1. The Road Toward Contemporary Latino Politics, 1500s-1970s
UNEVEN ROADS, CHAPTER 4

2. Origins of Today’s Latino Community
Colonial expansion of the Spanish empire – 16th Century – into what is today
Southwestern United States
Florida
Spanish migrants mixed with indigenous populations and African Americans in the Americas
Latino politics emerges over time
Racialization of the Spanish-origin / Spanish-ancestry population by White majority created near absolute barriers for Latinos
Latinos organized to assert rights in U.S. society
Pre-Civil Rights-era Latino history shaped by
Mexican Americans
Puerto Ricans
Cuban Americans

3. Colonial Beginnings Spanish exploration and conquest
Spanish colonists predated colonization by Northern Europeans
Spanish migration to what is now the United States at the far ends of the European trade routes
Populations low
Landholdings large
Spanish conquest of Aztec Empire (1519)
Mexican independence from Spain (1821) transfers sovereignty of what is now U.S. Southwest
U.S. purchased Florida from Spain (1819) Adams–Onís Treaty

4. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)
Ended the U.S.-Mexican War ( )
Provisions
Transfer of one-half of Mexico’s territory to the United States
Grant of U.S. citizenship to former Mexican subjects who remained in what became the United States
Protection of land rights of new U.S. citizens
Native Americans in former Mexican territory not granted U.S. citizenship
State governments often failed to enforce Treaty provisions
Example of an uneven road for Mexican Americans
Pre-War Mexican elite – small to begin with – declined considerably and largely disappeared by 1900

5. Pre-War Mexican Elites and the Transition to U.S. Rule
Texas an independent nation
Texas governance included Tejanos (Texans of Mexican/Spanish ancestry) and Anglos
Tejanos among the signatories to the Texas constitution
Initial California state constitution (1849) recognized Spanish-language
Elite class interests ensured guarantees of land ownership protections in Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)
Manifest Destiny too easy an explanation – both Mexican subjects and Anglos worked together against Mexico.

6. Destruction of 19th Century Mexican American Politics
Elite political decline
Economic disempowerment
Loss of Mexican American land holdings
Proving ownership in court
Squatters
Property taxes
Shift from ranch to farm model of agriculture
Demographic changes in the Southwest
Rapid in-migration of Anglos from the East
Slow migration from Mexico
Intermarriage between Anglos and Mexican elites

7. Rebirth of Mexican American Politics, Early 1900s
New migration from Mexico and the emergence of a new ethnic identity
Labor recruitment grows as Southwestern economy is integrated into U.S. economy
Mexican government loses ability to restrict emigration
Migration from Mexico increases from 31,188 ( ) to 498,945 ( )
Racialized disenfranchisement
Civic organizing in Mexican American communities
Mutualist organizations – meet specific collective needs
Catholic Church – Junipero Serra – 18th century
Union organizing in some trades – IWW (International Workers of the World)
Civic organizing – regional organizations
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) (1929)
El Congreso de Pueblos Que Hablan Español (the Congress of Spanish-Speaking Peoples) (1939)
Different visions for Mexican American civic, political, and social incorporation

8. From Civic Activism to Political Engagement
Electoral “firsts”
Edward Roybal
Henry B. Gonzalez
Raymond Telles
Community-based political organizations critical to these and other “firsts”
Mexican American Political association (MAPA)
Political Association of Spanish-Speaking Organizations (PASSO
Community Service Organization
Viva Kennedy!
Targeted outreach Kennedy presidential campaign
A first … that may have cemented the Kennedy victory

9. Different Paths Experienced by Puerto Ricans and Cuban Americans
Empire building and the White Man’s Burden
Spanish defeat in the Spanish-American War (1898)
Puerto Rico established as a U.S. colony
Puerto Ricans granted U.S. citizenship by statute (Jones–Shafroth Act, 1917) Rep. William Jones(D-Vir)/S. John Shafroth(D-Col)
Cuba granted a tempered independence
War sped what had previously been a slow migration from the Caribbean
Florida
New York
Largely a labor / working class migration
No pre-War elite to destroy
Cuban and Puerto Rican labor quickly the target of union mobilization and New York ethnic politics

10. Puerto Rican Politics in the Pre-Latino Era
Local electoral victories beginning in the 1930s
Intermittent mobilization and disenfranchisement in New York politics
Mobilization of Puerto Ricans in the United States by the government of Puerto Rico
Economic and social challenges
Surge in migration after World War II
Urban economies in the U.S. cities begin to decline in the 1960s

11. The Cuban Revolution and the Rise of Cuban American Politics
Long history of short-term political migration from Cuba to the United States after changes in Cuban government
migrants assumed a quick return
Cold War policies spurred significant U.S. investment in Cuban refugee community
$2-$4 billion between 1959 and 1980
Unintentional settlement policy
Slowed the development of Cuban American politics
Mariel boatlift and native responses

12. Civil Rights Organizing in Latino Communities, 1960s-1970s
Post-War era characterized by economic gains and new opportunities for White ethnics, but not Latinos
Political and economic discrimination linked experiences of Latinos and African Americans
Latino civil rights organizing took a variety of forms
Land rights claims
Voter mobilization
Youth organizing focusing on education
Labor organizing
Nationalist demand making
Shared demand across new organizations – full incorporation regardless of ethnicity

13. Beginning of the Latino Political Era
Emergence of a collective Latino identity
Shared experiences with exclusion from U.S. society based on language and nation-origin based discrimination
Begins as elite effort to demand redress
PL – Americans of Spanish Origin – Social Statistics Law (Collection of data similar to AA and Whites)
Extension of the Voting Rights Act to language minorities, including Latinos (1975)
Latino identity added to 1980 Census – ethnic not racial category

14. Latino Racialization Mexican Americans Puerto Ricans Cuban Americans
Class based exclusion (early-post U.S.-Mexican War)
Race/ethnicity as near absolute barrier (late 19th Century)
Declining racialization in response to civic and political organizing (20th Century)
Puerto Ricans
Disenfranchisement based on race/ethnicity and class (early-20th Century)
Civic organizing reduces group-based barriers (Civil Rights era)
Cuban Americans
U.S. government support for political objectives of post-Revolution Cuban émigrés make race/ethnicity an inconsequential barrier
Local responses to Mariel and duration of Cuban migration raise salience of ethnic differences