Mexican American

History

1848-present

Chicano=Mexican American

Mexican-American War, 1846-1848• Causes:

-disputes over border -American settlement of Mexican territory

• Result: -U.S. Army seized Mexico City-Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo signed to end war

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, 1848

• Mexico gave nearly half its land to USA(Entire Southwest U.S.--Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado)

• U.S. promise to Mexicans living in new terr.:1) to respect their right to the land2) U.S. citizenship (nearly 80,000 stayed)

Transformation to Second-Class Citizens, late 1800s

• Loss of Land: Mexican land owners had to prove right to their land in U.S. court -U.S. gov’t did not recognize Mexican or Spanish land grants

-Landowners often had to sell their land to pay legal fees

• No land to ranch or farm work for whites • Barrios: segregated Mexican American

neighborhoods, U.S. cities often built around Mexican settlements

Immigration to U.S., 1900s

• 1920s: Over 500,000 Mexicans came to U.S. on permanent visas (work permits)

• Benefits: Higher pay, more safety in U.S.• Segregation: Schools, restaurants, theaters,

other public places “whites only” until 1940s

•1910 Revolution in Mexico caused wave of immigration to U.S.

Great Depression=Deportation

• Dust Bowl: major drought in Midwest; 2.5 million farmers migrated west to find work

• Repatriation Program: U.S. gov’t pressured Mexican farm workers to return to Mexico-Search for “illegal aliens” began, those without legal residency permits deported

World War II: Bracero Program• WWII: Chicano farm workers

got jobs in factories• Bracero Program (1942-1964):

U.S. gov’t shipped in more Mexicans, under contract to U.S. growers and ranchers-Temporary workers: expected to return to Mexico

• Operation Wetback (1953): INS swept Mexican American communities, deporting over 1 million illegal immigrants

Farm Workers’ Movement, 1960s• Cesar Chavez led push to

unionize farm workers (strike/better conditions)

• UFW founded 1962 (United Farm Workers union)

• 1966: 340-mile march from Delano, CA to Sacramento, CA

• 1966: Grape Boycott• 1968: Hunger Strike • 1970: grape growers accepted

contract with UFW

Present Day

• 2000 census: 13% of Americans identified as Hispanic (59% of them Mexican)

• 87% of these live in West and South• Issues:

1) Crackdown on illegal immigration (Border Patrol, AZ profiling law)2) Guest-worker program, amnesty for some illegal immigrants?