, this group boasted 11,000 members and was active in civil rights
litigation.
1895 José Martí, Cuban poet and martyr for Cuban independence, leads the
second Cuban War of Independence.
Border wars between Mexico and the United States intensify. Mexican
American Victor Ochoa at El Paso is sentenced for violation of Neutrality Laws
and leading revolutionary bands into Mexico.
1897 In re Ricardo Rodríguez holds that the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
considered Mexicans eligible for citizenship and entitled to full rights under
the U.S. Constitution.
1898 Spanish-American War between Spain and the United States begins
while Cubans are already fighting for their independence.
The Teller Amendment to the U.S. resolution of war with Spain stating that the
United States claims it has no “intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction,
or control” over Cuba and resolves “to leave the government and control of the
island to its people,” passes in Congress.
Treaty of Paris between the United States and Spain is signed. It excludes
Puerto Ricans seeking independence from the bargaining table. The U.S.
occupation of Puerto Rico begins.
1899 “The White Man's Burden,” by English poet Rudyard Kipling is published.
It reinforces the concept that the United States is the custodian of Western
civilization in the world, taking its blessings to less civilized peoples.
1900 U.S. Congress passes the Foraker Act that establishes the governing
structure of Puerto Rico.
1901 Gregorio Cortez, a poor Mexican farm hand who shoots a sheriff who had
shot his brother eludes Texas Rangers and law enforcement during a massive
10-day manhunt. He is immortalized in corridos (ballads) that tell of his
bravery and vicariously identify with his success against the hated Texas
Rangers.
1902 A revolution gives Panama independence from Colombia. Shortly
afterward, Panama signs a treaty giving the United States the right to build a
canal across the Panamanian isthmus.
1903 The Platt Amendment is signed and makes Cuba a U.S. protectorate.
Clifton-Morenci Strike pits 2,000 miners against the territorial militia, federal
troops, and the Arizona Rangers.
1904 “To Roosevelt,” a poem by Nicaraguan Rubén Darío to Theodore
Roosevelt, expresses anger at U.S. intervention and high handiness in Latin
America.
1910 The Mexican Revolution pushes over 10 percent of Mexico's population
to emigrate to the United States over the next decade.
1911 Primer Congreso Mexicanista, Verificado en Laredo, Texas, a congress
of mutual aid societies, meets to discuss recent lynchings and violations of
civil rights.
1912 New Mexico and Arizona are granted U.S. statehood due to an increase
in their white population.
1914 The United States sends troops to Vera Cruz, Mexico, occupying it for six
months over an incident that occurred when U.S. Marines were sent to this
Mexican port under the pretext of preventing a German steamer from
importing arms to Mexico. U.S. steamers bombard the port.
1915 Plan de San Diego calls for the uprising of people of color, the division of
the United States among them, and the killing of white men.
1916 Gen. John Pershing leads an expedition into Mexico to hunt for Mexican
revolutionary hero Pancho Villa, who had invaded Columbus, New Mexico,
earlier that year.
1917 The Literacy Act requires immigrants pass a literacy test that keeps
most Europeans from coming to the United States and increases U.S. demand
for Mexican laborers.
Carmelita Torres, a 17-year-old Mexican maid, refuses to take a gas bath while
crossing the border to work in El Paso. Her actions begin a riot as other
Mexican women refuse to submit to this indignity.
The Jones-Shafroth Act (also known as the Jones Act for Puerto Rico or the
1917 amendments to the “Organic Act of Puerto Rico”) amends the Foraker
Act to confer citizenship on Puerto Ricans.
Nearly 1,200 striking copper miners in Bisbee, Arizona, mostly Mexican, are
rounded up, put on cattle cars, and dumped in the middle of the New
Mexican desert under the pretext that they were members of the radical
Industrial Workers of the World and thus unpatriotic.
1918 Puerto Ricans, as U.S. citizens, are consequently subject to the military
draft.
Large numbers of Mexican Americans serve in U.S. armed forces.
1920s U.S. intervention in Central America and the Caribbean affairs
increases.
Americanization rises as almost 50 percent of U.S. public schools with
Mexican American students are segregated during the decade.
1920 Mexican American sociologist Ernestine M. Alvarado makes a plea for
mutual understanding among Mexican Americans and other Americans.
Protestant organizations challenge Catholic Church hegemony among
Mexicans.
1921 The Immigration Act sets quotas for Europeans, excludes Asians, and
denaturalizes U.S.-born women who marry noncitizens.
Economic recession prompts the deportation or repatriation to Mexico of
thousands of Mexican workers.
1924 The Immigration Act of 1924 sets the policy of national origins,
continues the exclusion of Asians, and reduces the number of immigrants by
using the quota percentage from the 1890 Census instead of the 1910 Census.
It supercedes the 1921 Immigration Act.
1925 Adolfo Romo v Tempe School District, the first U.S. desegregation case,
is tried.
1927 Confederación de Uniones Obreras Mexicanas (Federation of Mexican
Workers Union), CUOM, is founded in Los Angeles.
1928 Imperial Valley Worker's Union goes on strike in California.
1929 The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is organized in
Texas.
Puerto Rican Luis Muñoz Marín rises to leadership, challenging the existing
political parties. He would become the first democratically elected governor
of the island in 1949.
The Great Depression begins.
Repatriation of between 600,000 and a million Mexicans, over 60 percent born
in the United States, occurs between this year and 1936.
1930 Independent School Dist. v. Salvatierra (Texas), a discrimination case, is
filed by the League of United Latin American Citizens. The appeal is dismissed
and allows the school district to continue segregating migrant children
because they start school late in the year. This policy only applies to Mexican
Americans and not white migrant children.
The Lemon Grove segregation case in which Mexican American children were
placed in a separate school in Lemon Grove, California, results in one of the
first successful school desegregation court decisions in the history of the
United States.
U.S. economist Victor S. Clark's Study of Puerto Rico gives a political, social,
and economic portrait of the island and the conditions that were driving
Puerto Rican emigration to the United States.
1933 Cotton pickers in California's San Joaquin Valley, 80 percent of whom
are Mexican, take part in the largest agriculture strike in California history up
to this date. Growers, assisted by police, shoot three strikers down in cold
blood, starve nine infants to death, and beat and wound countless workers.
The strike is broken by government intervention.
1935 The Chicago Defender comments on disturbance in the Puerto Rican
section of Harlem, blaming uneven appropriation of relief to Harlem as
compared to other parts of New York, unemployment, and poor housing
conditions.
1936 Pedro Alibizu Campos, head of the Nationalist Party calling for
independence for Puerto Rico, is convicted of trying to overthrow the U.S.
government after widespread demonstrations the year before led to the killing
of four nationalists and the attempted assassination of the U.S.-appointed
governor of Puerto Rico.
1938 San Antonio pecan shellers, mostly Mexican women, numbering about
12,000, go on strike. During the three-month strike, shellers confront
management and the San Antonio political establishment.
In Ponce, Puerto Rico, on July 25, police fire on demonstrators calling for the
independence of Puerto Rico and protesting the arrest of nationalist leaders.
Seventeen are killed.
1941 World War II begins. It brings huge changes to the hemisphere and to
Latino groups in the United States.
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 8802, June 25,
which calls for equal employment opportunities for minorities in an attempt to
quiet African American charges of racism and blacks' threat to oppose the
draft.
1942 Nearly two dozen Mexican youths are put on trial in the Sleepy Lagoon
case. They are accused of causing the death of José Díaz, a Mexican
American youth, in Los Angeles, California, and convicted on murder and
lesser chargers in an emotionally charged trial. The case is sent back for a
retrial on appeal.
The Bracero program (1942–1964) allows Mexican nationals to take temporary
agricultural work in the United States. More than 4.5 million Mexican nationals
are legally contracted under this program.
1943 The Zoot Suit Riots take place in Los Angeles. Cheered on by the police
and the media, servicemen beat Mexican youths during the course of a week.
1947 Westminster School District of Orange County et al. v. Mendez et al.
desegregates the Orange County, California, school district and ends de jure
segregation of Mexican children.
1948 The body of U.S. Army Pvt. Felix Longoria is returned to Three Rivers,
Texas. The town mortuary refuses to provide services because he is a
Mexican American. Uproar swells the ranks of Hector García's American G.I.
Forum. Longoria is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Puerto Rico's Gov. Luis Muñoz Marin institutes Operation Bootstrap to relieve
the island's unemployment problem. As part of the program, tax exemptions
are given to U.S. industry to exploit cheap labor.
1949 Helped by a massive voter registration drive spearheaded by the
Community Service Organization (CSO), Edward R. Roybal is elected to the Los
Angeles City Council. He is the first Mexican American since 1887 to win a
seat on the Los Angeles City Council.
1950 Approximately 40,000 Puerto Ricans migrate to the mainland United
States in this year.
Puerto Rican nationalist uprisings produce armed attacks in Puerto Rico led
by Blanca Canales. At Blair House in Washington D.C., Puerto Rican
nationalists attempt to assassinate U.S. President Harry Truman.
1952 Walter-McCarran Act passes, making it so anyone accused of voicing the
wrong political opinions (i.e., communism) could be denied entry into the
United States. Those already working in the United States, visiting, or seeking
citizenship, could be deported. Naturalized citizens could be denaturalized and
deported.
1953 Operation Wetback initiates massive sweeps of undocumented Mexican
workers in the United States that continue until 1955 and result in the
deportation of a million Mexicans a year.
1954 Puerto Rican Lolita Lebrón and other Puerto Rican nationalists stage and
take part in a shootout in the rotunda of the U.S. Congress in Washington,
D.C., wounding five congressmen.
Hernandez v. Texas, a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, upholds that
Mexican Americans and all other racial groups in the United States have equal
protection under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. A Mexican had
not been on a jury for over 25 years.
Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz is overthrown by a CIA-sponsored coup.
Military dictators seize control and kill more than 200,000 Guatemalans to
date. Guatemalan migration to the United States accelerates.
1959 Cuban leader Fidel Castro delivers “The Revolution Begins Now” speech
signaling that the Cuban Revolution would not be sold out as it had in 1898
when Cuban leaders did not oppose U.S. intervention.
The first wave of Cuban immigration due to the revolution begins after
tyrannical Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista is overthrown and many of his
supporters leave the island—most migrating to the United States.
The Mexican American Political Association (MAPA) is organized in California.
1960 Viva Kennedy political clubs are established to attract Hispanics to vote
for John F. Kennedy for U.S. president.
1961 Puerto Rican Antonia Pantoja organizes Aspira in New York City. The
group is dedicated to empowering the Puerto Rican community.
Mexican American activist Henry B. González wins election to Congress from
Texas.
1962 Farmworker leader César Chávez, along with Dolores Huerta and others,
form the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA).
New Mexico preacher Reies López Tijerina drafts the first plan of the Alianza
Federal de Mercedes to recover Spanish and Mexican land grants from the
United States.
1963 Crystal City, Texas, revolts lead to Mexican American majority elected to
the city council, led by Juan Cornejo, a local Teamsters Union business agent.
1965 New York City's Puerto Rican population exceeds 1 million, an increase
from 700,000 in 1955 and 13,000 in 1945.
The Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), a mostly Filipino
union, strikes at Delano, California. They are joined by César Chávez and the
NFWA.
U.S. Marines invade Santo Domingo to establish firm grip on the island.
Working-class Dominican migration to the United States increases.
Puerto Rican nationalist Pedro Albizu Campos dies.
The Immigration Act of 1965 passes. This legislation changes U.S.
immigration policy from national origins to family preferences. For the first
time, Latin Americans are placed on a quota.
Voting Rights Act abolishes the poll tax on voting and ends de jure (not de
facto) gerrymandering.
In a speech to the graduating class at Howard University, President Lyndon B.
Johnson frames the concept underlying affirmative action.
1966
The Crusade for Justice is founded by boxer, poet, and activist Rodolfo
“Corky” Gonzales.
1967 The Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) is founded at St.
Mary's College in San Antonio, Texas.
1968 In Chicago, José “Cha Cha” Jiménez reorganizes the Young Lords, a
Puerto Rican street gang, into a political and human rights organization.
The Los Angeles public school Blowouts demand equal education for Mexican
Americans as students and some faculty walk out of class in a coordinated
protest.
The Tlatelolco Massacre of Mexican students in Mexico City causes outrage
among Chicano students in the United States.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) is
founded to pursue civil rights cases.
La Hermandad Mexicana Nacional (Mexican National Brotherhood) founded in
the early 1950s is organized in Los Angeles by Bert Corona and Soledad
“Chole” Alatorre to organize undocumented immigrants.
The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) is founded to organize disparate
Latino organizations under one umbrella.
Bilingual Education Act, or Title VII, of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act (ESEA) encourages instruction in English and multicultural
awareness. It gives school districts the opportunity to provide bilingual
education programs without violating segregation laws. It provides funding
and resources.
1969 Denver Youth Conferences adopt a Chicano identity and the Plan
Espiritual de Aztlán.
Plan of Santa Barbara unifies the movement for Chicano Studies in public
colleges and universities and the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano/a de Aztlán
(MEChA) is founded.
1970 Texas activist José Angel Gutiérrez and MAYO volunteers take control of
the Crystal City, Texas, Board of Education.
La Raza Unida Party (LRUP), a Chicano political party is established on
January 17, 1970 at Campestre Hall in Crystal City, Texas.
On August 29, some 30,000 Chicanos demonstrate against the Vietnam War at
Laguna Park in Los Angeles. A police riot kills three, among them journalist
Rubén Salazar who is shot in the head with a tear gas projectile at close range
while seated at the Silver Dollar Bar.
Cisneros v. Corpus Christi Independent School District is the first case to
extend U.S. Supreme Court's Brown v. the Board of Education decision (1954)
to Mexican Americans. It recognizes them as a minority group that could be
and was frequently discriminated against.
The conspiracy case against Salvador B. Castro, a Los Angles teacher who led
the Los Angeles School Blowout (1968) is dismissed.
1973 The government of Chilean President Salvador Allende is overthrown
with the support of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
1974 The Chicana Research and Learning Center, the first research and
service project in the nation founded and run by and for Mexican American
women, is founded at the University Methodist Student Center in Austin,
Texas.
Lau v. Nichols case determines that students not receiving special help in
school due to their inability to speak English are entitled to this assistance
under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that banned educational
discrimination on the basis of national origin.
Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS), an affiliate of the Industrial
Areas Foundation (IAF), is founded in San Antonio, Texas, to organize
grassroots support in the west and south sides of the city.
1978 University of California Regents v. Bakke imposes limitations on
affirmative action by claiming that affirmative action was unfair if it led to
reverse discrimination. This has resulted in continual litigation led by Mexican
American and Puerto Rican organizations.
1979 The overthrow of Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza starts civil wars
throughout Central America and marks the beginning of mass migrations to
the United States.
1980s Continued violence in Central America drives immigration to the United
States.
1980 Roughly 125,000 people are allowed to leave Cuba from the port of
Mariel. Called Marielitos, most head for the United States.
1986 Initiative Proposition 63, English as the Official Language of California, is
passed with the support of nativist organizations.
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 gives amnesty to undocumented
Latinos.
1990 Janitors in the Century City (Los Angeles) high-rise commercial office
area stage a three-week general strike for improved wages and benefits. Los
Angeles police officers attack a group of 400 nonviolent demonstrators,
injuring two dozen janitors and causing at least two miscarriages.
1992 The Salvadoran Peace Accords are signed, ending that country's civil
war and setting up a mechanism for elections.
1993 United Farm Worker President César Chávez dies in Yuma, Arizona, on
April 23.
1994 The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United
States, Canada, and Mexico is implemented. It encourages the privatization of
Mexico and the further demise of the subsistence farm, leading to a massive
migration of peasants to Mexican cities and the United States.
Proposition 187, which denies illegal immigrants social services, health care,
and public services, is overwhelmingly passed by California voters, penalizing
undocumented residents.
1996 Mexican American union leader Miguel Contreras is elected executive
secretary–treasurer of the Los Angeles Federation of Labor.
Proposition 209 amends the California Constitution to supposedly prohibit
public institutions from discriminating on the basis of race, sex, or ethnicity.
This is prompted by the California Civil Rights Initiative Campaign, which was
designed to eliminate affirmative action. As a consequence, the number of
African Americans college and university students in the state fell: at UCLA in
2006 there were only 100 first-year African American students admitted, down
from 488 in 1996.
1998 Proposition 22, English for the Children, passes by an overwhelming
majority. This initiative ends bilingual education in California's public schools.
2000 Massive protests against U.S. Navy bombardments of the Island of
Vieques off the shore of Puerto Rico lead to arrests and harassment.
2002 Millionaire banker Antonio R. “Tony” Sánchez, Jr., runs unsuccessfully
for governor of Texas.
2003 The Iraq War begins.
2004 Writer Gloria Anzaldúa dies prematurely of cancer. She authored
Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (1987) and other important works
on gender and homophobia.
2005 Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa is elected mayor of Los Angeles,
becoming the first Mexican American mayor of the city since the start of U.S.
rule.
2006 Millions protest nationally on May 1 in response to proposed legislation
known as H.R. 4437 that would raise penalties for illegal immigration and
classify unauthorized immigrants and anyone who helps them as felons.
2007 The U.S. Census Bureau says that Latinos were the largest minority
group in the nation at 42.7 million—an increase of 1.3 million, 800,000 from
natural increase (births minus deaths) and 500,000 from immigration. Latinos
were 3.3 times more likely to be in prison than whites; 4.2 times more likely to
be in prison for murder, and 5.8 times more likely to be in prison for felony
drug crimes.