Research Assignment : Mexican Americans

"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots." was said by Marcus Garvey. Some observers may criticize the fact that Mexican American History is taught at the greater academic level, however a more diverse curriculum is fundamental in developing an awareness for racism; the recognition of potential self-subjugation through lack of education; and the basic obligation to keep students cognizant of a world beyond themselves. Mexican American History as well as the histories of other cultures/countries should be taught in the classroom for the sake of cultivating a broader

All over the world there are many features that make up a culture. Culture can be defined as the characteristics, attitudes, knowledge and beliefs of a group of people, relating to language, cuisine, religion, interaction, lifestyle, and more which is learned through socialization. These aspects of cultures are what distinguishes it from others. It is interesting to explore and learn about new cultures. I will be focusing on the Mexican culture, their religion, death, family life, weddings and ….

Hispanics have been immigrating to America since the beginning of the Spanish Colonial era. Up until the 1920’s Mexican Americans have boomed in rural places in america. The 1920’s was meeting the beginning of a renaissance, a better promised life for both native americans as well as immigrants. Businesses were booming, wages were higher, and the industry was creating a bright future for America. However, Mexican Americans continued to face hardships as well as few successes leading up to the 1920’s. Whether these were Native born Americans with a Hispanic background or newly immigrated Mexicans, Mexican Americans faced the hardship of poverty, discrimination, segregation, and struggles during the 1920’s.

I will be applying the three major sociological perspectives, which include functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism to the experiences of Hispanic Americans. No ethnic group attracts more public attention than the Hispanic people do due to their large numbers, their residential clustering, and bilingual programs and signs associated with them making them a recognizable ethnic group. Hispanic people who live in poverty or the small number involved in gangs, drugs, or other criminal activity get more attention and generate negative stereotypes, but most of them live as members of the middle class.

Latinos rather than Hispanic-Americans will be used in this entry since the former term is considered as more inclusive. Latinos refer to people living in the United States, who originally were from Spanish- and Portuguese speaking countries in Latin America as well as Spain and Portugal. The term Hispanics refers to people from Spanish speaking countries, which would encompass Latin America (except for Brazil where Portuguese is the predominant language) and Spain. “Hispanic” is a term used in the United States, which originated in 1980 with the U.S. Census Bureau. This term is not used in Latin America and Spain.

Mexicans immigrated to the United States back in the 1800's (Stanford, 2006). During 1848 the United States took over a part of Mexico which is now the Southwest (Stanford, 2006). Mexicans living in these areas were Mexican citizens before the acquisition. The United States even went into agreements with Mexico to have Mexicans work in the United States. Mexicans were treated with cruelty, while working the agriculture fields for years. The United States made several agreements with Mexico to have the Mexicans come work in the United States while American soldiers were fighting in the world wars. The labor shortage that the United States went through was reason enough to have Mexicans migrate to the United States as laborers. The United

Mexican’s American who are they, and why did they migrate to American; what were they in search of.

People fighting against injustices are something that happens every day it is inevitable unless the injustices cease to exist. As stated before social movements happen because of a certain injustice. This can be from people feeling oppressed from their race, sex, or sexuality. They have had many contributions to society mainly helping those and they get rid of oppression. While inspiring others who are oppressed as well to set up and speak up again their oppressors. Mainly helping other groups use the same successful tactic that other social group has done in the past or present. Some of these groups that are looked back upon on how successful their tactics were are the early Women's movement, Africa American movement, Chicano Movement, and

An immigrant that is coming to the United States has the emotion and perception that draws to a country of opportunities; that will live in a country that will be friendly. However, most of the time, immigrant do not know that they are coming to live in a different culture, and because of that, they need to experience and adjustment in many ways, and an adjustment that will help them to do many things with confidence.

Hispanic on Board: How does Hispanic experience gap in career promotion in comparison with American employee.

Some of the very first Mexican’s migrated to the United States in the early 1900’s during Mexico’s Revolution. The Mexican Revolution began in 1910 and lasted until 1921. The United States kept out of the revolution although it did supply Mexico with weapons. Mexico was full of chaos, and there was no law or order within the country. Many early Mexicans left due to this factor, and went to the United States in search for a better life. When the United States entered WWI in 1917, there was a search for unskilled workers. During this time the U.S. was very welcoming and friendly to Mexican immigrants. But, when the United States was no longer in need of the Mexican workers they deported them back to Mexico. The U.S. sent mixed signals to the Mexican immigrants like this all the time. It was believed in the U.S. by governing officials that what may be necessary and beneficial at one point in time, may not be so at another. And, they acted accordingly to this fact.

Most Mexican-origin people in the United States live in places that were once part of their homeland. The Great depression was a massive global economic crisis that took place from 1929 to 1941. During this decade, Mexicans people became targets for nativist who blamed them for unemployment and demanded they be deported. By 1929, the richest 1 percent of the population owned 40 percent of the nations wealth, while the bottom 93 percent experienced a 4 percent drop in per capita income. Between 1929 and 1932, more than 13 million workers lost their jobs. Mexicans as a whole were vulnerable; they worked at menial jobs that the Depression hit the hardest. Unemployed white “Americans” began to look for any kind of work, even “Mexican work,” which they once avoided. The California legislator passed the 1931 Alien Labor Law, which forbade contractors from hiring non-citizens workers for highway construction, school and government office buildings, and other public projects.

The standard way of thinking about Mexican-American is as immigrants. However, as previously mentioned, they did not start off as immigrants. Their land was won by the United States during the Mexican-War. Yes, they had the option to return to Mexico, but that didn’t include returning to their land. It was their land or their country. Many chose to stay because they were not guaranteed any land if they went back. In addition, the Treaty of Guadeloupe promised equal treatment as Anglo-Saxons. The opposite was done, instead of freedom Mexican-American face internal Colonisation. They were only seen as low-class laborers and had absolutely no rights.

Ever since the 1900s, there has been a large number of Mexicans immigrating illegally and legally into the United States. During this time, Mexicans mostly lived in the southwestern part of America, where most schools in the area were segregated, job opportunities were limited, public facilities were limited to Mexican Americans and housing was in poor quality. “For example, in California, public swimming pools were open only one day a week for Mexican Americans” (Daniels). “In 1993 the National School Boards Association found

In 2014, 35 million Americans identified as Hispanic, of whom 64 percent said they had Mexican heritage - almost 11 percent of the total population. As birthrates for Hispanics exceed those of Anglos, demographers estimate that by 2042 non-Hispanic whites will be a numerical minority in the United States. At the beginning of this century, there were twenty-one states where Hispanics were the largest ethnic minority.