Mexican Americans and Politics Class 4 January 19, 2006 Laying the Foundations for Contemporary Mexican American Politics … and its Core Debates Mexican Americans and Politics Class 4 January 19, 2006

Recap Rebirth of Mexican American Politics – 1900 Results from social, economic, and demographic changes of the period Conversion of ranches to farms Mexican Americans enter wage economy Dual societies emerge Consequences Mexican Americans racialized Small Mexican American middle class emerges Nascent mutualist and fraternal organizations emerge

Biggest Change – Large Scale Migration from Mexico 1917—the border takes on meaning People have to decide which side they live on U.S.-born Mexican Americans See differences from Mexico for first time Majority society ascribes immigrant characteristics to natives Mexican immigrants Seek to maintain ties to Mexico See exclusion both by U.S. society and Mexican Americans Native response – Depression-era “repatriations” (deportations), particularly from California

Questions to Keep in Mind While Viewing The Lemon Grove Incident What are manifestations of Lemon Grove’s dual society? What resources can Mexican Americans in Lemon Grove tap in order to organize? What barriers do they face? What characteristics to do Anglos ascribe to Mexican Americans? What is the basis for the court’s ruling?

For Next Time LULAC and the Congress of Spanish-Speaking Peoples offer alternative models for Mexican American civic organizing in the 1930s and 1940s? What values and understandings do they share? How do their visions for the future of Mexican American empowerment differ? What role does each see for immigrants in the Mexican American experience?