Transcript Document
Chapter 20 Section 3 States with high populations of Mexican descents • Many people of Mexican descent lived in Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado. • The numbers of Mexicans living in the Southwest steadily increased in the 1800s because the United States acquired territory where Mexicans lived. Migration • In the 1910s and 1920s, some Mexican Americans moved to cities in the Midwest and Northwest. • They hoped to find jobs in factories Barrios • Most Mexican Americans in the Southwest lived in barrios, partly due to ethnic discrimination. • Barrios are poor Hispanic and Latino neighborhoods. Discrimination during the Great Depression • Discrimination in employment also kept Mexican Americans from finding well paying jobs. – Many worked on farms. • Mexican Americans faced more discrimination during the Great Depression. Repatriation • Federal officials deported (sending people from one country to another) many Mexican immigrants in a program known as “repatriation.” Ike and Deportation • More than 3.7 million Mexicans were also deported while Eisenhower was president. • Many of them were legal residents. • Some had even been born in this country. Latin America • In the 1950s, other Latinos arrived in the country. • They included large numbers of Puerto Ricans, and Cubans fleeing a revolution. • By the late 1960s, more than 9 million Latinos lived in the United States. Beginning to organize • Latinos in the American Southwest were often treated as outsiders whether they were citizens or not. • They began to organize to work for equal rights and fair treatment. LULAC • In 1929, several Mexican American groups created the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). • Its purpose was to fight discrimination against Latino Americans. • LULAC helped end segregation in public places in Texas. It also ended the practice of segregating Mexican American children in schools. • LULAC openly criticized officials for deporting so many Latinos. – It also won Mexican Americans the right to serve on juries in Texas. American G.I. Forum • After World War II, Latino veterans were not allowed to join veterans’ groups. • They also could not get the same medical care that other veterans did. • The American G.I. Forum was founded to protect the rights of Latino veterans who were denied medical services by the Veterans Administration. A “dis”service • The American G.I. Forum worked on behalf of a Mexican American soldier killed in the war received national attention. • A funeral home in Texas had refused to hold his funeral. • With the help of President Johnson, the soldier was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Prejudice in the 1960s • Latino Americans still faced prejudice in the 1960s. • They did not have the same rights to education, housing, and employment as other Americans. • Latinos began campaigns to try to improve their economic status. • They also wanted to end discrimination. Chavez and Huerta • In the early 1960s, Latino leaders César Chávez and Dolores Huerta formed two groups to fight for farm workers’ rights. • The result was a strike against California growers in 1965. • The workers demanded union recognition, higher wages, and better benefits. UFW • When that effort failed, Chávez organized a national boycott of table grapes. • Around 17 million people stopped buying grapes. Profits tumbled. • In 1966 Chávez and Huerta merged their two organizations to form the United Farm Workers (UFW). • The boycott lasted until 1970. Grape growers agreed to raise wages and improve working conditions. MAYO • Latino youths also became involved in civil rights. • The Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) led school walkouts and demonstrations. Bilingual Education • In 1969, protests by MAYO led to creation of a bilingual education program, in which immigrant students are taught in their own language while they learn English. La Raza Unida • Its success led to a new political party, La Raza Unida, in 1969. • La Raza Unida, also called, “United People,” worked for Latino causes, encouraged Latinos to vote, and helped to elect Latino candidates at the local level. Berkeley…again • At the University of California at Berkeley in 1969, students staged a sit-in to demand the creation of a Chicano Studies program. Overall • Many Mexican Americans began to fight prejudice and celebrate ethnic pride. • Leaders began to promote bilingualism, or teaching immigrant students in their own language while they learn English.