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Opportunities and Limits of Pluralism Before the Latino Era (1929-1965)

Explore the resources, barriers, and characteristics faced by Mexican Americans in Lemon Grove and the roots of Mexican American politics. Discover government policies, economic change, social transformation, and the emergence of new political mobilization forms.

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Opportunities and Limits of Pluralism Before the Latino Era (1929-1965)

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  1. Opportunities and Limits of Pluralism Before the Latino Era (1929-1965) Mexican Americans and Politics Class 5 January 24, 2006

  2. The Lemon Grove Incident • What resources did Mexican Americans in Lemon Grove tap in order to organize? • What barriers did they face? • What characteristics did Anglos ascribe to Mexican Americans? • What was the basis for the court’s ruling?

  3. Organizational Roots of Mexican American Politics, 1929-1945 • The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) (1929) • Integrationist (“Best and purest form of Americanism”) • Focus on rights as U.S. citizens/anti-discrimination • Congress of Spanish-Speaking Peoples (1939) • Pan-Latin and unconcerned with immigrant status • Issue foci -- opposition to discrimination and workers’ rights • Union base • Differences in organizational style and rhetoric, but similar focus on discrimination

  4. Other Political Initiatives, 1929-1945 • Government policies and Mexican Americans • Repatriation • New Deal programs and civic resources • Mexican government outreach • Industrial unionization • The war • Zoot Suit riots • Good Neighbor policies • Defense spending and toleration of unionization • The Bracero Program (1943-1965)

  5. Economic Change and Incorporation, 1929-1945 • Depression and white poverty • New Deal Programs and federal social welfare • Scapegoating Mexican Americans • Opportunities of a war-time economy • Massive federal investment in defense installations and industries (focused on Southwest) • Factory work • New multi-ethnic unions • Labor contractors and class hierarchy within Mexican American communities

  6. Social Change, 1929-1945 • Escape from Dual Societies • Urbanization • Court challenges (and victories) • Mexican Americans distance themselves from Mexico (and vice versa) • Sleepy Lagoon and localized white-Mexican American political alliances • More cross-group contact in social settings

  7. Mexican American Politics After 100 Years • Civic institutions have reappeared • Mutualistas • Civic and fraternal organizations • Unions • Courts a venue to challenge dual societies/discrimination • Little electoral opportunity or organization • Mexican American interests “represented” by non-Mexican Americans

  8. New Forms of Political Mobilization, 1945-65 • From civic to electoral organization • Community Service Organization (1947) • American GI Forum (1948) • Mexican American Political Organization (1958) • Political Association of Spanish Speaking Organizations (1958) • Issues: Educational opportunity, voting rights, and equal protection • Viva Kennedy! (1960)

  9. For Next Time What were the similarities and differences between what Chicano Movement organizations advocated and the issues that had mobilized Mexican American politics before the Chicano movement?

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