The Hispanic American Experience and the Civil Rights
Latino/Hispanic-American discrimination largely started in 1848, when the United States won the Mexican-American War. A treaty was formed called the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which marked the end of the war. This treaty granted 55% of Mexican territory to the United States. This treaty also offered citizenship to the United States. For those Hispanics who choose citizenship to the United States, they came with high hopes of finding a better life for themselves and for their families. This treaty along with other events will set the pace for the Hispanic Experience in America along with Civil Right movements.
For instance, in 1931 police officers grabbed Mexican-Americans on Olvera Street in Los Angeles, many of them U.S. citizens, and shoved them into waiting vans. Immigration agents blocked exits and arrested around 400 people, who were then deported to Mexico, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status.
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Then in 1942, as millions of men went off to war and the United States needed cheap labor.
The United States of America started a program called Bracero which admitted thousands of Mexican to work in the U.S under contracts in agriculture and other seasonal jobs. Some called the program “legalized slavery.” Some called it legalized slavery because the Bracero Program supposed to had rules to protect both Mexican and domestic workers for example, guaranteed payment of at least the prevailing area wage received by native workers; employment for three-fourths of the contract period; adequate, sanitary, and free housing; decent meals at reasonable prices; occupational insurance at employer's expense; and free transportation back to Mexico at the end of the contract. But the employers ignored many of these rules and Mexican and native workers suffered while growers benefited from plentiful, cheap,
labor. In the 1960s, Latinos and Hispanics made their fight for equality, modeling their actions on the successful African-American struggle for civil rights. In 1962, Cesar Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association. Cesar Chavez organization started a boycott on grape growers that exploited Latino and Hispanic workers. There was the Latino civil right movement call the “The Chicano Movement” which extended the Mexican-American civil rights movement. The goal of the movement was to achieve Mexican American empowerment, but it wasn’t easy. During this movement people wound experience police brutality. The Chicano Movement was asking for restoration of land grants, farmer work rights, enhanced education, voting and political rights. During the “The Chicano Movement” an actvist by the name of Olivia Puentes-Reynolds came to be known. In San Diego the first Chicano Youth Liberation Conference was held, Olivia read a poem about oppression which she and other hispanic’s had experienced. Olivia Puentes-reynolds to this day is still very active I making sure Hispanics are treated fairly. Then there was Reies López Tijerina, another major actvist and was known as “Indohispano”. On Apirl 1st 1965 he started to speak on radio station called “The Voice of Justice” to spread the events that were happening. In 1968 he was elected the lead contingent of the march of the Poor People's Campaign. A study performed in 2016 released by Pew Research Center survey reports that about half of Hispanics in the U.S (52%) have experienced discrimination. It’s sad enough when you receive discrimination from your peers but when you hear the President of the United States make comments like Mexico sending “criminals” and “rapists” to the United States. We have a country must ask our self are we not better than we were in 1848. The American experience for Hispanics has been a rocky one. For an example having a President in 2012 that supported the program Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to a current President in 2018 that does not support the program. This program is very important to Hispanic because it allowed children who were brought into the United States illegally to receive a renewable two-year deferment of being deported and a chance to become eligible for a work permit in the U.S as early as 2012 citizenship. From 1948 all the way to 2018 has been one huge bumpy ride for Hispanics. The sacrifices people have made were great and well fought. The fight for Civil rights in the Hispanic Race is still active while hoping and looking for a better tomorrow.
United States labor officials approached the Mexican Department of Migration about a controlled and managed system of legal migration. The Bracero Program offered Mexicans the opportunity to legally work in the United States. Braceros were healthy, landless, and surplus male agricultural workers from areas in Mexico not experiencing a labor shortage. Braceros met the labor need to American agri-businessmen, but Hernandez counters that the Bracero Program was a system of labor exploitation, a project of masculinity and modernization, and a sit of gendered
People are discriminated against because of their race and social position every day. This has been going on for hundreds of years. In Mexican White Boy, Danny and Uno were discriminated against by people around them for being different, but along the way of discovering themselves, they form an unbreakable friendship.
A question that every high school student is faced with is: “What extracurricular activities so you participate in?” Some can answer confidently while others are slapped with a moment of sudden realization. These people are just floating along with the crowd, with no driving force or motivation. What I believe differentiates me from my peers and gives me a sense of uniqueness, is what I do outside of my academia. Out of the deluge of activities that are available, Latinos In Action is the one that I feel the most passionate about and shapes my persona the most.
To say that immigrants in America have experienced discrimination would be an understatement. Ever since the country formed, they have been seen as inferior, such as African-Americans that were unwillingly brought to the 13 colonies in the 17th century with the intention to be used as slaves. However, post-1965, immigrants, mainly from Central and South America, came here by choice. Many came with their families, fleeing from their native land’s poverty; these immigrants were in search of new opportunities, and more importantly, a new life. They faced abuse and Cesar Chavez fought to help bring equality to minorities.
When someone say’s “hispanic,” what definition comes to mind? Hispanics are not one nationality, nor one culture. Instead, Hispanics are greatly diverse people. Our language and cultural origins are Spanish and Latin American, regardless of race and color. Hispanics can be European, Indian, or of African descent, or any combination of the three. The culture could be linked to Mexico, the Caribbean countries, Central America, South America and Spain. Hispanics were once considered a rarity in the United States, now we are found throughout the country.
It is crucial to understand the historical context of immigration in America. Initially, most immigrants were from Europe and were not restricted by any immigration laws. Now, most immigrants come from Latin America but are restricted to severe immigration laws. The Latino/a community is one of the most severely affected groups because the current immigration system disproportionally affects Latino/as. Recognizing how the experience of Latino/a immigrants have been both similar and different in the past from other immigrant groups and dispelling common misconceptions about Latino/as today brings awareness of how Latino/as are affected.
Have you ever been stripped of your heritage and treated like a foreigner in your own homeland? Hopefully not, but if you’re a Mexican American citizen then you may have an idea of what it’s like to be treated in such a manner. For many years, what is now considered to be the Southwest United States, was owned and inhabited my Mexican citizens. These people had lived on this land for generations, many making a living raising cattle and cultivating the land. However, due to Mexico’s loss in a in the Mexican American War, the country was forced to give approximately half of its land to the United States. According to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the inhabitants of the newly acquired land were to become citizens of the United States, and were
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1948 would have lasting negative effects on Mexican Americans. The Treaty was signed after America had won the Mexican American war. America gained possession of the southwest states that had been part of Mexico for the price of around eighteen million dollars. In Article IX of the Treaty, it states that the Mexicans "shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty and property, and secured in the free exercise of their religion without restriction"(Vargas 139). And as Rachel Rivera points out Article VII promised the Mexicans the right to keep their land which previously belonged to Mexico. However, the Treaty would not grant the Mexicans the rights it offered. For the next hundred and twenty years the Mexicans would be oppressed and discriminated against because of the Treaty. The Treaty was the beginning of the hardships for the Mexicans. They would have to survive in the developing white society. The white society would grow and grow in the southwest, turning the Mexicans into a minority. In Zaragosa Vargas’s book Major Problems in Mexican American History, Vargas delves deeper into the problems of Mexican American History. In our Latinos in the U.S. class, we have discussed the fact that Mexicans in the United States have dealt with many problems which have gone ignored by mainstream society. The website Chicano Park illustrates how Mexican Americans have used art as a collective voice. The documentary Chicano! focuses on how the people found their voice. In the film we see that the social movements of the 1960’s allowed Mexican Americans to raise their voice against the discrimination they had lived with for over a centu...
The increase and changing demography in the United State today, with the disparities in the health status of people from different cultural backgrounds has been a challenge for health care professionals to consider cultural diversity as a priority. It is impossible for nurses and other healthcare professionals to learn and understand theses diversity in culture, but using other approaches like an interpreter is very helpful for both nurses and patients. In this paper of a culturally appropriate care planning, I will be discussing on the Hispanic American culture because, I had come across a lot of them in my career as a nurse. The Hispanic are very diverse in terms of communication and communities and include countries like Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, South and Central America, and some of them speak and write English very well, some speaks but can’t write while some can’t communicate in English at all but Spanish.
They face many issues such as economic instability, depression, loneliness, fear of being alone and feeling betrayed. Children feel depressed in cases like this because even at a young age they know that things are not okay. They also suffer from fear and being betrayed, they suffer fear because they 're scared of what is going to happen to their family since they 're so used to having their family together. Many times children who face this situations feel like they’ve been betrayed because they don’t know why their mother or father have gone away and not came back. The psychologist mentions that it’s very normal for children to feel this way and conduct a different behaviour than usual because just like everyone else they don’t seem to understand
After the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) roughly 77,000 Mexican people became citizens of the United States. Since then many of these citizens and later immigrants have been treated as unequal persons or worse. In the early part of the 20th century Mexican Americans faced injustices such as segregation, inequalities in employment, housing, education, and even frequent hangings. Further, they were not allowed to vote due to the fact that many of them had difficulty understanding English, and were not permitted to learn the language. Mexicans were not allowed to vote, and when they finally were they had to pay money for the right to vote. A large number of the Mexican people did not have the money to pay for this right, so their white bosses paid the fee and told them to vote for a candidate that favored the boss.
I was born in Mexico and raised in beautiful San Diego since the age of four. Coming to the United States at a very young age I had to face many challenges that have shaped me to the person that I am today. I consider myself a Chicana woman who has overcome the obstacles to get were I am know. Being raised in a Mexcian household has thought me to embrace my culture and its roots. The Spanish and native blood that is with in me remind me of many Americans today. The reason I consider my self Chicana is because of the similar background that I shared with many Americans today. Living in the U.S. I have learned to adapt and embraced the American culture so much so that it came a point of life were I struggled to find my own identity. Taking
What is culture? Many people ask themselves this question every day. The more you think about it the more confusing it is. Sometimes you start leaning to a culture and then people tell you you’re wrong or they make you feel like a different person because of your culture. I go through this almost every day. Because of the way I was raised I love Mexican rodeo but I was born and raised in Joliet. This can be very difficult trying to understand culture. I live in this huge mix of culture. Culture is personal. People can have many cultures especially in America and because of globalization. Cultural identity is not one or the other, it is not Mexican or American. Cultural identity is an individual relevant thing.
Since the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, Mexican Americans have been treated unfairly due to their ethnicity and background. Throughout the years Mexican Americans/Chicanos have dealt with so numerous amount of issues against the Anglo Americans and faced many injustices. It was not until the 1940’s with the Mexican American Civil rights movement and the Chicano movement in the 1960’s that Mexican Americans fought back against discriminations. I argue that the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement and The Chicano Movement equally fought for their people, because they fought for sufficient labor laws, equality within the education system and against overall Mexican American discrimination.
Similarly, discrimination has been a form of hate against Latinos because of their color and because most people don’t really know the reason why immigrants come to America. The U.S. has benefited from immigration but it has also affected the U.S in some form. The U.S. has tried to stop people from coming into the country but some people like immigrants because we only come to work and get an education. Some people think that the United States is becoming a Hispanic nation (Ramos, 187). While racism remains a problem in America, it can be reduced or eliminated through effective laws and by stopping the Latino wave (Ramos, XVII) that has come to the United States. However, they can also stop it by actually accepting immigrants into the country. The U.S. discriminates Latinos without knowing the real reason why immigrants came into this country illegally.