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Capitalist Development of SW

Frederick Jackson Turner Expansion of the West Frontier Thesis, 1893 Manifest Destiny Winning the West Robert Sperry Irrigation in IV. Capitalist Development of SW. The Imperial Valley. Home to multibillion dollar agricultural industry Mexican labor Desert Home to Yuma Indians.

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Capitalist Development of SW

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  1. Frederick Jackson Turner Expansion of the West Frontier Thesis, 1893 Manifest Destiny Winning the West Robert Sperry Irrigation in IV Capitalist Development of SW

  2. The Imperial Valley • Home to multibillion dollar agricultural industry • Mexican labor • Desert • Home to Yuma Indians

  3. Imperial Valley

  4. “Winning” of the West • Indian Removal Act of 1830 • Southern U.S.: Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole • Cherokee Trail of Tears 1838—4,000 died • 1848: U.S.-Mexico War • *January 1848: gold discovered in CA

  5. The Yuma • Fort Yuma established • Yuma as guides, traded with soldiers, forded river • Yuma land trampled and vandalized during Gold Rush

  6. The Ferry Business • 1850: Battle with (John) Glanton Gang • Morehead War • General Joseph C. Morehead • 1852: Major Heinzelman of U.S. Army

  7. Destruction of the Yuma • Gold rush • Military occupation • War with enemy tribes • Large scale agriculture • Arrival of railroad

  8. Irrigation arrives • 1898 California Development Company diverts water from CO River to farms • End of Yuma floods • 1900-Van Horn and Gillett families arrive • Pioneer myths of the West

  9. Fresno scraper

  10. Crossing the Colorado River(video clip) • Unpredictable rapids • Sandbars • Rocks • Yuma aquatic skills

  11. Shared poverty • 1906: Yuma as wage laborers-help build dams during flood • Worked on first canals of IV • Food, shelter, sand storms, fresh water, floods earthquakes etc. • 1905: Autobiography of Fred W. Peterson, MD

  12. Alliances • Jose and Francisca Perez (and children) arrive in IV in 1902 • The great fire • Yuma aid • 1911 Yuma famine

  13. Rapidly Expanding IndustrialismEllis Island, Triangle Fire, Yuma • Southern and Eastern European immigrants in the East • Urban factories • Dangerous working conditions • Extreme poverty • racism • Yuma in the SW • Rural life • Large scale agriculture • End of floods • Reservations • Destruction of crops • Military occupation • Shared poverty • racism

  14. Mexican Labor • Profirio Diaz (1876-1911) • Mass exploitation of Mexico’s resources • Ejidos • Mass immigration of Mexicans at turn of 19th century. • Mexican Revolution: By 1900, about 103,000 Mexican immigrants came to U.S. By 1910, about 500,000 had immigrated to the U.S.

  15. Labor organizing • Ricardo Flores Magón • Partido Liberal Mexicano • 1906 strikes • Worker grievances against Consolidated Copper • La Union Liberal Humanidad • Sonoran governor Rafael Izábal sends in federal troops

  16. Ricardo Flores Magon

  17. Political Organizing: Plan de San Diego • Plan called for a general uprising of Mexicans and other minorities on Feb. 20, 1915 • Participants would execute all white males over the age of 16 • reconquer territory lost during the U.S.-Mexico war • 3-5,000 joined the revolt • President Venustiano Carranza • Raids on Mexican communities

  18. U.S. Dependence on Mexican Labor • Restrictions on Chinese and Japanese immigration* • European immigration slows during WW I • Immigration Act of 1917

  19. Immigration Act of 1917 • Asiatic Barred Zone • Literacy Act established an $8 head tax and banned illiterate immigrants • Mexicans exempt • Mexicans as an ideal labor force • 1909 Dillingham Commission • No strict border enforcement

  20. U.S. Department of Labor:Wage Withholding Scheme • encourage laborers to return to Mexico • 20 percent of each worker’s wages for the first 2 months • Employment restrictions • Growers demanded access to Mexican workers • By 1920 about 500,000 children of Mexican descent were born in the U.S

  21. Bath RiotsEl Paso, Texas: January 28,1917 • Carmelita Torres • Refused disinfection • 200 Mexican women had joined her and blocked all traffic into El Paso • Demonstrators on the march • Blocking traffic • "el esquadrón de la muerte,"

  22. Santa Fe Bridge

  23. Fumigation w/ DDT, 1956

  24. Indignity on the Border:video • The Bath Riots: Indignity Along the Mexican Border by David Dorado Romo • What was the purpose of disinfections? • Why did European immigrants escape this treatment? • What are some present day views of the U.S.-Mexico border? • Do you agree with the author who claimed the protests had no effect?

  25. After the Riots • Reclaiming sense of dignity • Debunking myth of passive Mexican laborer • Tradition of protest in Mexico carry over to U.S. • Brought attention to issue • feelings of solidarity • Sense of confidence for future activism

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