Mexican-Americans

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews and discusses the life and history of Mexicans living in California. According to the paper, a large number of immigrant Mexicans lived in "barrios" where the conditions were unsanitary and the crime rate high. The paper takes a look at how these conditions prevailed, and how life for Mexicans living in the USA, eventually improved.

From the Paper:

"Much did not change for the Mexicans from the 1940s to 1960s, with discrimination and segregation continuing to be the norm. Many school districts continued to send children to Mexican schools, based on the theory that the students were such slow learners they would hold back white student levels. In 1944, the parents of nine-year-old Sylvia Mendez' moved to the largely non-Hispanic white community of Westminster in Orange County and tried unsuccessfully to enroll her in the neighborhood school. This school was a source of community pride and the ramshackle Mexican school was located adjacent to a dairy farm (Hayes-Bautista, 2004, p. 24). Her father won the case, but only by a loophole."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hayes-Bautista, David E. Latinos in the Golden State. Berkley: University of California Press, 2004.
• Kowalski, Kathiann. Life in the Barrio. Cobblestone (2004) 25.5.
• Menchaca, Martha. Mexican Outsiders. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2004.
• Moore, Shirley Ann Wilson. We feel the want of protection: The politics of law and race in California, 1848-1878. California History (2003) 81:3-4, 96(31).
• Urban History Review Becoming Mexican American: ethnicity, culture and identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945. (1995) 27.2, 60(3).

More papers on Mexican-Americans:

• Essay # 9518 : "Mexican Americans"
• Research Paper # 91566 : "Substance Abuse in Mexican-Americans"
• Analytical Essay # 55661 : "Mexican-Americans: Perceptions of Culturally Competent Care"
• Essay # 43128 : "The Advancement of Mexican Americans"

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