Tejana Radical: Emma Tenayuca and the San Antonio Labor Movement during the Great Depression
01 Nov 1997-Pacific Historical Review (University of California Press Journals)-Vol. 66, Iss: 4, pp 553-580
TL;DR: In many instances of labor upheaval on farms, at mine sites, and in factories in the United States, Spanish-speaking workers took the lead as mentioned in this paper and created separate labor unions that were rooted in the tradition of mutual aid societies and workers' leagues, joined unions of mixed racial-ethnic composition, or sought national union affiliation.
Abstract: In the 1930s Mexican Americans fought their first major battles for worker rights and racial equality when they joined the revitalized labor movement.1 In many instances of labor upheaval on farms, at mine sites, and in factories in the United States, Spanish-speaking workers took the lead. They created separate labor unions that were rooted in the tradition of mutual aid societies and workers' leagues, joined unions of mixed racial-ethnic composition, or sought national union affiliation. What emerged was a style of unionism that drew notjust on the courage and militancy of Mexicans but also on their rich historical and cultural traditions, refashioned to fit the immediate labor struggle. From these shared social and cultural experiences emerged a collective identity and class-consciousness. Im-
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: The authors compare the experiences of blacks, Mexicans, and southern and eastern Europeans in the first half of the 20th century and suggest that the Mexican story might have more to teach us about these current and future lines than the SEE one.
Abstract: Contemporary race and immigration scholars often rely on historical analogies to help them analyze America’s current and future color lines. If European immigrants became white, they claim, perhaps today’s immigrants can as well. But too often these scholars ignore ongoing debates in the historical literature about America’s past racial boundaries. Meanwhile, the historical literature is itself needlessly muddled. In order to address these problems, the authors borrow concepts from the social science literature on boundaries to systematically compare the experiences of blacks, Mexicans, and southern and eastern Europeans (SEEs) in the first half of the 20th century. Their findings challenge whiteness historiography; caution against making broad claims about the reinvention, blurring, or shifting of America’s color lines; and suggest that the Mexican story might have more to teach us about these current and future lines than the SEE one.
168 citations
[...]
TL;DR: The suite of Franklin Delano Roosevelt-era policies that fell under the umbrella of New Deal, but the conditions of their possibility, and what the aftermath of the New Deal means for the United States and beyond are outlined.
Abstract: Calls for a Green New Deal in the United States represent an opportunity to learn from, and avoid the mistakes of, the last New Deal. We outline not the suite of Franklin Delano Roosevelt-era polic...
37 citations
Cites background from "Tejana Radical: Emma Tenayuca and t..."
...Workers struck, and ultimately won a national wage increase despite the predations of the industry, the media, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (Dinwoodie 1977; Vargas 1997; Cannon and Cannon 2019)....
[...]
35 citations
TL;DR: Workers make a New Deal as discussed by the authors, becoming a union rank and file, encountering mass culture and competing loyalty at the workplace, and finding common ground in workers' common ground Conclusion.
Abstract: Preface Introduction 1. Living and working in Chicago in 1919 2. Ethnicity in the New Era 3. Encountering mass culture 4. Contested loyalty at the workplace 5. Adrift in the Great Depression 6. Workers make a New Deal 7. Becoming a union rank and file 8. Workers' common ground Conclusion.
31 citations
31 Jan 2013
TL;DR: In this paper, a qualitative and interdisciplinary community project explores an important strand of psychosocial development that has always already existed, but had yet to be named, and leads to the imagining of a culturally relevant and responsive intervention.
Abstract: Often placed at the center of psychotherapeutic training rhetoric are the notions of cultural sophistication, competency, and responsiveness; however, these notions are often pushed to the margins of practice. This qualitative and interdisciplinary community project explores an important strand of psychosocial development that has always already existed, but had yet to be named. Psychosocial consciousness develops, through time, as a natural human response to our day-to-day experiences and encounters. These experiences and encounters form, reinforce, and perpetuate systems of understanding of self and others which profoundly impact our experience in the world. The exploration of the psychosocial development of a specific cohort of mujeres from the USA-Mexico border is a means toward the expansion of the understanding of psychosocial development of an underrepresented vii strand of mujeres and leads to the imagining of a culturally relevant and responsive intervention. This dissertation is designed to engage with the ongoing exploration of theories of identity, culture, and community; this as a means of contributing to border and borderland discourse in multiple fields of study, research, pedagogy, and praxis. This project braids together three strands of discourse. First, the voices that emerge from a process of a historicized and sequential connection of literature drawn selectively from multiple fields of study in order to build the foundation, shape the framework, and contextualize the notion of borderpsychosocial development. Second, my cuento, reflexive stories that emerged from my personal, professional, and academic experiences. Third, the cuentos of las seis mujeres del valle who provide a glimpse into their experiences of living on the border. Interviewed were six mujeres of Mexican heritage between ages fifty and sixty-five who live in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas near the USA-Mexico border. Written and video recording methods are used to gather contextualand cuento-data about their specific psychosocial experience with religion, traditional medicine, language, and education from childhood through adulthood that constitutes their psychosocial development on the border. Selected findings provide a glimpse into border-based experiences, the dilemmas that result, demonstrate the value of centering the marginalized experience and theorizing of psychosocial experience, and imagine a clinical intervention. viii Table of
17 citations
References
More filters
TL;DR: The forces that shaped the institution of slavery in the American South endured, albeit in altered form, long after slavery was abolished as mentioned in this paper, and the changing role of black women, lending a voice to an unsung struggle from the depths of slavery to the ongoing fight for civil rights.
Abstract: The forces that shaped the institution of slavery in the American South endured, albeit in altered form, long after slavery was abolished. Toiling in sweltering Virginia tobacco factories or in the kitchens of white families in Chicago, black women felt a stultifying combination of racial discrimination and sexual prejudice. And yet, in their efforts to sustain family ties, they shared a common purpose with wives and mothers of all classes. In labour of Love, labour of Sorrow , historian Jacqueline Jones offers a powerful account of the changing role of black women, lending a voice to an unsung struggle from the depths of slavery to the ongoing fight for civil rights.
593 citations
Book•
23 Dec 1993
TL;DR: Sanchez et al. as discussed by the authors examined the relationship between ethnicity and identity among the largest immigrant group to Los Angeles from 1900 to 1945 and found that temporary sojourners altered their orientation to that of permanent residents, thereby creating a new Mexican-American culture.
Abstract: Twentieth-century Los Angeles has been the focus of one of the most profound and complex interactions between variant cultures in American history. Yet this study is among the first to examine the relationship between ethnicity and identity among the largest immigrant group to that city. By focusing on Mexican immigrants to Los Angeles from 1900 to 1945, George J. Sanchez explores the process by which temporary sojourners altered their orientation to that of permanent residents, thereby laying the foundation for a new Mexican-American culture. Analysing not only formal programs aimed at these newcomers by the United States and Mexico, but also the world created by these immigrants through family networks, religious practice, musical entertainment, and work ethics, Sanchez uncovers the creative ways Mexicans adapted their culture to life in the United States. When a formal repatriation campaign pushed thousands to return to Mexico, those remaining in Los Angeles launched new campaigns to gain civil rights as ethnic Americans through labor unions and New Deal politics. The immigrant generation, therefore, laid the groundwork for the emerging Mexican-American identity of their children.
494 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1990TL;DR: Workers make a New Deal as discussed by the authors, becoming a union rank and file, encountering mass culture and competing loyalty at the workplace, and finding common ground in workers' common ground Conclusion.
Abstract: Preface Introduction 1. Living and working in Chicago in 1919 2. Ethnicity in the New Era 3. Encountering mass culture 4. Contested loyalty at the workplace 5. Adrift in the Great Depression 6. Workers make a New Deal 7. Becoming a union rank and file 8. Workers' common ground Conclusion.
472 citations
Book•
27 Mar 1995TL;DR: Gutierrez as discussed by the authors explores the ways that nearly a century of steady immigration from Mexico has shaped ethnic politics in California and Texas, the two largest U.S. border states.
Abstract: Covering more than one hundred years of American history, "Walls and Mirrors" examines the ways that continuous immigration from Mexico transformed - and continues to shape - the political, social, and cultural life of the American Southwest. Taking a fresh approach to one of the most divisive political issues of our time, David Gutierrez explores the ways that nearly a century of steady immigration from Mexico has shaped ethnic politics in California and Texas, the two largest U.S. border states. Drawing on an extensive body of primary and secondary sources, Gutierrez focuses on the complex ways that their pattern of immigration influenced Mexican Americans' sense of social and cultural identity - and, as a consequence, their politics. He challenges the most cherished American myths about U.S. immigration policy, pointing out that, contrary to rhetoric about 'alien invasions', U.S. government and regional business interests have actively recruited Mexican and other foreign workers for over a century, thus helping to establish and perpetuate the flow of immigrants into the United States. In addition, Gutierrez offers a new interpretation of the debate over assimilation and multiculturalism in American society. Rejecting the notion of the melting pot, he explores the ways that ethnic Mexicans have resisted assimilation and fought to create a cultural space for themselves in distinctive ethnic communities throughout the southwestern United States.
361 citations
Book•
01 Aug 1987TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss race, labor, and the frontier in Southwestern history, focusing on cattle, land, and markets in the Southwestern United States, from 1836-1900.
Abstract: Acknowledgments 1. Introduction Part One. Incorporation, 1836-1900 2. The Rivalship of Peace 3. Cattle, Land, and Markets 4. Race, Labor, and the Frontier Part Two. Reconstruction, 1900-1920 5. The Coming of the Commercial Farmers 6. The Politics of Reconstruction Part Three. Segregation, 1920-1940 7. The Structure of the New Order 8. The Mexican Problem 9. The Web of Labor Controls 10. The Culture of Segregation 11. The Geography of Race and Class Part Four. Integration, 1940-1986 12. The Demise of "Jim Crow" 13. A Time of Inclusion Appendix. On Interpreting Southwestern History Notes Bibliography Index
341 citations