880-MEXICAN AM. Book

MEXICAN AMERICANS A Historical Perspective Richard Eighme Ahlborn Hispanic Policy Development Project Elizabeth Martinez William M. Mason Ricardo Romo Americans All ® Copyright © 1991, 1993 and 2000 by the People of America Foundation. This publication has been supplied to the participating school or school system for use in the Americans All ® program. All rights reserved. Americans All ® authorizes the educational institution to reproduce any portion of this publication for use in its instructional program provided proper credit is given to Americans All ®. Commercial use or reproduction of any of this material in any form requires the written permission of the People of America Foundation. ISBN 1-56192-014-2 Library of Congress 91-091028, No. 5 Printed and bound in the United States of America MEXICAN AMERICANS A Historical Perspective Richard Eighme Ahlborn Hispanic Policy Development Project Elizabeth Martinez William M. Mason Ricardo Romo Americans All ® American studies, she has provided material for use in Editorial and Advisory Staff many books and articles. She also has done commercial Richard Eighme Ahlborn has been curator of the translations in both Spanish and English. National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Ricardo Romo has been an associate professor of his - Institution, since 1965. In 1978 he established the Division tory at the University of Texas at Austin since 1980. From of Community Life to bring attention to American social, 1974 to 1979 Professor Romo taught at the University of religious and ethnic groups. In graduate studies at California at San Diego. From 1989 to 1990 he was a Winterthur and Yale, and in dozens of publications, he has fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the focused on Hispanic American material cultur e— Behavioral Studies at Stanford University. His principal architecture, furniture and saddler y— especially in the teaching and research areas concern American twentieth- Southwest. century social and legal history. He has been named to Richard Griswold del Castillo is a professor of International Authors and Writers Who’s Who , Contem - Mexican American Studies at San Diego State porary Authors and His panic Who’s Who in America. University. He received his doctorate in history from UCLA with an emphasis in Chicano and United States Note: Biographical information was compiled at the time the indi - ® History. In his research and writing he has emphasized viduals contri b uted to Americans All . the family, community and international dimensions of the Mexican American experience. He has been a con - Organizational Resources sultant for a variety of film and publication projects and Hispanic Policy Development Project actively promotes the inclusion of Mexican American 1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Room 901 history within the school curriculum. Washington, DC 20036 The Hispanic Policy Development Project is the (202) 822-8414 nation’s first Hispanic think tank dedicated to encour - Latino Consortium aging objective analyses of public policies that bear on Cara a Cara Latino AIDS Project the concerns of Hispanics in the United States. Founded 3324 Sunset Boulevard in 1982, the project is especially concerned with the Los Angeles, CA 90026 education and school-to-work problems of the nation’s (213) 661-6752 3.4 million Hispanic young people. In response to a consensus among Hispanics that education is their top The Library priority, the project’s executive board has established a Arizona Historical Society policy of focusing on problems faced by Hispanic 949 East Second Street students at the secondary level and in their transition Tucson, AZ 85719 from school to work. (520) 628-5774 Elizabeth Martinez is an instructor in the Department Library of Congress of Ethnic Studies at California State University, Prints and Photographs Division Hayward. She founded the Chicano Communications Washington, DC 20540-4730 Center in New Mexico and served as the program direc - (202) 707-6394 tor for Global Options, a research and advocacy center in Museum of New Mexico San Francisco. She has lectured on Chicano studies at Palace of the Governors many colleges and universities and has written and P.O. Box 2087 edited several books in this field. Santa Fe, NM 87504 William M. Mason, history curator at the Natural (505) 827-6474 History Museum of Los Angeles County, is a specialist National Archives at College Park on the early history of Los Angeles. He has served as a Still Pictures Staff consultant for Asian American Studies at California State 8601 Adelphi Road, 5th Floor University and as a consultant for the Latino Museum in College Park, MD 20740-6001 Los Angeles. He has published numerous articles and (301) 713-6625, ext. 234 guides on the history of both Asians and Latinos. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Lynda Cartagena Mobley, a native of Louisiana, grew 900 Exposition Boulevard up in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, in a bilingual and bicul - Los Angeles, CA 90007 tural atmosphere. An accomplished researcher in Latin (213) 763-3466 Contents Page Preface . iv Introduction . v Mexican Americans . 1 La Raza Mestica : Indian, Spanish and African . 2 The Northern Thrust of Hispanic Culture: 151 9–1800 . 3 Colonial Battles for Independence . 3 Expansion of the United States: 179 0–1850 . 4 Decades of Exchange and Loss: 185 0–1910 . 5 Mexican Resistance and Revolution: 185 0–1921 . 6 The Years of Mass Migration: 191 0–1990 . 7 A Revolving Door . 9 Student Background Essays . 12 The Photograph Collection . 13 Bibliography . 17 Photo Credits . 22 Front Cover . 22 Back Cover . 22 Text . 22 The Photograph Collection . 22 Map of Major Trade Routes in Early Mexican American History . Back Cover Preface Today’s youth are living in an unprecedented period of about all groups simultaneously. These activities ensure change. The complexities of the era include shifts in sensitivity to the previously untold stories of women, demographics, in social values and family structures as working-class people and minority and majority groups. well as in economic and political realities. A key to under - Results from the program’s implementation in ethnically standing young people’s place in both the present and the and culturally diverse school systems confirm the effi - future lies in history. History is so much more than a col - cacy of this approach. lection of facts. When appropriately studied, it is a lens We have answered “yes” to the frightening questions for viewing the motivations, beliefs, principles and imper - about teaching diversity without teaching hate. Our atives that give rise to the institutions and practices of nation’s leaders must now answer even more frightening people and their nations. As our nation’s schools reform questions: Can we afford not to teach history that is their curricula to reflect the diversity of our school-age diverse and inclusive when school dropout rates range population, a major challenge arises. Is it possible to teach from 25 percent to 77 percent among Native American, United States history as a history of diversity without African American, Asian American, Hispanic and for - evoking feelings of anger, bitterness and ethnic hatred? eign-born youth? Can we afford to continue preparing so Is it possible to diversify classroom resources without many of our nation’s youth for a future of exclusion from generating feelings of separatism and alienation? the economic mainstrea m— a future that mirrors a his - Americans All ® answers “yes” to both these questions. tory curriculum that excludes them? The Americans All ® program has proven that not only is To compound the problem, we must add the very real it possible, it is preferable. By choosing to chronicle the constraint of urgency. The future of our nation is char - history of six diverse group s— Native Americans, acterized by computer technology and global interde - African Americans, Asian Americans, European pendence. All students, regardless of their gender or Americans, Mexican Americans and Puerto Rican their socioeconomic, ethnic or cultural status, must be American s— the program provides a frame upon which helped to see themselves as participants in this human an inclusive approach to education on a nationwide basis continuum of scientific and mathematical development can be built. to both visualize and actualize a place for themselves in Nomenclature, regional differences, language and the our future. demands of interest groups will always challenge an Students need to be challenged to think critically and evolving diversity-based approach to education. These examine how today’s technology grew out of yesterday’s challenges are by- products of the freedoms that we trea - industrial era, an era spawned by the agricultural accom - sure and strive to protect. This reality necessitates a pro - plishments of prior generations. They need to understand cess that becomes part of the product, however. that even the simple tasks of weaving fabric and making Americans All ® has integrated feedback from a diverse dyes from fruits or plants required mathematical and sci - group of scholars in developing this program and main - entific understanding; that today’s freeways grew out of tains open lines of communication for continuous input yesterday’s hand-hewn trails; that ancient tribal herbs from educators, parents and community members. The from many cultures formed the basis of many of today’s program’s emphasis on six groups is based on historic wonder drugs; and that it took the agricultural

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