Katherine Underwood

Bio: Katherine Underwood is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Representation (politics). The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 6 citations.

Pioneering Minority Representation: Edward Roybal and the Los Angeles City Council, 1949-1962

Abstract: The efforts of ethnic and racial groups to obtain effective representation are deeply woven into the fabric of the United States. The election of Edward Roybal to the Los Angeles City Council in 1949 exemplifies the opportunities for political change that emerged from local cross-ethnic activism after World War II. It also suggests the limits of such change. Roybal, the city's first Latino council representative in the twentieth century, received support in his quest for office from an unusual combination of Mexican Americans, whites, and African Americans. To liberals and minorities his election was a

Whittier Boulevard, Sixth Street Bridge, and the Origins of Transportation Exploitation in East Los Angeles

Abstract: Faced with immense increases in automobile traffic, during the 1920s, Los Angeles city engineers improved Whittier Boulevard through the east side. To keep costs low, the engineers took land from parks and playgrounds. In short, local residents, mostly lower-income Mexican Americans, Jews, and other “undesirables,” wouldpaythe social costs ofhighway buildingin East Los Angeles.By the 1940s,poorlyde-signed roads helped fuel the reformist politics of Edward Roybal but also helped state transportation planners to justify extensive freeway constructionin the area. Spatial exploitationforhighways contributed to the projection of place-based ethnic identity among the Mexican American people who became a majority of east side population after World War II.

Bloody Christmas and the Irony of Police Professionalism: The Los Angeles Police Department, Mexican Americans, and Police Reform in the 1950s

Abstract: On December 25, 1951, approximately fifty Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers brutally beat seven young men in their custody, including five Mexican Americans The ensuing controversy became known as Bloody Christmas Mexican American activists demanded investigations into allegations of police brutality and LAPD accountability to civilian control The LAPD9s new chief, William Parker, however, had just launched a reform campaign based on the police professionalism model, which stressed police autonomy, particularly about internal discipline Parker and his allies in city government stifled external investigations into department matters, vilified LAPD critics, and even ignored perjury by officers They thus helped create an organizational culture that valued LAPD independence above the rule of law and led to the LAPD9s estrangement from Mexican American and other minority communities

Los Amigos de Wallace: Henry Wallace’s 1948 presidential campaign and the bid to capture the Latino vote

Abstract: This essay analyzes the Latino political organization Amigos de Wallace, created to support the 1948 presidential candidacy of Henry Wallace under the Progressive Party ticket, as the earliest known organized attempt to mobilize Latinos as a national voting bloc in a US presidential election. Amigos de Wallace, the essay argues, rallied Latinos as a distinct electoral constituency who deserved to have their voices heard and votes counted in the national political arena, and thus serves as an important antecedent to the better-documented political efforts of the 1960s and onward, such as the Viva Kennedy clubs. The essay enlarges our understanding of Latinos’ political mobilizations and their contributions to the US Left prior to the 1960s and supports an earlier chronology and context in which to understand the construction of modern Latino political identities.

Challenges to Solidarity: The Mexican American Fight for Social and Economic Justice, 1946–1963

Abstract: When the Mexican American World War II veterans returned home, they confronted rampant discrimination. Like their African American counterparts, many wanted change, such as better educational opportunities, job training, and resources for purchasing homes and life insurance. This demand by Mexican Americans for a just share of the benefits of full equality helped define a new era of civil rights activism. It led Mexican Americans, America’s second largest minority group, to welcome democratic organizations into their communities and to form new all-Mexican advocacy groups.1