Mexican Americans: The First Migration

Mexican-Americans: The first migration

Mexican territory consisted of Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California until the Mexican-American War followed by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 and the Gadsden Purchase in 1853. These extended U.S. control over these Mexican territories and the vast majority of the Hispanic population stayed behind and became U.S. citizens.

Due to the turmoil in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution in 1910, hundreds of thousands of refugees fled to the U.S. Although dictator Porfirio Diaz--which lasted thirty one years, twenty seven consecutive--brought peace and opportunity to a select few Mexicans, it was at the expense of the workers, peasants, and the poor. This started the migration of Mexicans to America.

In 1943 the United States was importing thousands of Mexican farm workers under the Bracero Program. They were used for temporary labor without employment rights. According to the 2000 U.S. census, Mexican-Americans make up 7.4% of the U.S. population. Of these people they still tend to work in a labor market without employee rights. Many work with no benefits and hold jobs that pay below minimum wage, such as bus boys, maid and nannies. Their living conditions are reported to be just as abysmal as they were hundreds of years ago, where they are said to inhabit tunnel-like spaces behind building. Many immigrants spend the winter without head with their ovens on broil and sleep on the floor with plywood under a mattress. They suffer with rodent infestations and live many times with more than one person in a crowded space. "Officials from various New York City agencies, according to a New York Times account, estimate that anywhere from ten thousand to fifty thousand immigrants line in cubicles illegally carved out of the basement of private homes and apartment houses, with little light or ventilation and inadequate means of escape (Foner 59)."

Mexican Americans are no strangers to prejudice just like any other people of color. Mexican Americans found themselves targeted by hate groups, from the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920's who had a major influence in Texas to the Neo-Nazis in the 1990's who attacked several Hispanic individuals for looking "Mexican" or "illegal alien", but most victims are native-born citizens. "The news media doesn't focus much on the impact of hate crimes against Mexican Americans, unlike the amount of attention on hate crimes on other minority groups( www.wikipedia.org )." Mexican Americans endured a high level of stereotypes, mainly negativly portrayed immages by the medis as street criminals, poor drifters, "lazy peon" field workers, illegal "alien" immigrants or backward people. They are found on television, movies, musis parodies and comedy (offensive racial jokes). This causes the discrimination on Mexican Americans for most of the 20th century in obtaining employment, education, real estate and financial loands. They are looked at as inferior and slow, but very good for the jobs that don't pay much money. This has caused them to be labeled

as lower class or poor since their migration to the states.

During the Great Depression anywhere from one to two million people were deported in a decade-long effort by the government to free up jobs for those who were considered "real Americans" and rid the county governments of "the problem." Authorized by President Herbert Hoover, the campaign, called the "Mexican Repatriation", targeted areas with large Hispanic populations, mostly in California, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Illinois and Michigan. Although President Franklin D. Roosevelt ended federal support when he took office, many state and local governments continued with their efforts. Estimates now show that approximately 60 percent of the people deported were children who were born in the United States and others who, while of Mexican descent, were legal citizens. Many of these people returned to the United States during the labor shortages of World War II. But racial animosity continued to a point racial violence against Mexican Americans.

Mexican American have made many contributions to American society over the years. A unique musical style developed by Mexican Americans in Texas is called Tejano