Racial Oppression and Categorization in US history, 1776-1940 Part 4

Categorization of Mexican Americans in Early US History \

Categorization of Mexican Americans in ealry US histroy

Historical context? what system did the spanish people put in place?

What happened in the periods of 1845- 1848?

What occured later?

• Mestizo racial identity in Mexico and other parts of Latin America

  • spanish attemted to institute a rigid racial hierarhcy

  • Caste system: spanish system where they had different names for the different categorization of people

  • Metizo: both spanish and native american ancestry

  • the system over time fails

  • shortly after independence from spain, the territory in mexico is taken through conquest

• Annexation of parts of Mexico, 1845 - 1848

  • comes form the mexican american war

  • took texas and then moved westward

  • Mexico agrees to give land in order to end war

  • The US gained Mexican citizens

  • these people were not immigrants they were simply people that were now in US territory

  • it was not until later that you start getting migraiton to the US

• Later, immigration from mexico to the US

  • 1/3 were people were immigrants

  • 2/3 were people who were incorporated into the US thorugh congress

Categorization of Mexican Americans in early US history

how were they defined initially and why?

what changes were made in the census and in what year?

ten years later, what changed again?

• defined as “white” for eligibility for citizenship

  • questions of weather the immigrants are citizens or can become one

  • US made promoise to Mexico that people who were mexican citizens and were being incorporated to the US are US citizens

  • at the time citizenship is restricted base don race

  • “only white people can become citizens”

  • the treaty implies that mexicans should be considered white for the purposes of citizenship

• Census Bureau usually categorized Mexican Americans as “white”

  • consistent with the ways that mexican americans had a de-facto white status and immigrants did too for th epurposes of gaining citizenship

  • BUUUUTTT……

• but the 1930 census listed Mexicans as a “race”

  • this is the only time this happens in census history

  • it happened because of the surge of mexicans added in the 1920s

  • outside group of nativists (ex: raicst politicans) wanted to add the category

• Pushback from Mexico and Mexican Americans led to reversal for 1940 census

  • mexican and mexican americans feared that the placement of a seperate category for them would lead to discrimination nd segregation

  • they were aware of the connection between racial categorizatoin and the jim crow system

  • they also feared that the count of mexicans would lead to the US finding out where they live and would deny or strip them from citizenship

  • 1930: mass deportation campaign was occuring

  • thousands of people including mexicans were deported

  • therefore they were concerned about the census

  • shows that census categories arent just social but political

How were Mexicans viewed?

variations in self identity? why?

• Non Mexican white americans frequently viewed mexicans as a distinct race

  • the mexican category was less about national identity and more on race

  • even some puerto ricans were labeled as mexican

  • racist views on mexicans used as justification for opression and exclusion

  • there was regional variation on this

  • ex: in texas there were social boundaries

  • the way in which people were treated was also in terms of skin tone, wealth etc.

  • not simply about their ancestrry but their appearance, last name etc.

• variation in how Mexcian Americans self-identified

  • mestizo vs. White

    • some thought of themselves as mestizo and others as white

    • Like th efforts of european immigrant to gain acceptance  from a broader category of white mexican americans were advocating that they are an ethnic group not “white” but a “type of white” like irish 

    • Involved distancing mexican americansfrom other racial groups and a superiority of mexicans based in their white status 

    • Why do they identify as white? 

    • Difefrent ideas 

    • strategic : mexican american organization recognized that to be categorized as nonwhite = denial of fundamental rights 

    • Whiteness = protection 

    • Some people valorize whiteness in good terms and want to be or think of themselves as white 

    • This is connected to the longstanding racist notions of latin american societies 

    • varies on an individual level 

Oppression of Mexican Americans in ealry US histroy

Loss of land

School segregation

• Loss of land

  • parallel to treatment of native americans

  • White americans often claimed land for themselves without paying etc. 

  • Diposession was also done through sneakier means

  • Placing taxes onto property owners that they couldnt pay 

  • Tax property owners base don value of property rather than related ot the source of income 

  • Non violent means of taking land was supleneted by the actual use of violence to drive them off their land 

  • Many of their mexican citizens werent landowner and were hired by white americans to work there (expoloitative labor)

  • School segregation

  • RESEMBLES THE segregation imposed on african americans in jim crow states 

  • Distinction between desure segreagtions (segregation amndated by law) vs defacto segregatin ( people of different racial or ethinc groups go to different facilities but its not the result of intentional givt policies) 

  • Wanst mandated by law but also not something that just existsed 

  • School officials were trying to segregate mexican youth 

  • In other places you ahve defacto school segregated ( segregated schools because neighborhoods were segregated and people went to school where they lived) 

  • High degree of school segregation at this time 

  • Youth of mexican descent isolated 

  • About 80% or more schoo in texas were de facto segregated