1. In what town, and in what year, did Pete Hernández kill Joe Espinosa? • Pete Hernández killed Joe Espinosa in 1951 in Edna, Texas. 2. How many Mexican Americans served in the armed forces in World War II? How did their experience change Mexican Americans’ view of themselves? • Three hundred thousand Mexican Americans served in the armed forces in WWII. They fought for their country because they thought they would gain first class citizenship when they returned, but that didn’t happen. When they returned home, nothing had changed. They were still discriminated. They felt a lot of resentment over that. 3. What scandal arose regarding Private Felix Longoria? What did it symbolize? How was the controversy ended? • Private Felix Longoria was killed in the …show more content…
Philippines. When his body was returned to Texas in the early 1949, the only funeral home refused to hold a memorial service because they told Longoria’s widow that the “whites” wouldn’t like it. That symbolized racism and how Mexican Americans were seen as an inferior class. The Controversy ended when Mexican Americans activist started to demand change. After that Longoria was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. 4. What is the Fourteenth Amendment? Why did Mexican Americans see it as a way to have their rights respected? Why did some states argue that it did not apply to Mexican Americans? • The Fourteenth Amendment protects citizenship rights and provides equal protection. Mexican Americans saw it as a way to have their rights respected because some argued that the 14th amendment only protected African Americans from discrimination against “whites”, therefore they had to be considered white. Some states argued that did not apply to Mexican Americans because they weren’t really white. 5. Who was Gus García? Did he believe Hernández was innocent or guilty? Why did he take the case? • Gus García was a Mexican-American civil rights attorney. He was really smart. At the age of 36, he was already a local legend. He was an outstanding student at the University of Texas, captain of the national rank debate team, succeeded in law school, but even then, the top law firms wouldn’t hire him. He entered a plea of not guilty to Hernández trial because he stated that he was being denied a jury of his peers. He argued that the practice of excluding Mexican Americans jurors was fundamentally unfair. That’s why he took the case. He saw it as a great way to start the movement for equal rights. 6.
How did the United States gain control of large amounts of Mexican territory? • In 1848, the United States acquired huge squads of Mexican territory at the end of the Mexican American war. 7. Did the Mexican American residents of these territories become U.S. citizens? Were they treated as the equals of Anglo citizens? • When the U.S. took over the land, they offered citizenship to the residents as part of the treaty ending the Mexican-American War. Things weren’t good for them; they didn’t have equal treatment. Many lost their lands due to unfamiliar American laws and when they lost their land, they lost their status as well. They were not treated as equals of Anglo citizens. They had separate restaurants and even separate schools. 8. What stereotypes did many Anglos who settled Texas have about Mexican Americans? Where did these prejudices come from? • Some of the stereotypes that many Anglos who settled in Texas have about Mexican Americans were that “they were shiftless, lazy, they are dumb, they don’t like to work and they are trying to take your daughter”. These prejudices came from the Southern whites that moved to south Texas. 9. Why did Hernández’s lawyers not sleep in town during the
trial? • Hernández’s lawyers did not sleep in town during the trial because many people were very upset about the trial and with what they were trying to do. Many people saw it as a threat to a political, social structure and a threat to a way of life. That’s why they decided not to stay in town, because they didn’t think it was safe. 10. What happened when Hernández’s lawyers tried to use the courthouse bathroom? Why was this relevant to their case? • When Hernández’s lawyers tried to use the courthouse bathroom they were warned by a Mexican janitor in Spanish that they would use it although the sign said men. Then he took them to another bathroom downstairs, the sign said, “colored men”. This was relevant to their case because in the courthouse that the state of Texas is arguing that Mexican-Americans are white and therefore an all white jury could convict a Mexican charged with murder, they can’t use the bathroom reserved for white people. This was relevant to their case because it proved that there was discrimination and inequality.
This book by Otis A. Singletary deals with different aspects of the Mexican war. It is a compelling description and concise history of the first successful offensive war in United States military history. The work examines two countries that were unprepared for war. The political intrigues and quarrels in appointing the military commanders, as well as the military operations of the war, are presented and analyzed in detail. The author also analyzes the role that the Mexican War played in bringing on the U.S. Civil War.
In February 2, 1848, the final armistice treaty Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, through which the United States government got the access to entire area of California, Nevada, Utah plus some territory in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming. As a compensation, the United States government paid 18.25 million dollars to Mexico.( Pecquet, Gary M., and C. F. Thies. 2010) However, apart from the death of people, Mexico lost half of its territory in this war, which initiate Mexican’s hostile towards American. In addition, after the Mexican-American war, there was an absence of national sense in Mexican, which had a negative effect on the unity and development of the country.
On June 23, 1845, the Republic of Texas was annexed to the U.S. as a slave state. Foley notes "the annexation of Texas as a slave state…became the great white hope of northern expansionists anxious to emancipate the nation from blacks, who, it was hoped, would find a home among the kindred population of 'colored races' in Mexico."(20) But rather than uniting as kindred races, discord between poor whites, African Americans and Mexicans resulted from competition for farmland as either tenant farmers or sharecroppers.
Polk, the new president, made a proposal to the Mexican government to purchase the disputed land. When that offer was rejected, troops from the United States were moved into the disputed territory of Coahuila. These troops were then attacked by Mexican troops, killing 12 American troops and taking 52 prisoners. These same Mexican troops later laid put upon a US fort along the Rio Grande. This would lead to the conflict that resulted in the loss of much of Mexico's northern territory.US forces quickly occupied Mexico and California Territory, then invaded parts of Northeastern Mexico and Northwest Mexico. The Pacific took control of several garrisons on the Pacific coast.
learn new laws, the official language which was English, and prove the land they lived on belonged to them. This is where the language barrier, lack of knowledge of their rights, and lack of representation played against them. According to American Law, the US did not recognize documentation written in Spanish. The Mexican Americans would have to convert their documents to English and find a lawyer to...
Rosales, F. Arturo. Lecture 2/14 Film The US-Mexican War Prelude. Weber, David J. - "The 'Path of the World'" Foreigners in Their Native Land: The Historical Roots of Mexican Americans.
From the early days of pioneers and settlers, thousands of Americans began to move into what would become Texas. The Mexican government was wanting to populate the Texas area to increase the economy. For a long period of time the Mexican government had placed many laws on the territory, but none that were deeply inforced. Finally when a new dictatorship came into power, they began to enforce the laws. Slavery among other issues
One of the major stereotypes is racial/stereotypical thoughts against Mexicans. Lots of people say that all Mexicans like soccer and/or professionally play soccer. Also people like to joke around and say that all Mexicans like tacos and burritos. Even though there might be some kids that are of mexican heritage that don’t like soccer or don’t like tacos or burritos. Just because so one is Mexican or even just looks Mexican doesn't mean that they play soccer, eat tacos, listen to marrache, or that their families are poor.
Before the Gold rush, the United States was at war with Mexico over territory. If it had not been for the Treaty of Guadalupe in 1848 the United States might have turned out differently than it currently is today. The Treaty of Guadalupe was signed on February 2, 1848 and ended the Mexican-American war. Mexico transferred nearly half of their land to the U.S. (Rohrbough 12). Some Americans felt it was part of Manifest Destiny, especially by believer President James Polk (Smith, Orsi, and Rawls 26). The Treaty of Guadalupe guaranteed that any Mexican citizen in California who did not want to continue their allegiance to Mexico would within a year be granted the automatic “title and rights of citizens...
As is made clear in the writings of David Gutierrez, since the beginning of large amounts of Mexican immigration, Mexican Americans have opposed supporting Mexican immigrants. In fact, Mexican Americans had predominantly been some of the main supporters of immigration reform and sanction. "Historically, much of this concern has been based upon Mexican Americans’ belief that Mexican immigrants undercut their already tenuous socioeconomic position in the United States by depressing wages, competing for employment, housing, and social services, and reinforcing negative stereotypes about "Mexicans" among Anglo-Americans" (Gutierrez, 177). Mexican Americans felt as though this competition was holding them back from growth and development within American society, even though they were citizens. This negativity towards immigrants by Mexican Americans was also sparked by the fact that there were separations and differences between the two groups in "class stratification, regional attachments, and subtle differences in customs and language usage" (Gutierrez, 178). These ideas were strong and were held during some of the Chicano movement, but they were not held throughout it...
World war II was one of the deadliest war in history that associated with at least 30 countries and estimate at least 85 million deaths. This war went on for six fatal years until Allies defeated Germany and Japan in 1945. Many as 500,000 Latinos and Mexican-Americans served in World War II, which impacted many of them in the United States. Mexican-Americans were drafted or volunteered for the military services. Many risked their life wanting to protect our freedom. For Mexican Americans, they faced many challenges during this war but shows how soldiers contribute, women contribute, what the bracero program did and the effects after the war.
By taking the Mexicans land, we fought many battles that we unneeded. Mexicans adapted very quickly to the American lifestyle and began to populate many farms and towns in the US. But some were not as pleased with the change. Most Mexicans were thought of as dirty and below Americans, so in that way they were treated. But overcoming that Mexicans were hard workers and took many jobs at that time for lower wages, the same is true to this day.
This was called the Thornton Affair, 11 troopers were killed and the rest were captured. After that, the Mexicans started bombing Fort Brown, the United States sent General Zach Taylor with 2400 men to relieve the fort. Mexican general Mariano Arista with 3400 men rushed out to meet them. When the congress heard the news, they declared American blood has been shed on American soil and they declared war on Mexico.
Texas has a rich and long history and much of it has passed through the state over the years to become a part of its folklore. This Texas folklore is part of many cultures within the state and has even filtered outside the state. The first cultural influence on Texas was from the Paleo-American Indians. When these Indians arrived they were in a bit of a culture shock when they met the Spanish in the 16th century. In the following centuries, more people began to arrive in Texas and they brought new ways of talking, believing and doing things. The Spanish and the Mexican set the patterns south of Nueces and along the Rio Grande. Anglos brought their ways of life from the British Isles to the South and Eastern part of Texas. African Americans who came to work on the plantations on the Brazos and Trinity bottoms brought songs, stories and beliefs that came with them from Africa. Germans came directly from the Old World to the Hill Country, Cajuns came from France and eventually through Louisiana and settled in Southeast Texas. The Dutch, Danes, Polish, Czechs, Norwegians who also came here brought with them their ways of life and they all became bound together to become part of Texas. By the year 2000, Texas was made up of 54.5% Anglos, 31% Hispanic, 11.4% African Americans and another 3.1% of other ethnicities.
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.