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

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

3. Imperial Valley

8. “Winning” of the West Indian Removal Act of 1830 1848: U.S.-Mexico War
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

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

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

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

12. 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

13. Fresno scraper

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

15. 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

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

17. Rapidly Expanding Industrialism Ellis 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

18. 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.

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

20. Ricardo Flores Magon

21. 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

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

23. 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

25. 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

26. Bath Riots El 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,"

27. Santa Fe Bridge

28. Fumigation w/ DDT, 1956

29. 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?

30. 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