An Encyclopedia

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

An Encyclopedia Linga B/950635 AN ENCYCLOPEDIA Volume One David J. Leonard and Carmen R. Lugo-Lugo, editors SHARPE REFERENCE an imprint qfSd.E. Sharpe, Inc. Contents Topic Finder ix Blowouts 73 Contributors xv Bolivians 74 Acknowledgments xix Boricua 76 Preface xxi Boxing 77 Bracero Program 78 Volume 1 Brazilians 80 Essays Brothers to the Rescue 82 History: 1492-1900 3 Brown Berets 83 History: 1900-1965 11 History: 1965-Present 19 Carnalismo 87 Castellanos, Rosario 88 A-Z Entries Castillo, Ana 89 Acculturation and Assimilation 31 Castro, Fidel 90 Acosta, Oscar 34 Central American Resource Center 93 Acuna, Rodolfo 35 Chavez, Cesar 95 Afro-Latinos 36 Chavez Ravine 98 Afro-Mexicans 38 Chicago 99 AIDS/HIV 39 Chicanisma 101 Alamo, Battle of the 43 Chicanismo 103 Albizu Campos, Pedro 46 Chicano/a 106 Algarin, Miguel 47 Chicano Art 107 Alvarez, Julia 48 Chicano Movement 109 American GI Forum 50 Chicano Studies Ill Anaya, Rudolfo Alfonso 52 Chileans 113 Anzaldiia, Gloria 53 Cholos 115 Arenas, Reinaldo 54 Cinco de Mayo 116 Argentines 55 Circular Migration 119 ASPIRA 57 Cisneros, Henry 121 Aztlan 58 Cisneros, Sandra 123 Clemente, Roberto 124 Baca, Judith F. 61 Cofer, Judith Ortiz 125 Balseros 62 Colombians 127 Baseball 63 Communist Party 128 Basketball 66 Community Service Organization 130 Bay of Pigs Invasion 68 Congressional Hispanic Caucus 131 Bear Flag Revolt 69 Conquest of the Americas 132 Bilingualism 70 Consumerism 135 Blair House Attack 72 Corona, Bert 137 Corridos 139 Gonzalez, Elian 209 Costa Ricans 140 Gonzalez, Henry Barbosa 210 Coyotes 141 Gonzalez, Jose-Luis 212 Cruz, Celia 143 Graffiti 213 Crystal City, Texas 144 Grape Strikes and Boycotts 215 Cuban Adjustment Acts (1966, 1996) 145 "Greaser Act" (1855) 218 Cuban American National Foundation 146 Gringo 219 Cuban Refugee Center 148 Grito, El 220 Cuban Refugee Program 149 Guagua Aerea 221 Cubans 150 Guatemalans 222 Culture Clash 152 Guevara, Ernesto "Che" 224 Gutierrez, Jose Angel 226 De La Hoya, Oscar 155 Del Rio Independent School District v. Health and Health Care 229 Salvatierra (1930) 157 Hijuelos, Oscar 233 Dia de la Raza 158 Hip-Hop 234 Dia de los Muertos 159 Hispanic Heritage Month 237 Dominican Day Parade 160 Hondurans 238 Dominicans 161 Housing and Living Conditions 240 Huerta, Dolores 242 East L.A. Thirteen 163 East Los Angeles 164 Identity and Labels 245 Ecuadorians 165 Illegal Immigration 249 Education 167 Immigration Act of 1924 252 Escalante, Jaime 171 Immigration Act of 1990 254 Estefan, Gloria 173 Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 255 Immigration Enforcement 257 Family and Community 177 Immigration Reform and Control Act Farah Strike 179 of 1986 261 Farmingville, New York 181 Indigenismo 263 Feminism 183 Internal Colony 266 Ferrer, Jose 185 Film 187 Jones Act (1917) 269 Flores Magon, Ricardo 188 Justice for Janitors 270 Foods and Beverages 189 Foraker Act (1900) 193 Kahlo, Frida 273 Foreign Miners' Tax (1850) 194 Kennedy, Robert F 275 Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacidn King, Martin Luther, Jr 276 Nacional (FALN) 195 La Raza 279 Galarza, Ernesto 197 La Raza Unida Party 280 Gamio, Manuel 198 Latinidad/Latinaje 282 Gangs 199 Latinization 284 Garcia, Cristina 201 Latino/a 287 Garcia, Hector P. 203 Latino Studies 290 Gay and Lesbian Organizations 205 League of United Latin American Citizens 291 Gonzales, Rodolfo "Corky" 207 Lemon Grove Incident 294 Contents VII Lesbianas Unidas 295 Museo del Barrio, El 368 Levins Morales, Aurora 296 Music 370 LLEG6 298 Lopez, Jennifer 298 Narvaez, Panfilo 375 Los Angeles 300 National Agricultural Workers Union 376 Lowriders 304 National Association of Cuban-American Women 377 Volume 2 National Boricua Latino Health Macheteros, Los 307 Organization 378 Machismo 308 National Chicano Moratorium 379 Malinche, La 310 National Conference of Puerto Rican Women.... 380 Manifest Destiny 312 National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights 381 Marianismo 314 National Council of Hispanic Women 382 Mariel Boatlift 316 National Council of La Raza 383 Marielitos 317 National Farm Labor Union 385 McCarran-Walter Act (1952) 318 National Puerto Rican Coalition 386 Medrano v. Allee (1972) 320 Nationalism 387 Mendez v. Westminster School District (1946) 321 New York 391 Mestizo/a 323 Nicaraguans 395 Mexican American Legal Defense and Norte, El (1985) 396 Education Fund 323 North American Free Trade Agreement 398 Mexican-American Movement 325 Novello, Antonia 402 Mexican American Political Association 328 Nuyorican 403 Mexican American Student Association 330 Nuyorican Poets Cafe 405 Mexican American Women's National Association 331 Operation Bootstrap 407 Mexican American Youth Organization 332 Operation Wetback 409 Mexican-American War 334 Opinion, La 411 Mexicans 337 Miami 339 Pachuco 413 Migrant Workers 340 Padilla, Jose 414 Military, Latinos in the 342 Panamanians 416 Miscegenation 347 Paraguayans 417 Moraga, Cherrie 349 Pena, Albert A., Jr 418 Morales, Iris 351 Perez, Emma 419 Moreno, Rita 353 Performance Art, Solo 421 Mothers of East L.A 354 Peruvians 422 Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano Plan de Santa Barbara, El 424 de Aztlan 355 Plan Espiritual de Aztlan, El 425 Mujeres Activas en Letras y Platt Amendment (1901) 427 Cambio Social 357 Politics 428 Mulataje 359 Popular Culture '. 435 Mulatto/a 360 Poverty 440 Munoz Marin, Luis 362 Poverty, Culture of 442 Mufioz Rivera, Luis 363 Prinze, Freddie 444 Mural Art 365 Prison Gangs 445 Murrieta, Joaquin 367 Prison Industrial Complex 447 viii Contents Proposition 187 (1994) 449 Taos Rebellion 521 Proposition 209 (1996) 451 Teatro Campesino, El 522 Proposition 227 (1998) 454 Tejanos 524 Puente.Tito 456 Telemundo 525 Puerto Rican Day Parade 457 Television 526 Puerto Rican Literature 459 Telles, Raymond 530 Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers Tenayuca, Emma 531 Organization 462 Tex-Mex 532 Puerto Rican Studies 463 Third World Liberation Front 534 Puerto Ricans 465 Thomas, Piri 535 Tijerina, Reies Lopez 536 Quinceafiera 467 Tracking 539 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) 540 Race 471 Trevino, Lee 542 Religion 472 Repatriation 477 Unions, Industrial and Trade 545 Resident Commissioner, Puerto Rico 479 United Farm Workers of America 548 Rodriguez, Alex 480 Univision 550 Rodriguez, Luis J 482 Uruguayans 552 Rodriguez, Richard 483 Rodriguez de Tfo, Lola 485 Valdez, Luis 555 Roybal, Edward R 486 Valenzuela, Fernando 556 Ruiz de Burton, Maria Amparo 487 Venezuelans 558 Vieques, Puerto Rico 559 Salazar, Ruben 489 Vietnam War 561 Salvadorans 490 Villaraigosa, Antonio 563 Samora, Julian 492 Viva Kennedy Clubs 564 Santiago, Esmeralda 494 Selena 495 West Side Story 567 Serra, Junipero 497 Women 568 Sleepy Lagoon Case 498 Wrestling, Professional 570 Soccer 500 Sosa, Sammy 503 Yo Soyjoaqmn 575 Sotomayor, Sonia 505 Young Lords 576 Southwest Voter Registration Education Project 506 Zapatistas 581 Spanglish 507 Zoot Suit Riots 583 Spanish Language 508 Spanish-American War 511 Chronology 587 Spirituality 515 Bibliography 599 Sterilization 517 Index 1-1.
Recommended publications
  • Los Veteranos—Latinos in WWII
    Los Veteranos—Latinos in WWII Over 500,000 Latinos (including 350,000 Mexican Americans and 53,000 Puerto Ricans) served in WWII. Exact numbers are difficult because, with the exception of the 65th Infantry Regiment from Puerto Rico, Latinos were not segregated into separate units, as African Americans were. When war was declared on December 8, 1941, thousands of Latinos were among those that rushed to enlist. Latinos served with distinction throughout Europe, in the Pacific Theater, North Africa, the Aleutians and the Mediterranean. Among other honors earned, thirteen Medals of Honor were awarded to Latinos for service during WWII. In the Pacific Theater, the 158th Regimental Combat Team, of which a large percentage was Latino and Native American, fought in New Guinea and the Philippines. They so impressed General MacArthur that he called them “the greatest fighting combat team ever deployed in battle.” Latino soldiers were of particular aid in the defense of the Philippines. Their fluency in Spanish was invaluable when serving with Spanish speaking Filipinos. These same soldiers were part of the infamous “Bataan Death March.” On Saipan, Marine PFC Guy Gabaldon, a Mexican-American from East Los Angeles who had learned Japanese in his ethnically diverse neighborhood, captured 1,500 Japanese soldiers, earning him the nickname, the “Pied Piper of Saipan.” In the European Theater, Latino soldiers from the 36th Infantry Division from Texas were among the first soldiers to land on Italian soil and suffered heavy casualties crossing the Rapido River at Cassino. The 88th Infantry Division (with draftees from Southwestern states) was ranked in the top 10 for combat effectiveness.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Building Bridges: the Challenge of Organized
    BUILDING BRIDGES: THE CHALLENGE OF ORGANIZED LABOR IN COMMUNITIES OF COLOR Robin D. G. Kelley New York University [email protected] What roles can labor unions play in transforming our inner cities and promo ting policies that might improve the overall condition of working people of color? What happens when union organizers extend their reach beyond the workplace to the needs of working-class communities? What has been the historical role of unions in the larger struggles of people of color, particularly black workers? These are crucial questions in an age when production has become less pivotal to working-class life. Increasingly, we've witnessed the export of whole production processes as corporations moved outside the country in order to take advantage of cheaper labor, relatively lower taxes, and a deregulated, frequently antiunion environment. And the labor force itself has changed. The old images of the American workingclass as white men residing in sooty industrial suburbs and smokestack districts are increasingly rare. The new service-based economy has produced a working class increasingly concentrated in the healthcare professions, educational institutions, office building maintenance, food processing, food services and various retail establishments. 1 In the world of manufacturing, sweatshops are coming back, particularly in the garment industry and electronics assembling plants, and homework is growing. These unions are also more likely to be brown and female than they have been in the past. While white male membership dropped from 55.8% in 1986 to 49.7% in 1995, women now make up 37 percent of organized labor's membership -- a higher percentage than at any time in the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • George I. Sanchez and the Civil Rights Movement: 1940-1960
    George I. Sanchez and the Civil Rights Movement: 1940-1960 Ricardo Romo* This article is a tribute to Dr. George I. Sanchez and examines the important contributions he made in establishing the American Council of Spanish-Speaking People (ACSSP) in 1951. The ACSSP funded dozens of civil rights cases in the Southwest during the early 1950's and repre- sented the first large-scale effort by Mexican Americans to establish a national civil rights organization. As such, ACSSP was a precursor of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and other organizations concerned with protecting the legal rights of Mexican Americans in the Southwest. The period covered here extends from 1940 to 1960, two crucial decades when Mexican Ameri- cans made a concerted effort to challenge segregation in public schools, discrimination in housing and employment, and the denial of equal ac- cess to public places such as theaters, restaurants, and barber shops. Although Mexican Americans are still confronted today by de facto seg- regation and job discrimination, it is of historical and legal interest that Mexican American legal victories, in areas such as school desegregation, predated by many years the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education and the civil rights movement of the 1960's. Sanchez' pioneering leadership and the activities of ACSSP merit exami- nation if we are to fully comprehend the historical struggle of the Mexi- can American civil rights movement. In a recent article, Karen O'Conner and Lee Epstein traced the ori- gins of MALDEF to the 1960's civil rights era.' The authors argued that "Chicanos early on recongized their inability to seek rights through traditional political avenues and thus sporadically resorted to litigation ..
    [Show full text]
  • Mexican American History Resources at the Briscoe Center for American History: a Bibliography
    Mexican American History Resources at the Briscoe Center for American History: A Bibliography The Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin offers a wide variety of material for the study of Mexican American life, history, and culture in Texas. As with all ethnic groups, the study of Mexican Americans in Texas can be approached from many perspectives through the use of books, photographs, music, dissertations and theses, newspapers, the personal papers of individuals, and business and governmental records. This bibliography will familiarize researchers with many of the resources relating to Mexican Americans in Texas available at the Center for American History. For complete coverage in this area, the researcher should also consult the holdings of the Benson Latin American Collection, adjacent to the Center for American History. Compiled by John Wheat, 2001 Updated: 2010 2 Contents: General Works: p. 3 Spanish and Mexican Eras: p. 11 Republic and State of Texas (19th century): p. 32 Texas since 1900: p. 38 Biography / Autobiography: p. 47 Community and Regional History: p. 56 The Border: p. 71 Education: p. 83 Business, Professions, and Labor: p. 91 Politics, Suffrage, and Civil Rights: p. 112 Race Relations and Cultural Identity: p. 124 Immigration and Illegal Aliens: p. 133 Women’s History: p. 138 Folklore and Religion: p. 148 Juvenile Literature: p. 160 Music, Art, and Literature: p. 162 Language: p. 176 Spanish-language Newspapers: p. 180 Archives and Manuscripts: p. 182 Music and Sound Archives: p. 188 Photographic Archives: p. 190 Prints and Photographs Collection (PPC): p. 190 Indexes: p.
    [Show full text]
  • One Industry, One Union, One Contract: How Justice for Janitors Organized
    ONE INDUSTRY, ONE UNION, ONE CONTRACT: HOW JUSTICE FOR JANITORS ORGANIZED THE INVISIBLE CHRISTINA SPRINGER UCLA DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY Under the Direction of PROFESSOR TOBIAS HIGBIE 2 ABSTRACT The neo-liberal economic reforms of the 1980s changed the distribution of power in the Los Angeles union landscape. Unions were in an age of decline as immigration increased, leading to severe exploitation of the janitorial work force. The Justice for Janitors movement revitalized the presence of the Service Workers International Union (SEIU) in Los Angeles, restoring power and leverage to workers in the building services industry. The movement developed new and innovative strategies to level the playing field between building owners, cleaning contractors, and individual laborers. Justice for Janitors also succeeded in educating and mobilizing the undocumented workforce, a feat thought to be impossible by many. This essay provides a narrative review of the Justice for Janitors movement in Century City from 1990- 1991, based on recovered archival data, and provides an extensive analysis of the factors that led to violent police action against peaceful protestors on June 15th, 1990. KEYWORDS SEIU, union decline, building services, immigration, undocumented labor. 3 INTRODUCTION1 The City of Angels was booming in the 1980s. Population growth skyrocketed, and Los Angeles overtook Chicago as the second largest city in the United States2. New wealth poured into the thriving economy as domestic and foreign investors alike purchased property and centered their businesses in Los Angeles office parks that glittered with California sunshine. Thousands of bankers, lawyers, and businessmen made comfortable salaries in the city during the day, then returned to cushy lives in the suburbs where they basked in the luxury of the entertainment capital of the world.
    [Show full text]
  • Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 105 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION
    E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 105 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 144 WASHINGTON, MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 1998 No. 107 Senate The Senate was not in session today. Its next meeting will be held on Monday, August 31, 1998, at 12 noon. House of Representatives MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 1998 The House met at 10:30 a.m. and was in which the concurrence of the House MORNING HOUR DEBATES called to order by the Speaker pro tem- is requested, a bill of the House of the The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- pore (Mr. PETRI). following title: ant to the order of the House of Janu- f H.R. 3824. An act amending the Fastener ary 21, 1997, the Chair will now recog- Quality Act to exempt from its coverage cer- nize Members from lists submitted by DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO tain fasteners approved by the Federal Avia- the majority and minority leaders for TEMPORE tion Administration for use in aircraft. morning hour debates. The Chair will The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- The message also announced that the alternate recognition between the par- fore the House the following commu- Senate had passed bills and joint reso- ties, with each party limited to 30 min- nication from the Speaker: lutions of the following titles in which utes, and each Member, except the ma- WASHINGTON, DC, concurrence of the House is requested: jority leader, the minority leader, or August 3, 1998. S. 1325. An act to authorize appropriations the minority whip, limited to 5 min- I hereby designate the Honorable THOMAS for the Technology Administration of the utes.
    [Show full text]
  • BRACERO PROGRAM Compiled By
    A CHICANO RESPONSE TO Wilson BRACERO PROGRAM Compiled By: CommitteeCCR on Chicano Rights. Inc (619) 474-8195 The Roots of Immigration A FACT SHEET ON FOREIGN DOMINATION & POVERTY IN MEXICO • The transnational corporations, with over $5 billion invested, control 35% of Mexico's total industrial production and employ 16% of all industrial workers. $2 billion in profits and payments on royalties, patents and interests were sucked out of Mexico by the transnationals between 1961-71. • About 3/4 of Mexico's foreign trade is with the U.S. and in 1975 Mexico imported $4.5 billion more than it exported. • Chronic unemployment now affects more than 40% of all Mexicans of working age. In Ciudad Juarez, across the river from El Paso, 43% of the 800,000 residents are jobless. • The Mexican government has sought foreign loans to finance development, which has pushed its foreign debt to a staggering $28 billion -- nearly $500 for every man, woman and child in the country. • Agribusiness corporations like Del Monte and Anderson Clayton have come to domi- nate Mexican agriculture, fostering a system which produces luxury food items for the U.S. market rather than provide for Mexico's hungry. One half of all the vegetables consumed in the U.S. during winter months come from Mexico, while every day more than 1,000 Mexican children die of malnutrition. • Largely because of the spread of "modern" agriculture, the number of landless peasants rose from 1.5 million in 1950 to some 5 million today. There are more than 8 million migrant workers constantly on the move in search of temporary jobs, earning an average of $2.50-$3.00 per Jay in the Northwest region.
    [Show full text]
  • 7 Justice for Janitors Goes Dutch
    7 Justice for Janitors goes Dutch Precarious labour and trade union response in the cleaning industry (1988-2012): a transnational history* Abstract Precarious labour has been on the rise globally since the 1970s and 1980s. Changing labour relations in the cleaning industry are an example of these developments. From the 1970s onwards, outsourcing changed the position of industrial cleaners fundamentally: subcontracting companies were able to reduce labour costs by recruiting mainly women and immigrants with a weak position in the labour market. For trade unions, it was hard to find a way to counteract this tendency and to organize these workers until the Justice for Janitors (J4J) campaigns, set up by the us-based Service Employees International Union (seiu) from the late 1980s, showed that an adequate trade union response was possible. From the mid-2000s, the seiu launched a strategy to form international coalitions outside the United States. It met a favourable response in several countries. In the Netherlands, a campaign modelled on the J4J repertoire proved extraor- dinarily successful. In this chapter, transnational trade unionism in the cleaning industry based on the J4J model will be analysed with a special focus on the Dutch case. How were local labour markets and trade union actions related to the transnational connections apparent in the rise of multi-national cleaning companies, the immigrant workforce, and the role of the seiu in promoting international cooperation between unions? Keywords: outsourcing, precarious work, precariat, cleaners, janitors, organizing, transnationalism, regulatory unionism, industrial relations, The Netherlands * Reprinted from Ad Knotter, ‘Justice for Janitors Goes Dutch. Precarious Labour and Trade Union Response in the Cleaning Industry (1988-2012): A Transnational History’, International Review for Social History 62(1) (2017), 1-35.
    [Show full text]
  • Standing Firm in Pursuit of the American Dream
    Standing Firm in Pursuit of the American Dream [Voice of Narrator] From 1910 to 1920 many Mexicans sought refuge from the Mexican revolution in America’s bordering states. Jose and Faustina Garcia arrived in Mercedes Texas in 1917. To counter the social, educational and political discrimination Mexican-Americans faced at the time, the Garcia’s tutored their children at home and each received a college degree. After the attack at Pearl Harbor, Hispanics enlisted en masse, including Jose’s son Hector, who served in the infantry, Corps of Engineers, and Medical Corps. By 1945, Hispanics had become the most decorated ethnic group in World War Two. [Voice of Guy Gabaldon] I went on my own. In the course of four hours, I had 800 prisoners. [Narrator] Gabaldon’s actions marked an unmatched feat for any single soldier in U.S military history yet he and other Hispanics returned home expected to resume their second- class citizenship. When Dr. Hector P. Garcia returned to Texas he had to treat Hispanic veterans in segregated hospital wards. For veterans that had been denied benefits Dr. Garcia treated them without charge. By 1948 he had had enough. On March 26th, Dr. Garcia took his first stand, founding the American GI Forum. [Voice of Dr. Hector P. Garcia] Basically it was organized to help the veterans with two problems. One problem being the fact that they were not giving us veterans hospitalization, so we got organized for that. Secondly, we got organized because the educational level of our people was so low we were not productive.
    [Show full text]
  • Defining Equal Access to Educational Opportunity
    University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1974 Defining equal access ot educational opportunity for Mexican American children : a study of three civil rights actions affecting Mexican American students and the development of a conceptual framework for effecting institutional responsiveness to the educational needs of Mexican American children. Blandina Cárdenas Ramírez University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Cárdenas Ramírez, Blandina, "Defining equal access ot educational opportunity for Mexican American children : a study of three civil rights actions affecting Mexican American students and the development of a conceptual framework for effecting institutional responsiveness to the educational needs of Mexican American children." (1974). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 2768. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/2768 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ' DEFINING EQUAL ACCESS TO EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOR MEXICAN AI4ERICAN CHILDREN A STUDY OF THREE CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIONS AFFECTING MEXICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR EFFECTING INSTITUTIONAL
    [Show full text]
  • Economic Restructuring, Immigration and the New Labor Movement: Latina/O Janitors in Los Angeles
    The Center for Comparative Immigration Studies CCIS University of California, San Diego Economic Restructuring, Immigration and the New Labor Movement: Latina/o Janitors in Los Angeles By Cynthia Cranford University of Southern California Working Paper 9 May 2000 1 Comments are welcome. Please do not cite without the consent of the author. Economic Restructuring, Immigration and the New Labor Movement: Latina/o Janitors in Los Angeles Cynthia Cranford Introduction The move toward a service-based economy has forced the American labor movement to change. The growing low-wage service sector is characterized by “flexible’ production resulting in contract, temporary, part-time or other casualized work. Labor law drafted in the pre-war era is ineffective protection for these new, casualized service-sector jobs; and labor protections were eroded in the Reagan decade. Restructuring has been achieved through processes of racialization as recently arrived immigrant women and men were recruited to the downgraded jobs. At the same time their work is made invisible through a gendered, anti-immigrant discourse that constructs them as economic burdens. In response to these structural changes, many unions have returned away from the bureaucratized, business unionism of the post-war era and have begun to organize the Latino and Asian immigrant women and men concentrated in these sectors. These unions have returned to a ‘community unionism,’ using direct-action organizing tactics successful in earlier periods of unionization. Like in previous historical moments when restructuring and immigration collided, immigrant women are active participants in this ‘new’ labor movement. In this paper I examine whether these processes affect relations of gender and race, with a case study of the Justice for Janitors (J4J) organizing campaign of the Service Employees International Union’s (SEIU) in Los Angeles.
    [Show full text]
  • American GI Forum of California Records, 1958-2009 115
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt7m3nf6jr No online items Finding Aid for the American GI Forum of California Records, 1958-2009 115 Processed by Linda Vera Rivas, Kyoko Aoki. Chicano Studies Research Center Library 2012 144 Haines Hall Box 951544 Los Angeles, California 90095-1544 [email protected] URL: http://chicano.ucla.edu Finding Aid for the American GI 115 1 Forum of California Records, 1958-2009 115 Language of Material: English Contributing Institution: Chicano Studies Research Center Library Title: American GI Forum of California Records Creator: American GI Forum of California 1958 - Identifier/Call Number: 115 Physical Description: 19 linear feet Date (inclusive): 1958-2009 Abstract: The American GI Forum of California Collection includes correspondence, ephemera, and organizational papers documenting their activities. These materials offer researchers a lens into the often-difficult reintegration process that veterans undergo following their separation from the armed forces, as well as the overall effects of this process on their families and their communities. Researchers will find these materials useful for critical examinations of the social location of Latino servicemen and servicewomen within the context of a large metropolitan center and how this identity has evolved since 1942. Indeed, a collection of this caliber has wide application for studies on the overall condition of Latinos within the United States as well as on the lives and communities of California Latino veterans. Moreover, according to Kelly Lytle-Hernandez, professor of History at UCLA, this particular collection has much to offer scholars interested in studying local California politics, Latino veteran organizing, and gender dynamics in a traditionally male-centered context.
    [Show full text]