Created by: Mr. Chansen, Stephen T.
Department Head - Sunset High School
Dallas Independent School District
History
• Americans of Mexican heritage have been in what is now the United
States since well before the founding of the Republic.
• Immigration to the U.S. from Mexico and other Latin American nations
rose sharply during the 20th century.
• Partly due to unrest and revolutions in Mexico
• Most remained in the American Southwest, Texas, and California.
Discrimination
• Most people of Hispanic heritage lived in Barrios.
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Barrio – A segregated Hispanic neighborhood.
These were the product of both the regions history and of discrimination.
Most Barrios were full of run-down & dilapidated housing.
High rate of crime, disease, and infant death
• Discrimination extended to employment as well
• Most Hispanics were forced into working low-paying menial jobs like agricultural-labourers.
• During the Great Depression the Hispanic community faced increased discrimination as jobs
became increasingly scarcer.
• This in turn resulted in some returning voluntarily, and others being forced to return to Latin
America by a program of repatriation.
• Repatriation – being restored or returned to the country of origin, allegiance, or citizenship.
• World War II resulted in labour shortages
• Bracero Program – Allowing Mexicans to enter the U.S. for a short term work contract, mainly
for farm work.
• After the war in 1954, President Eisenhower began a program to deport illegal immigrants.
• Deported about 3.7 million Mexicans over the next 3 years
• Unfortunately, the program was not to careful, and rounded up people merely for “looking Mexican,”
and often would deport U.S. citizens
Others Hispanics begin to Arrive
• Mexicans remained and continue to remain the largest group of
Latino immigrants to the U.S.
• Puerto Ricans began to arrive in increasing numbers
• They had an advantage, they had all been U.S. citizens since 1917
• Most settled in places along the East Coast like New York City
• There they encountered high crime and poverty
• Following the Communist Revolution in Cuba in 1959, over 350,000
Cubans came to the U.S.
• Most settled around Miami in south Florida
• Many were well educated professionals
• Welcomed to the U.S. as refugees fleeing a communist regime
• By 1970 – over 9 million Latinos lived in the U.S.
Latinos Organize
• 1929 – Several Mexican-American organizations came together to form
the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
• Its purpose was to fight discrimination against Latinos
• Membership was limited to Latinos that were U.S. citizens
• Encouraged assimilation into the American culture
• Made English its official language
• Mendez v. Westminster
• Group of Mexican parents won a court-case against school segregation in
California
• 2 years later, LULAC also went to court to end Texas’ practice of sending
Spanish-speaking students to “Mexican” schools.
• 1950’s - LULAC was also very vocal in protesting the deportation policies
• 1954 – Hernandez v. Texas, awarded more rights to Latino citizens,
including the right to serve on a jury.
Latinos Organize
• Another Latino Organization was the American GI Forum
• Founded by Dr. Hector P. Garcia
• Protected the rights of Mexican-American veterans
• After WWII, Latinos were excluded from veterans organizations
• Also denied medical services by the Veterans Administration
• Brought national attention to a funeral home when it refused to service
the funeral of a soldier from WWI because he was a Latino
• The soldier ended up being buried at Arlington National Cemetery
• The American GI Forum began to expand and fight for all Latinos
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Paid poll taxes of poor Hispanics
Fought against school segregation
Helped fundraise for attorneys
Worked to register Latino voters
• 1968 – Dr. Garcia was appointed to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
• Today the Forum has nearly 160,000 members
Protest and Progress
• Beginning of the 1960’s
• Latinos were still facing discrimination in education, employment and housing.
• Cesar Chavez & Dolores Huerta organize two different groups that fought for
farm-workers
• 1965 – the groups go on strike in California
• Demand Union recognition
• Higher wages
• Better benefits
• When employers resisted, Chavez boycotted table-grapes and the industry
profits plunged
• 1966 – Chavez’ and Huerta’s organizations merge
• New group called the United Farm Workers (UFW)
• 1968 – Chavez holds a hunger strike which lasts for 25 days to protest talk of
violent protest within the organization
• 1970 – Employers give up and agree to higher wages and better working
conditions
Latino Students
• 1967 – Latino college students in San Antonio TX, led by Jose Angel
Gutierrez, founded the Mexican America Youth Organization (MAYO)
• Organized walk-out & strikes to protest discrimination
• One walk-out led to the creation of a bi-lingual education program in a Texas
high school.
• 1969 – Gutierrez founds a new political party, La Raza Unida
• Called for job training programs & better access to financial institutions
• By the early 1970’s it had elected Latinos to offices in several major cities
• Mexican-Americans began to refer to themselves as Chicanos
• Many fought to implement bilingualism in schools
• Bilingualism – the practice of teaching immigrant students in their own language
• This was very controversial and an English-only movement sprang up
• By 2000, over half the U.S. states had passed laws making English the official language
• The effort of fighting discrimination had fostered new-found pride
in the cultural identity of Hispanics.
• During the 1960’s a new art movement sprang up called the Chicano Mural
Movement
• Artist teamed up with community volunteers and painted large murals on walls
and the side of schools, churches, and highway overpasses.
• Inspired by artists Diego Garcia and Jose Orozco.
• Depicted Mexican-American culture
• Reminded Latinos of their cultural heritage and religion
• Major impact was it reminded Hispanics of their cultural impact on
and value to the United States.
• However a downside was that in some places it further separated
Hispanics, rather than focusing on uniting them with the rest of the
American population.