LITR 4332 American Minority Literature UHCL 2002 sample student research project

Hispanic Americans are a diverse group of U.S. residents defined by their common connection to the Spanish language; Hispanics may be of any race with ancestral roots in any Spanish-speaking countries. Racially, most Mexican Americans[1] are mestizos with both indigenous and Spanish roots. Although Mexican Americans are the numerical majority in the southwest, they suffer from minority group status. While researching this journal, I wanted to learn more about the past experiences of Mexican Americans as a minority and immigrant group. I chose this topic because my father emigrated to the United States as a young boy; he faced discrimination in school and throughout his life because he was Hispanic.

I was familiar with how the United States acquired Mexico’s borderlands, and I believe that history plays a significant part of Mexican American immigration. I also wanted to focus my research on the history of education among Mexican Americans because they fall far behind the Anglos in educational attainment. I wondered, will Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants advance educationally or will discrimination designate them to an underclass?

The Mexican War is still considered by many people as an fraudulent land seizure dictated by an expansionist power against a weak neighbor that had been independent less than two decades. The war between the United States and Mexico had two causes. First, the war was the first major conflict motivated by “Manifest Destiny.” The belief that the U.S. had a God-given right to inhabit and cultivate the whole continent gained favor as more Americans settled in the west (Tindall 581). The desire of the U.S. to expand across the North American continent to the Pacific Ocean created conflict with all of its neighbors, from the British in Canada to the Mexicans in the southwest and, obviously, with the Native Americans. The fact that most of those areas already had people living there was ignored, with the attitude that democratic English-speaking Americans would be better at running things than Native Americans or Spanish-speaking Catholic Mexicans. Senator Lewis Cass, an expansionist from Michigan, stated, “We do not want the people of Mexico either as citizens or as subjects. All we want is a portion of their territory with a population, which would soon recede, or identify itself with ours” (589). Manifest Destiny did not necessarily call for violent expansion; The United States offered to purchase California from Mexico for twenty-five million dollars in 1845, but the Mexican government refused to sell half of its country to its most dangerous neighbor.

Another factor that caused the war was Texas’ independence and the area’s subsequent annexation to the United States. In the 1820s, Mexico, newly independent, wanted settlers for the country’s under-populated northern parts. An invitation was issued for people who agreed to an oath of allegiance to Mexico and converted to Catholicism. Thousands of Americans relocated to the Mexican province of Texas. Soon, many of the settlers were disappointed with the way the government in Mexico City controlled the province. Texas revolted in 1835, and after several battles, the Mexican President, Santa Anna, was forced to sign the Treaty of Velasco (Tindall 605). This treaty gave Texas its independence, but many Mexicans refused to accept the document because the Texans held Santa Anna prisoner at the time. The Republic of Texas and Mexico continued to engage in border fights. Because of the fighting, the American public developed a negative stereotype against the Mexican people and their government. Partly due to hostilities with Mexico, Texas joined the United States, and on December 29, 1845, the new state formally entered the union. On February 2, 1848, the U.S. and Mexican Congresses signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; this treaty annexed the northern parts of Mexico to the United States (619). This area later became California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. In return, the U.S. paid Mexico fifteen million as compensation for the territory. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo guaranteed U.S. citizenship for Mexicans living in the area annexed by the United States. After the Mexican War, relations between the United States and Mexico remained tense for many decades.

At the end of the Mexican War, there were under fifteen thousand Mexican Americans living in what had become the southwestern United States. Migration from Mexico increased rapidly by the late nineteenth century. This immense movement of people was a result of severe economic depression and civil turmoil in Mexico (Garcia 251). By 1890, over seventy-five thousand Mexicans had migrated to the United States. In 1900, the Mexican population in the United States, including immigrants and the native born, totaled almost half a million. From 1910 to 1920, over two hundred thousand Mexican immigrants came to the United States, doubling the population of Hispanics in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, and quadrupling the population in California (249). Work drew Mexican migrants to the United States. Although many Mexican labor employers criticized their productivity and efficiency and their capacity to fully adapt to an industrial culture, immigrants tackled menial jobs that native-born Americans avoided, such as digging canals, building railroads, or working in steel mills. There was a great demand for inexpensive, unskilled labor in the Southwest resulting from the growth of agriculture, mining, transportation, and stock raising. Railroads, construction companies, steel mills, and mines also created severe demand for low-wage physical labor. By the early 1930s, Mexicans made up three-quarters of Texas construction workers and four-fifths of the state’s migrant farm workers. In California, Mexican immigrants comprised three-quarters of the agricultural workforce. Even today, the United States still has a demand for service workers, non-unionized manufacturing workers, and farm workers; Mexican workers have met those needs.

The economic decline after World War I produced a repercussion against Mexican immigration. Unemployment during the Great Depression reduced immigration to less than thirty-three thousand during the mid-1930s. Demand for Mexican American labor resumed during World War II (Garcia 260). In 1942, the United States and Mexico instituted the Bracero Program, which allowed Mexican contract laborers to work in the United States. After the war, however, a new deportation effort ejected Mexican residents who lacked United States citizenship. The United States sponsored a program that returned people to Mexico, and many were United States citizens. “Operation Wetback” was led by an FBI taskforce of eight thousand; they blocked off the border, and seventeen hundred workers were deported per day; a total of five million Mexicans were sent back to Mexico.

Each wave of immigrants caused an anti-immigrant attitude. Since mass immigration from Germany and Ireland in the 1840s, natives have voiced fear that immigrants depress wages, displace workers, and threaten the nation’s security and cultural values. Many fear that immigrants use welfare and unemployment benefits more often than natives; this belief led Congress to restrict the access of non-citizens to social services in 1996. In 1994, almost sixty percent of California’s voters approved Proposition 187, which would have prevented illegal immigrants from attending public schools and receiving social services and health care (Cockcroft). The proposition would also have required law enforcement, school administrators, and social service workers to turn in suspected illegal immigrants to authorities. Court rulings, however, prohibited execution of the proposition and in July 1999, California decided not to appeal after a federal court ruled that provisions in Proposition 187 were unconstitutional. The only remaining laws make it illegal to create or use false documents to conceal illegal immigration status. Proposition 187 was a national symbol of public resentment about illegal immigration, but the proposition increased political activity among Latinos and led many immigrants to become citizens and register to vote. While many people argue that immigrants are more likely to become a burden on the government, others welcome the increasing population diversity, enjoying the variety of this country’s people.

Today, immigration to the United States is at its highest level, and Mexico is the largest contributor. As recently as the 1950s, two-thirds of all immigrants to the United States came from Europe or Canada. Today, over eighty percent are Latin American or Asian. Over ten million legal and undocumented immigrants entered the country during the 1980s. Today, one out of every five immigrants living in this country was born in Mexico. An estimated forty percent of all Hispanics are immigrants and another thirty percent are the children of immigrants. In the 1990 census, only nine percent of Americans identified themselves as Hispanic, but Hispanic Americans are the fastest growing group of the U.S. population. The census bureau estimates that between 1993 and 2020, Hispanics will total thirty-eight percent of U.S. population growth, increasing from twenty-two million to fifty-one million (Shorris). The United States is becoming the first multi-racial industrial society as a result of this massive immigration. In fact, California has become the first state where no single ethnic group or race makes up half of the population. Although Americans consider the United States as a melting pot of cultures and nationalities, they have not been eager to embrace immigrants who prefer not to surrender their native identities, language, or traditions.

The descent of Tejano education can be found in the Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo settlements of Texas. During the first three hundred years of Spanish Texas, informal learning was common. Formal learning for Tejanos did not emerge until the late nineteenth century to meet the needs of the Texas population for literacy and socialization. From 1540 to 1836 the Tejano population, including indigenous groups, Spaniards, mestizos, and other racially mixed groups, acquired basic literacy skills, knowledge, and behavior patterns necessary for life in Spanish frontier missions and forts (Garcia 261). People also learned from textbooks, folklore, oral history, and drama; education in formal settings was rare. By the 1790s, the Spanish government made moves toward formal instruction. In 1802, Texas governor Juan Bautista ordered mandatory school attendance for children twelve and under, but the rule was not enforced (Shorris). At the end of Spanish rule, there was no educational system in Texas.

In 1827, Texas approved a constitution requiring all municipalities to open primary schools. Between 1828 and 1833, state officials issued orders to encourage local authorities to form schools (Cockcroft). These officials, however, faced individual and municipal poverty, lack of teachers, and little interest in educating regular people. Private individuals, the Catholic Church, Protestant groups, and public officials all regarded schools as necessary for maintaining social order (Garcia 262). During the late nineteenth century, public officials planned the first regular school systems. Early Anglo settlers in Texas established private schools, but formal education was not considered a priority by most of the population. However, as these schools were started, Tejanos encountered racial discrimination, ideological differences, and political tensions based on conflicting values. During early statehood, Mexican children had no access to public schools. However, by the 1880s, they increasingly had access to rural schools, and in the 1890s, Mexican working-class children in urban areas were admitted into city schools, but they were limited to segregated classes in the elementary grades; no secondary schools were available (Garcia 261). The decision to segregate elementary schools in Texas was due to racial prejudice, residential location, and lack of a Mexican-American voice in school affairs. Public education in Texas, as elsewhere in the nation, increasingly promoted the Anglo heritage over the Mexican heritage. Mexican culture, Catholicism, and the Spanish language were prohibited in schools. In 1900, less than eighteen percent of Mexican-American children between ages five and seventeen were enrolled in public schools. The percentage of Mexican-American children in schools, however, generally trailed that of Anglos. In 1900, Mexican enrollment was seventeen percent, while Anglo enrollment was thirty-nine percent. Between 1942 and 1960, the enrollment of Mexican school-age children rose from fifty-three percent to seventy-nine percent. By 1980, the number reached ninety-one percent (Miller 378). During these years, changes occurred in the social, economic, and political life in America, but schools continued to perpetuate many of the inequalities in society.

Many Mexican students did not attend school because of poverty, rural employment patterns, and policy discrimination. Four groups in particular that failed to receive public education were agricultural migrants, secondary school students, postsecondary school students, and undocumented children. Mexican American students were faced with strong pressures of Anglo conformity; they were punished for speaking Spanish at school and their heritage ridiculed by biased teachers. Segregation expanded greatly, and by the 1940s, more than one hundred twenty-two school districts in fifty-nine counties had segregated schools for Mexican-American children (Garcia 262). At first, segregation was confined to the elementary grades because of excessive withdrawal rates. When these children sought secondary schooling, officials established segregated facilities. Tejanos found schools not only segregated, but also unequal. The buildings were older, recreation space was minimal, and school equipment was inadequate. Poor instruction, due to low pay and rural isolation, and blatant racism has also been characteristic of the South Texas educational process. School officials repeatedly concentrated Tejano children into low-track classes with other working-class, immigrant, and racially different children. Many based their assessments of mental, emotional, and language abilities on biased tests and classified Tejanos as intellectually inferior, culturally backward, and linguistically deprived (263). The children were systematically placed in developmentally appropriate instructional groups or curricular tracks. At the elementary level, they were designated to slow-learning or nonacademic classes; at the secondary level, they were put in vocational or general education courses. Most school officials argued that Mexican children need to work at an early age, so they should direct their attention to manual and domestic education that would best assist them to find jobs. On the other hand, the schools in Anglo neighborhoods presented a well-rounded curriculum with practical and academic training. These policies isolated Tejano students and deprived them of opportunities to succeed. A report issued by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights during the 1970s documented unequal treatment in Mexican Americans’ education (263). The study showed that they were disproportionately assigned to classes for the mentally challenged and tracked into vocational rather than college preparatory programs. It also found that less money was spent on Mexican American students and their school buildings were physically inferior.

The ability to speak fluent English is an essential prerequisite for rising mobility in American society. Levels of literacy are linked with gender, race, ethnicity, income, school facilities, and parental education. Poorer people and minorities are less literate than others by a ratio of two to one (Shorris). Today, half of all Mexican Americans speak Spanish at home. Another strategy to promote academic achievement is to establish bilingual education. Many Hispanics and educators believe that bilingual education, using the home language to ensure adequate comprehension of basic concepts while learning a second language, will improve educational achievement for Spanish-speaking children. The first bilingual education programs to receive federal funding were established in Dade County Florida in 1963 and in San Antonio in 1964. In 1968, Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act requiring that children from diverse language backgrounds be instructed in two languages and that teachers become trained to help these children move as quickly as possible from bilingual education to classrooms using only English (Cockcroft). However, the school systems failed in transmitting English language skills effectively. In 1974, in the case of Lau v. Nichols, the Supreme Court held that by failing to provide a program to help with a language problem, the San Francisco school district was discriminating against a student who did not speak English (Cockcroft). This decision guaranteed the right of students to educational programs that meet their needs, creating a belief in favor of bilingual education.

Today, educational inequalities remain. Third generation Mexican Americans finish an average of only eleven years of schooling. Mexican Americans are three times less likely to complete college than non-Hispanics. Mexican American teenagers are more likely to drop out of high school, many of them to help their families during periods of economic distress[2] (Barrera and Jimenez). Inferior schooling and unfavorable socioeconomic circumstances causes lower test scores, higher withdrawal rates, and lower median number of school years than the general population (Cockcroft). Nevertheless, a number of Tejanos make high achievement test scores, graduate from high school, and undertake postsecondary education. Beginning with the G.I. Bill following World War II, increasing numbers of Hispanic Americans have attended colleges and universities (Barrera and Jimenez). As the twentieth century draws to a close, Hispanics can view with pride the increasing number of Tejano college graduates and their growing involvement in professional and public life.

While speaking to my father about this project, I learned that my grandfather, Reynaldo Martinez Sr., had completed school only to the sixth grade in Mexico. My grandmother, on the other hand, finished Mexican secondary school, attended a business school, and worked as a bank teller. My father, Reynaldo Martinez Jr., and his entire family immigrated to Chicago, Illinois, from Monterrey, Mexico, in 1961; he was six years old and the youngest of two boys and two girls. He always encountered discrimination in the American school system from the other students because he was different. The English language was also a problem for my father and his siblings. He said:

“As a child, I was fascinated with English words, and I would repeat them until my brothers and sister were sick of hearing me say them. The English language continues to be a problem for me. I still feel that I talk and write very poorly. I attribute this to the way my mind thinks of both languages; my mind does not divide the two languages. Rather, it looks at both languages as if they were one big language. It is just a different way to pronounce the same words.”

When my grandparents divorced, my grandfather moved back to Monterrey while the rest of the family stayed in Chicago. When entering a new high school, my father was told that a parent needed to enroll him. His mother refused to enroll him in school, so he brought his older brother to enroll him. The school insisted that he needed a parent, but my grandmother still would not go to the school, so my father was forced to drop out of high school when he was sixteen. Instead, he helped support the family. He earned a GED in the Air Force, and then he went to railroad locomotive engineer school at the age of twenty-one; he has worked as an engineer ever since. Recently, my father decided to go back to college, and last May, he completed his Bachelor’s degree; he is currently enrolled in a Legal and Ethical Studies Master’s program. My parents always valued education. They insisted that we complete high school, but it was our choice to attend college. Both my sister and I are in college; I plan to attend law school, and she wants to earn a degree in accounting. I believe that because my father was forced to drop out of school, he pressured his children to acquire a better education.

Each child in my father’s family married a Caucasian person. My father married my mother, who is “white.” In my opinion, being half Mexican and half “white” was a great experience. My sister said that she experienced discrimination all throughout school; people teased her and called her a “half-breed” and a “wetback.” While I was in school, I was called a “mixed breed” and a “mutt,” but it did not bother me at all. To this day, many people comment that I do not look “Mexican” and that I must be lying about my ethnicity. Throughout my life, I have always been confused when filling out forms; am I Caucasian, Hispanic, or other? Usually, I picked my “race” depending on what mood I was in. Sometimes, I would choose Caucasian, and other times I picked Hispanic. My sister and I believe that we have the best of both worlds because we enjoy learning about both cultures. For example, my father always cooked Mexican food, while my mother cooked “American” food. Although we were never taught Spanish, my sister and I have taken numerous Spanish classes and we understand the language fairly well. We also frequently visited our family in Mexico.

Today, my father speaks mostly in English, except when he is speaking to siblings or other Hispanic family members. My father says that he feels that he is still in Mexico, technically, because this land was once a part of Mexico. He still feels resentment toward the U.S. for seizing Mexico’s land. When I asked him if he refers to himself as a Mexican American, a Mexican, or a Chicano, he stated, “I am a Mexican who is a U.S. citizen.”

The public schools’ attempt to Americanize Mexican children and train them for particular forms of urban industrialized labor represented an extension of the opinion that perceived Mexicans to be products of pre-industrial culture. However, the efforts by American society to acculturate Mexicans helped increase inter-generational cultural tensions among the Mexican population. While cultural change has transpired among first and second generation Mexican Americans, the process of Americanization continues due to an unending movement of Mexicans to the United States.

The Mexican experience is different from that of other groups, such as Italian Americans, who share with Mexican Americans a rural background, a religious Catholic faith, and supportive, extended families; Mexico’s proximity, continuous new arrivals, and concentration in predominantly Mexican barrios, enable Mexican Americans to reinforce ties with their ancestral culture to a degree not possible for other ethnic groups. As a result, there exists a distinct Mexican cultural presence north of the border.

When I began this project, I knew that Mexican immigrants experienced difficulties coming to the United States, but I was surprised to learn about the educational inequality Mexican Americans faced. Throughout my research, I learned that the United States basically stole Mexico’s land, and then compensated the country with money. The U.S. permitted Mexicans to enter the country when it was beneficial for the nation, but Mexicans, including those who were U.S. citizens, were deported when the U.S. had no use for them. When the United States finally allowed Mexican children to attend school, the children were segregated and treated differently than the Anglos. I believe that this inequality in the past still has a profound effect on Mexican Americans today.

Barrera, Rosalinda B. and Robert T. Jimenez. “Literary Practices for Latino Students.” National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education. 20 Nov. 2002 <http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/>

Cockcroft, James D. “Literacy and Illiteracy.” The Year 2000 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia: Deluxe Edition. 1999.

Garcia, Mario T., “Americanization and the Mexican Immigrant, 1880-1930.” Silent No More! A Multicultural Reader: Parts One and Two. Ed. Morrison, Dennis and Mark Saad Saka. Connecticut: Emancipation, 1996. 249-266.

Miller, Michael, V., “Chicano Community Control in South Texas: Problems and Prospects.” Silent No More! A Multicultural Reader: Parts One and Two. Ed. Morrison, Dennis and Mark Saad Saka. Connecticut: Emancipation, 1996. 374-400.

Shorris, Earl. “Hispanic Americans.” The Year 2000 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia: Deluxe Edition. 1999.

Tindall, George Brown and David Emory Shi. America: A Narrative Story. 5^th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999.

[1] While no term of self-identification is totally accepted among this ethnic group, “Mexican American” seems to be the least offensive.

[2] Mexican Americans are twice as likely as non-Hispanics to be poor; the average income of a Chicano family is only sixty percent of that earned by white families and twenty-eight percent below the poverty line (Shorris).