UC Santa Cruz UC Santa Cruz Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Race, Citizenship, and the Negotiation of Space: Chinese, Japanese, and Mexicans in Fresno, California, 1870-1949 Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6v66k18s Author Guzmán, Christina Morales Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ RACE, CITIZENSHIP, AND THE NEGOTIATION OF SPACE: CHINESE, JAPANESE, AND MEXICANS IN FRESNO, CALIFORNIA, 1870–1949 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in HISTORY by Christina Morales Guzmán September 2012 The Dissertation of Christina Morales Guzmán is approved: ________________________________ Professor Gabriela F. Arredondo, Chair ______________________________ Professor Pedro Castillo ______________________________ Professor Dana Frank ______________________________ Professor Patricia Zavella ___________________________________ Tyrus Miller Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Copyright © by Christina Morales Guzmán 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................. V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................... VII INTRODUCTION RACE AND SPACE IN FRESNO, CALIFORNIA ................................. 1 CHAPTER 1 THE RISE OF AN AGRICULTURAL HUB—EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF FRESNO, CALIFORNIA ................................... 33 CHAPTER 2 DARK AND DISMAL DENS—THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHINATOWN AND THE RACIALLY SEGREGATED WESTSIDE ............................................................................................. 73 CHAPTER 3 EXPANDING THE RACIAL MAKEUP OF WEST FRESNO—THE JAPANESE IN FRESNO, 1880S-1940S .................. 111 CHAPTER 4 COMMODIFIED BODIES—STRATEGIES TO SECURE LABOR IN FRESNO, 1942–1944 ........................................................ 151 CHAPTER 5 NEGOTIATING SPACE AND IDENTITY—THE ESTABLISHED MEXICANS IN WEST FRESNO ............................. 191 CONCLUSION POST WORLD WAR II FRESNO ....................................................... 237 APPENDIX A CHINA ALLEY*- FROM MARIPOSA TO VENTURA AVE, BETWEEN F AND G STREETS ............................................... 245 APPENDIX B JAPANTOWN*- F STREET, BETWEEN INYO STREET AND TULARE AVE, ADJACENT TO CHINA ALLEY .................... 248 APPENDIX C TULARE STREET 1935- REFLECTION OF RACIAL SEGREGATION-PART I WEST FRESNO- TULARE STREET INTERSECTING A STREET TO G STREET ..................... 253 APPENDIX D TULARE STREET 1935- REFLECTION OF RACIAL SEGREGATION- PART II DOWNTOWN FRESNO- TULARE STREET INTERSECTING N STREET TO P STREET ................................................................................................ 256 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................... 258 iii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Fresno County Highlighted ................................................................... 1 Figure 2.2 China Alley- Approximately 1910...................................................... 79 Figure 3.1 Kamikawa Business in Japantown, 1910s ........................................ 118 Figure 5.1 Mexicans at Employment Office in Chinatown, 1910s .................... 196 Figure 5.2 Spanish Surname Residents in West Fresno, 1920s ......................... 199 LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1 Total Population of Fresno County and City By Decade ................... 34 Table 1.2 Chinese and Mexican Miners, Fresno County, 1860 .......................... 42 Table 1.3 Major Racial Groups by Decade-Fresno County ................................ 50 Table 2.1 Total Number of Chinese- Fresno County and City ........................... 76 Table 3.1 Total Japanese in Fresno County and City ....................................... 111 iv ABSTRACT This dissertation explores the development of the multi-racial community in Fresno, California. Particularly, this study focuses on the process of racialization, which coincided with the development of Fresno as a key agricultural site in California from its inception in the 1870s until the end of the 1940s when the racial climate shifted as a result of World War II. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Fresno emerged as a leader in agriculture within the state and the nation, due to the sophisticated irrigation systems and ideal climate. I argue that the growth in the region initiated two racial projects for Fresno: the creation of a multi-racial/multi- ethnic segregated enclave and the commodification of workers of color in the agricultural industry. Both of these processes worked together to mold Fresno into an important hub city within the Central Valley of California while also priming the condition for the economic success of Fresno locally, regionally, and nationally. My project maps this process from the beginning of Fresno as a small town founded primarily by white migrants who brought their own racial assumptions about their position of power to the historical moment of World War II, which serves as a key example of how Fresno’s everyday racial dynamics and social interplay both eliminated and created opportunities for non-whites in West Fresno. The events of World War II, particularly the removal of Japanese peoples from the West Coast, highlights the various ways in which whites “raced” people of color and also how non-whites understood and defined their own racial position within Fresno. I use this particular historical moment as an example that reflects the conditions of the Nation v in wartime, where shifts occurred in national understandings of citizenship, accountability, responsibilities, and also power and autonomy. This project makes important interventions in the historical scholarship of race as well US history in two ways. The first is in the focus of study on a dynamic rural community in California. Fresno has a rich and important history that lends much to the understanding of race/racism, labor, and racial/spatial segregation. And yet, the San Joaquin Valley, especially its hub city, Fresno, has garnered limited academic inquiry. My project is highlighting the importance that rural California communities bring to macro-narratives of race and racism in the US. The second contribution of this project is that it seeks to understand multi-racial/multi-ethnic relationships within segregated neighborhoods. I focus on the importance of looking at communities of color, not as monolithic one-dimensional entities, but as fluid and active participants who worked and lived in relationship with and in reaction to other members, individuals, and racial groups in their physical spaces. My project flushes out those relationships in racially segregated Fresno to present a nuanced multi-racial picture of the community, highlighting the process of racialization and commodification of non- white people as laborers, while also demonstrating the negotiation of each group’s position within Fresno. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The process of writing this dissertation has been a long journey where I have learned many things, not only about the subject at hand, but also about who I am as a scholar and person. I am thankful to my multiple communities, which helped me finally achieve my goal. First and foremost I would like to thank the various institutions that helped fund my time at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The History Department at UC Santa Cruz generously funded various grants for conferences and professional development as well as a Summer Writing Fellowship and Teaching Fellowship. The Cota-Robles Fellowship funded my first two years of graduate study. The Ford Foundation Pre-doctoral Dissertation made my early years of research and writing possible. The Chicano/Latino Research Center (CLRC) at UC Santa Cruz has been an invaluable resource. Early in my studies I was offered a mini-grant, which funded a research trip and also encouraged me to hone my presentation skills. The CLRC also offered much needed support in the area of professional development. I have most especially appreciated the opportunity to meet important scholars and colleagues in my field through the annual meeting of Chicana/o historians organized by CLRC. A huge debt of gratitude goes to my dissertation committee members who stood by me from the earliest steps of my project and assisted me at every stage of this process. Pedro Castillo provided the foundation for my early investigations into Chicana/o history and has been an amazing supporter of my work. Patricia Zavella has been a wealth of knowledge and pushed me to critically think about the ways I vii should situate my project, not just within history, but also as a scholar of race. Dana Frank, who has served as my advisor during my years at Santa Cruz, has helped shape me as a scholar and writer, and I am grateful for her advice and her support over the years. My chair, Gabriela Arredondo, has been an absolute source of inspiration to me. Not only has she encouraged me in developing my intellectual identity, she has been the person to give a firm nudge when I was not being the most productive, pushed me to think critically about the type of scholar I want to be, encouraged me to believe that I could do this even when I wanted to give up, and overall made me appreciate what it means to be a teacher by serving as a role model.