Race and Class in LA- midterm

Tongva/Gabrielinos

Indigenous people who lived in LA area

City of Inmates CH1- Tongva had a complex culture and way of living before the Spanish came to colonize them, shows that LA was an indigenous place before colonization

ToyPurina

female village shaman who attempted to rally a rebellion against the Mission San Gabriel

City of Inmates Ch1- she stands as proof that the indigenous tribes did rebel against the colonizers, also example of how missionaries used jailing as a method of punishment and control

Racial formation

The sociohistorical process by which racial ideals are formed, changed, and destroyed

Omi and Winant- Phipps case defined the “one drop rule” that defined everyone who had even the smallest amount of African blood as black

Assimilation

The absorption of one group’s culture into a dominant culture and norms

City of Inmates Ch1- Tongva tribe were forced to convert to Christianity, live in the missions, and wore Spanish clothing

Chavez Ravine

area in LA that was mainly inhabited by Mexican families who have been there for many generations

People’s guide to LA- families were forcefully evicted to allow the city to build the Dodger’s stadium. Chavez ravine was example of how the creation of LA used a lot of racialized targeted displacement

Cananea

Copper mine in Mexico that was owned by a US investor

City of Inmates Ch2- Mexican workers were paid the lower wage jobs and never given a promotion, while higher paying jobs were reserved for the white American citizens, example of US segregation and involvement in Mexico

Class

System of power control that has an economic side and a social status side

Wright- capitalism example of the enforcement of class; middle class sells their labor to their employers bc they have no means of production themselves, employers still answer to a higher level of management, and so on

Californios

Mixed race colonists that were given large plots of missionary land after they were secularized in LA

City of Inmates Ch1- Californios still saw indigenous peoples as lesser than, and had them working the land for them, continues the pattern of power and colonization

Porfiriato

time period/ ruler of Mexico who led a time of “Order and Growth” which allowed US to enter Mexico to buy land and resources

City of Inmates Ch4- example of how US had deep influences in Mexican economy. The mine displaced many Mexican families and put them in debt, leading to the Mexican Revolution, then leading to the mass immigration of Mexicans to US/LA

Eugenics

Belief that humanity could improve through selective breeding

Omi and Winant- eugenics was an expression of the idea of a superior race

Tramp panic

fear that hobos like itinerate white males would ruin the image of a working middle class in LA

City of Inmates Ch2- creation of anti-vagrancy laws because of the tramp panic, repeating the idea that America has historically used jailing as a method of control

white itinerant males

migrant white laborers that migrated to LA during off seasons

City of Inmates Ch4- LA fought hard to get rid of this population because, on top of ruining their decided image, they also publicly protested unfair wages and working conditions

anti- vagrancy laws

Laws that jailed those without a means of living for six months

City of Inmates Ch1- this law was used as a reason to be able to jail indigenous people

Ricardo Flores Magon

Mexican journalist who planned a revolution while imprisoned

City of Inmates Ch4- his story shows how jailing can amplify rebellion rather than suppress them

Chinese Exclusion Act / Geary Act

Laws aimed at Chinese when the demand for railway workers fell that banned most from immigrating to the US and to prove their residency

Molina: Fit to be citizens?- Chinese Six Company encouraged the community to refuse proving their citizenship as a form of rebellion. demonstrates Chinese resistance and also the government’s power to exercise racial sorting

Racialization

The process where racial ideals are assigned to specific people and groups, which lead to different groups who are treated differently

Molina: Fit to be citizens? during the Geary Act period, Americans felt threatened by the Chinese bc they might take their jobs, but had perception Mexicans were harmless

Nationalism

idea that a nation can be governed by itself, and by the people. It has the ability to define who can belong and who doesn’t

Molina: Fit to be citizens? Geary Act is an example of nationalism, because it decides that the Chinese do not belong in their nation despite being citizens

Racial taxonomy

Classification of races as a hierarchy, typically claiming a biological basis

Smedley and Smedley- one of the six tendencies is that there is a racial hierarchy (white Europeans were human, Creoles in between, blacks and natives were outer limits of humanity)

LA boosters

Wealthy landowners of LA property that marketed the city towards a white middle class

City of Inmates Ch2- boosters encouraged the anti vagrancy laws because they feared specific populations would ruin LA’s perfect image

Land of Sunshine

image that the boosters wanted to market to the overall population; that the city of Los Angeles is a place with great weather, good workers, and good health

Molina: Fit to be citizens? Citrus industry particularly romanticized LA as an oasis through colorful graphics on their packaging

Settler colonialism

form of colonialism that aims to occupy the land rather than extract resources and labor

City of Inmates Ch1- jailing used as a method to keep the indigenous off their land so that settlers could conquer the space for themselves