In-Depth

While the Lations/Hispanic/Mexican-Americans were affected by the community they live in in the U.S. their kids never ceased to stop celebrating their old celebrations. The children continuously without any hesitation they continued being a big part of their family traditions. The culture itself makes them unique and united with any other Latinos/Hispanics/Mexican-American. As their children enter into American schools, they are exposed to new traditions and traits from Americans, therefore they will end up questioning their own beliefs and ways. Only thing I don't understand is that how are each children different from their parents' personalities? Why are they still considered minorities when they populate a great deal in America? How did their culture entirely affect America and what did we accept as a 'norm'? These questions are still lingering throughout my research, bits and bits are being answered. While they had populated America they did eventually affect us as a whole in a positive way. We are accepting their language on American products for them to read it and we're learning Spanish in our own schools. If we're accepting all of these things, why is it still difficult for them to live in our society as an equal? The studies show that if we were able to combine all the wealth and population, the Hispanic American would be the third largest and wealthiest in the Latin American history.

Discrimination

In Depth:
The article I read was Chicano/a Movement. As I kept reading I got my basic questiones answered, what were the Latino/Mexican-Americans most affected in? Education, Labor and Residential were the main three I found while reading this article. I learned that schools would segregate or not let in Mexican Americans/Latinos in just because of the race/ethnicity. What it still leaves to answer is what did they see the children as for just being a Latino/Mexican? What began these stereotypes of Mexican-Americans/Latinos and why did it powerfully affect the education? The segregation was shown in the 1890's before Plessy vs. Ferguson and what comes to my mind is have there been changes in segregation between that and 1960's? How did time affect the views of Latinos and were there any changes? I also learned the difference of income for Latino/Mexican workers and how that was affected by residential segregation. This was part of the movement because they mention the need of improving the communities and labor. What I understand from the article is one part of how the Latino/Mexicans were treating in labor: low income and treatment in residential areas: poor conditions. What I would like to understand and find out more is similar to finding the stereotypes and the views that cause the segregation. Could it be because of the different language? If so did the contractors take that in advantage to pay them less and not give them a proper contract (if there needed to be one)?

given that undocumented workers are living illegally in the US, should they receive rights?

Primary:    California introduced a bill to their state legislature in the mid 1990s to try and reduce the rights and welfare opportunities to illegal immigrants. This bill, named Proposition 187, was a highly controversial bill that received national attention. However, having rights as a human, regardless of status, is unalienable. According to our Declaration Of Independence, having civil rights is unalienable, regardless of status. Henceforth, the Supreme Court ruled the Proposition was illegal and unconstitutional. In California, one of the largest latino populations in the world, illegals come to work, not to receive benefits, but to earn a decent wage. Having the bill in place doesn't make sense, all it would do is hurt the state. Does restricting the use of immunizations to illegal children make sense, when diseases don't care who they live with. Having this bill, and restricting rights, won't stop the flow of illegal immigration. People come from all over Mexico in order to find a better life and risk everything doing so. They enter an entirely different culture and lifestyle with a new language present...they leave their family home and take a lot risks doing so. These men and women have a lot of guts, and these guts are stronger than any law. Denying immigrants help and welfare is not the answer to stop immigration, it is just a way to be cruel and unconstitutional.

Why did certain changes occur?

Entry Level:

As I was reading about Hispanic/Latinos/Mexican-Americans, I've noticed that they still continue to carry over their religious views and their connections while being in America. Although, as I read further in-depth on the articles that I ran across, they are considered 'Chicanos' because they live in America. They aren't as consider to be a full Latino/Hispanic because they live in America, they are considered a little lower than those who live in their original country. The children are certainly impacted by the community around them, they typically speak both English and Spanish fluently but it depends where they live in how well they speak/pronounce. Reason for being viewed a little different than from those who live in their own country would be because the Chicanos have been influenced by American views and have their culture a little mixed with theirs. They also tend to struggle with their religious views with other Christian views that they've encountered. Lastly, I found that in each Chicano's family their children have different attitudes therefore, they can't be pictured as just the 'same' personality. These changes occurred because of the American influence in school, religions and massive diversity.

education and labor

In Depth:
I read a section in the book Battleground Immigration about the education of children who are or parents were immigrants. Because education is fundamentally related to the ability to get work, I questioned how Hispanics compared to their non-hispanic peers, and what was the root of these differences. Many Hispanic children, specifically immigrant ones, do not speak english, are illiterate, score far below average test scores, and overall cannot keep up in school. A few problems are listed that may be the cause for this huge problem. Firstly, these children fall behind in class because they cannot understand their teachers. The child speaks spanish, the teacher english, and together they cannot communicate affectively. Another problem is that they often move around between schools, states, even between the US and Mexico, too frequently to attain proper education. While this second issue is a bit more complex, as parents decide where to live, a solution is defiantly possible for the english/ spanish barrier, and many efforts are being and have been made to address the problems.

Primary:
Should illegal immigrants have the same opportunity for education, and how should schools go about teaching them?
In 1982, Plyer v. Doe entered the supreme court. The law being questioned regarded if illegal immigrants should be allowed a public education. The court decided that they should for a number of reasons  First, that it was not their fault they illegally immigrated, rather their parents', and so they do not deserve punishment. Their education does not harm anyone else, but it incredibly beneficial both to their future and the countries. They need an education to succeed, and if they succeed they may end up helping the country in ways unknown. After this, schools continued to  face the challenge of what to do with these children. Many of the kids couldn't speak english, so traditional classrooms did not teach them very much. Long before this trial even started, the idea of bilingual education started. A program in San Antonio was one of the first to deploy this idea, where the dropout rate for Hispanics reached 75% in some places. The kids were typically seen as failures, but this school gave them the opportunity to gain an education and learn english as well, which would help them in the long run.

Were there any groups that focused on increasing the amount of hispanic voters?

In order to do some more focused research on my sub-topic, Latinos and politics, I read a primary source, a newspaper that described a group that tried to increased the amount of hispanic voters. I thought this was an interesting addition to my research becasue I had focused on how the hispanics, latinos and Mexican-americans immigrated to the US, and how they were viewed in certain circumnstanes and so this article would show the affect of the cummulation of this history regarding hispanics and their voting. It would also reveal certain groups that would try to help the voting of hispanics.

In this newspaper from 1979, it described an organization called the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP) that was devoted to trying to increase the amount of hispanic voters in southern states such as Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, California and Colorado. Part of their inspiration was the lack of hispanic voters in years before. This newspaper mentioned that in 1976 38% of eligible hispanic voters actually voted in the election. Considering in the same year 54% of the eligible US population voted, this number is very low. I wondered, why? If the hispanics, latinos and Mexican-americans are eligible to vote, why aren't as many voting? Is it a lack of appealing candidates? Further research needs to be done about more voting patterns of hispanics and certain elections that they have been a huge part of to understand their effects politcally speaking.

I thought it was interesting that William Velasquez, one of the leaders of SVREP, said that the reason for this lack of hispanic voters was that there were political boundaries that kept the percentage of hispanic voters low. What were these political boundaries? Who enforced them? How did they start? Were they ever abolished? If so, how? Does this have anything to do with discrimination against hispanics? Further research needs to be done to find answers to these questions.

Primary: Why did the Spanish language get integrated into schools in the United States?

While researching more about this question, I came upon some articles from that period when Spanish was integrated into schools. In a newspaper article titled, Bilingual classes aid Mexican-Americans, Armando Rodriguez, chief of the Mexican-American Affairs Unit in the U.S. Office of Education explained "Bilingual education, means teaching the child educational concepts in all phases of the curriculum in his mother tongue while he is learning English." This was significant to my question since it explained how they don't want to teach Spanish as well as English in schools but rather help students learn English by explaining to them in Spanish. I think this is very important since it actually helps the students understand what they are learning rather then just spiting out information to them which they have to memorize but can't learn. This article also explains the main three reasons why bilingual schooling is important. First is so spanish students don't dropout. Second is so they don't fail the curriculum. Third is so they can hire more teachers which can properly communicate with the students. I find these important in the future of the country. 
In another article titled, How to Tame a Wild Tongue, the Gloria Anzaldua talks about her childhood and how she was punished for speaking in Spanish. She explains how, " I remember being sent to the corner of the classroom for "talking back" to the Anglo teacher when all I was trying to do was tell her how to pronounce my name. "If you want to be American, speak 'American'. If you don't like it, go back to Mexico where you belong." I found this shocking how she got in trouble for being herself. This is a good example of why schools needed to be integrated with Spanish, so discrimination like this doesn't happen. 

What are the voting patterns and values of Latinos?

While doing research for this question I ran into a quote said by a Harvard Political Scientist. He said “Unlike past immigrant groups, Mexicans and other Latinos have not assimilated into mainstream U.S. culture, forming instead their own political and linguistic enclaves--from Los Angeles to Miami--and rejecting the Anglo-Protestant values that built the American dream." I thought this quote was really interesting because he expained the immigration of latinos in a negative light, and claiming that they rejected the values of America. This got me thinking: What are the American values? What are the Hispanic values? Where do the two intersect? I did some more reading and research to figure this out.

It is no doubt that the population of hispanics is huge, and that political candidates struggle to win their vote. 13% of Americans are Latino; this is the biggest minority group in America. Such as during the 2008 presidencial campaign, McCain and Obama struggled to gain the votes of this large portion of the population by advertising commercials in Spanish concerning the economy. But, was this enough? I did some more research to figure out what hispanics look for in a candidate and what issues they were most concerned about.

From the first article I read, Hispanics and Latinos were said to be a very diverse group of people. Their diversity has come from the different countries that they come from, but what separtes them more is politics. It is said that the most democratic of Latinos are Puerto Ricans, the most conservative are Cubans, and the ones that voted both Republican and Democratic were Mexican-Americans. Even though that they may be separated politically, their interests still remain the same. I especially liked what Ana Gomex-Mallada, a Havana lawyer, said "Whether you're from Puerto Rico ... whether you're Cuban or an illegal alien, it’s always going to be about education, learning English and having access to the American Dream." Even though the latinos may be one of the most diverse groups, they all share in common their strive for education, and having the ability to pursue happiness.

I thought it was very interesting that the political scientist, quoted earlier, said that latinos were a threat to the American culture, but isn't the American culture cherished because it is so diverse?At the end of one of the articles the author said "that's a problem the Founding Fathers resolved long time ago: Create a political community that respects cultural and religious differences".When this country was being made by the founding fathers, it was understood that there would be differences,but they made it a point to respect them. It would be best to search more about how America has viewed the latinos, especially politically, to gain a better understanding of how, or if, this has affected their voting rights.

Should there be a DREAM act?

First off, the DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) provides a pathway for undocumented residents (illegal aliens) to gain citizenship. However, strict requirements are in place. They are as follows, "to be considered, young people must show that they came to the U.S. before they were 16 and have lived here continuously since June 15, 2007 and were younger than 31 on June 15, 2012. They may have entered the country without documentation or remained after their legal immigration status expired. The applicants must be in school, have graduated from high school or obtained a GED or been honorably discharged from military service and not have been convicted of criminal behavior. To prove that they are in school, many applicants will need documentation, including transcripts and report cards, from the community colleges they are attending or have attended." This is from Diverse Issues in Higher Education. The DREAM act, or at least the idea of it is phenomenal  however, the requirements just listed are extremely difficult. The author clearly is in agreement with this because she stresses the issue of the requirements frequently. She is in opposition to the GOP edition of it known as the ACHIEVE act because it doesn't offer a pathway to citizenship, unlike DREAM. She mentions and elaborates on how many different colleges are creating their own programs to correspond with the DREAM act, and how they are anticipating more students and are excited for the enrollments. Schools will also be decreasing the tuition for DREAM act students. She thinks this is good because the overwhelmingly vast majority of illegal aliens are not able to meet the requirements of the DREAM act, yet alone pay for college tuition. Attaining citizenship in the US is made way too difficultly. Latinos are the backbone of this country, especially the ones who come through the border illegally. They contribute greatly to our economy, they keep our population young, and will soon be the majority demographic in the country. They have lived here their entire lives, and know no different; they have been a part of society, our schools, and live in our economy. They have no other lifestyle; why would the government want to deport an American citizen? Instead, the government should have a DREAM act, but not make it so darn difficult. If a person of any age has lived in the states for 3 years undocumented, can prove they are no danger to society, help the economy, pay taxes, and have children to keep the future bright, why shouldn't they be allowed citizenship like every other American citizen like them? The DREAM act, nonetheless, is still a huge political achievement for the country, and is just a stepping stone for better programs in the future, hopefully. But as for now, this program still shows the capability of the government to have a heart which will hopefully grow. So, for my answer: YES! There should be a DREAM act, however, with different requirements for feasibility, like the author wants.

Entry level: Why did certain changes occur? What led to that change?

 

When I started to research the how the Spanish langauge was affected in America, I started asking the questions of 'Why did certain changes occur? and What led to those changes?'

For example I asked why did the Spanish langauge get integrated into schools in the United States. I learned that this change occured because there were too many spanish speaking students in the schools and they had a huge disadvantage. The students needed to be able to be instructed in not only english but in spanish aswell in order to suceed. The schools bilangual transformation was also a step towards ensuring a knowledgeable and successful future generation of the United States.

As I moved on with my research I learned that while schools integrated Spanish into their classrooms, Hispanic/Latino/Mexican churches integrated english into their services. I questioned why did this occured? I learned that the churches wanted to hold onto younger generations from leaving the churches. They included english services while in the past they only held spanish services.

From the research I have done so far I have learned the consistant struggle between not losing the traditions and heritage in the future generations and also allowing them to move on to live the American lifestyle.

What was it like for Hispanics when immigrating into the U.S?

Through beginning my research it was difficult to really find an article that had one specific topic about discrimination. Looking through I found a few things that have started my research to go deeper in.


As many Latino/Hispanic/Mexicans immigrated into the U.S, for a better pay, during the 1900's the discrimination that they faced was segregation in residential areas. Cities would keep the groups away from the white residential areas to keep track of where they go. This is a similarity to how African-Americans were treated as well with children being segregated from being able to participate in white schools. Being treated this way shows how the people in white communities wanted to keep that separation. In a way it was the "whites" pushing away from change as well with the Hispanic groups finding their comfort zone being near people who came from the same country. That is what I have so far seen in my research of what Latino/Hispanic groups faced when immigrating during that time of year.

How has the history of the US with Latino/Hispanic countries affected the the latinos/hispanics/Mexican-Americans?

I thought this question was necessary to ask because it is important to understand how, why and when the latinos/hispanis/Mexican-Americans immigrated to the US in order to understand their position and role in the US. Also, it is relevant to how they are viewed by non-latino-Americans. To begin to answer this question, I began to research the Spanish-American war, and part of the Mexican-American war. The American view of manifest destiny in the 1800s has affected many of the relationships between Cuba, Puerto Rico and Mexico.

In the Spanish-American war the US being interested in Cuba's economic resources lead to the US helping them gain their independence from Spain and gaining Puerto Rico as a territory. The reactions by US citizens were not exactly inviting. There were several different reactions from the people, such as people who were worried this would undermine the jobs of US citizens, people who thought it was unconstitutional, and others who were worried how this would affect the character of Americans. I can only imagine that because of these views, some sort of discrimination ocurred. More research will be done to gain a better understanding of how this affected their reputation.

After researching the Spanish-American war, I began to look at the Mexican-American war. I thought it was interesting how this war was, too, affected by the idea of manifest destiny. The US wanted to expand further west and south. This lead to the want for Texas which was owned by Mexico. The US wanted to spread democracy as well. Not only this, but most Americans thought that they were superior to Mexicans socially, and politically. This even went to the extent where Mexicans were viewed as a different race. This view of Mexicans could definately seem less than inviting to Mexicans, later on, who would want to immigrate to the US. This view of Mexicans before and during the Mexican-American could help explain some of the discrimination that Mexican-American faced when they immigrated to the US. More about the discrimination during and after the war will be researched.

Day one of research

I began my research by finding out the long term trends in hispanic/latino labor, which unsurprisingly corresponded with the immigration and emigration of this group of people. When jobs were in high demand, such as after the Immigration Act of 1924 (asians could not immigrate, employers needed low waged workers), and during WWII when agriculture needs skyrocketed as farmers moved into cities, many hispanics moved in to take the vacant places. Conversely  when Americans started to blame the great depression on hispanics, many returned to Mexico. Today, despite intese efforts to prevent illegal immigration, the American economy depends on these low wage workers.

After looking into the general trends in labor, I began focusing on labor movements. A central leader in gaining rights for Mexican/ latino workers was Cesar Chavez. He created the United Farm Workers of America, which worked for better working conditions, benefits, and higher pay. A major event in the progress in labor issues was the Great Grape Boycott, which resulted in three year contracts with better conditions for workers. The UFW continued working amongst agricultural programs, such as strawberry and lettuce field workers.

Should there have been a Bracero program, and what was it?

The bracero program was a program created in an effort to attract Mexicans to the United States during World War II for labor purposes only. The work was temporary, but came with rights for the Mexican citizens. The Bracero program was very beneficial to the Mexicans because it gave them employment opportunities with higher wages, "individual contracts written in Spanish, paid living expenses, and provided adequate shelter and transportation costs. Workers were to be protected from discriminatory acts and were not subject to the U.S. military draft. Wages were to be set at an annually determined "prevailing wage" based on the locality in which the laborer was to be employed. Most important, these contracts were between the Mexican and the U.S. governments, not the worker and the employer”. The last part of that ensured that workers received payment for the work they contributed. The work and travel to the US were legal for a temporary time only. The main controversy was that the Mexican citizens didn't go back to Mexico when their work time expired, staying illegally in the US. Should there have been a Bracero program? Maybe not, maybe yes. The program should have been created, but definitely different from the one that was used, especially because of its intended use solely for labor for WWII - even though it wasn't discontinued until the mid 1960s because of the benefits it gave the the US economy, and the Mexican citizens. This was really good and truly helped the people, however there was lots of controversy about it from Americans, who claimed their work or job opportunities were being limited because Mexicans were taking the jobs away from them. There were 5,000,000 Mexicans who took jobs from the Bracero program throughout its existence. That is 5,000,000 jobs less that Americans could have had. So, the answer is yes; it should have been created. It helped more Mexicans than it hurt Americans, plus it helped our economy. Americans shouldn't complain about them not having jobs, they should have done something to make themselves stand out more and appeal better to employers rather than complain.

Initial Research Response

With the population growing in the United States and Latinos/Hispanics community becoming less of a minority there is more of a background of the people other than current immigration in the United States. Growing up as a Mexican-American speaking Spanish I have been surrounding with these different topics about Mexican-Americans/ Latinos/ Hispanics. Reading different articles to begin thinking about what our group should mostly research about I found most important about the labor, language and culture because it is where the community has been most thought of in society, in my view and experience. Our group took turns letting each other know a little about what we each learned. We found the topics that we were most interested in what the Mexican/Latino/Hispanic has been through and agreed on the topics: language, culture, politics, civil rights and labor.

Immigration- Aaron

• Legal or Illegal?
• Reasons for immigration
• Reasons for repatriotion

Labor- Becca

• Economic effects
• Unions
• Wages
• Employment opportunities (types)

Discrimination - Jennifer

• socially
• Portrayal
• Economically
• In schools/work etc.

Cultural- Aleks

• music
• role in the community
• Food
• art
• People who helped influenced the culture

Language - Vicky

• Tests
• Schools
• Name: Who's classified as what? Why?
• Language barrier between

Politics- Karly

• Voting Rights
• Impact as a group
• Historically what has affected their participation

Initial Research VikYak

When we first researched Hispanic/ Latino/ Mexican Americans I learned more then I thought I would. I thought I knew basic information regarding this group of people but I was mistaken. This group has struggled for equal rights and treatment for a long time. For example I learned one of the first incidents in which Latinos vocally protested against their second-class status in the United States was the Lemon Grove incident of 1931 in California, which saw Mexican-American parents call a boycott to fight school segregation. I never knew it went back that far in history. Additionally I learned about some key organizations like, LULAC. The original mission and purpose of LULAC was similar to that of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). I now know where to begin my main research in order to educate my self aswell as my peers about this group.

Initial Response 2/4/13

As I was researching Hispanic/Latinos/Mexican-Americans it truly shocked me how I didn't know a lot to begin with. It was at first difficult to research about these people because I wasn't sure what I could search and find. Although, I ran into a few different organizations that helped me understand where to start. They were for civil rights, better education and many other things; I came to realization my entire group was really unsure what we could research. I was shocked that the most obvious thought didn't hit me until later, it was the language barriers that America had put up. These people struggled a lot and I noticed they had similar sufferings as blacks but not as bad to violence. I know my group and even myself have truly no clue how to use the correct terms between the divided groups (Hispanic/Latinos/Mexican-Americans). The articles I've mostly read were the organization movements and I wish I had more time to research a little more so I could figure out many possibilities.

My group and I discussed the different types of categories that would help us further understand where to go next. Few of the subtopics we decided upon would be language, civil rights and education. These topics would be really important because we will be able to understand the type of stereotypes and the type of racism that they've faced.

What I Read and learned

I read about about the Great Depression and the role of Latinos and Latino-Americans throughout it. The writing was most specifically about Mexicans and Mexican Americans. The Mexicans, Mexican Americans, and many other southern and central American Latinos faced many struggles in the US throughout the Depression, along with every one else; however it can be debated upon that this ethnic group was hit the hardest. They had to go through a process that was extremely relevant during the period known as repatriation. This basically means going back voluntarily to the original country/homeland of a person. This was due to the thought that there would be a better life style there, even though in most cases it turned out being worse. The wages were so low, cut in half for most Latinos; they were also the first to have their wages cut, or the first ones to be let go. This situation is also what started the huge boom of latino women working in manufacturing/textile factories. All in all, the Great Depression and the 1930s was a very difficult time for Latinos.

initial information

From my initial research on hispanic/ latino/ Mexican- Americans I learned a few new things, though it opened many questions. I know next to nothing about this topic, and I found it interesting to learn about something that I never truly considered before. Our group was unsure about which people our topic even applies to. I found the labeling question very interesting. While race labels seem unimportant, they do come up often in society today. I read several articles, ranging in topic from civil right groups, language barriers, and political challenges. I'm excited to continue looking into this subject and see what it brings.

Initial Research Response 2/4/13

From doing basic research about Hispanics/Latinos/Mexican-Americans it became evident to me that, much like the African American community, Hispanics/Latinos/Mexican-Americans have gone through struggles for equal rights and treatment. Several civil rights movements by this group have been inspired by African American civil rights events, such as the Chicano Movement. This group was never treated exactly the same as African Americans, but they faced similar struggles trying to gain civil rights.

I think it is important to note the definitions of each term. When beginning research we were confused as to who would be classified as a Latino, or Hispanic or Mexican-American. These definitions still remain unanswered, but hopefully we will be doing more research on that as the project continues.

After doing this research I realized there was a huge gap of information that we had not yet learned. This community has been in American for a great amount of time, and hasn't really been mentioned even though they are the fastest growing population in the United States. The immigration of the Latinos has impacted the country greatly by jobs, population and culture. People from Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico etc. have been immigrating to the U.S for a very long time, and their impact has been substantial. Despite this, they have faced many problems such as discrimination, ill-treatment, and low wages.

There were many civil rights groups that supported the Latinos such as the LULAC, and the Brown Berets. People such as Cesar Chavez had helped support the Latino workers. The success of some of these groups has greatly impacted the voter participation in Latinos, but not very much before the 70s. During the 80s and 90s their participation in voting grew due to many political issues that were happening concerning them such as the issues in California about bilingual education in schools.

Overall, this community has been around for a very long time, and their impact from jobs to culture has been huge. Many topics such as Immigration, Labor, Civil Rights, Politics, Culture and Naming will be further researched as the project continues.