Mexican Discrimination In America Essay

The first Mexicans that became part of the United States did not have to cross any borders, but instead faced the issue of having a border cross them. In 1846 war broke out between the U.S. and Mexico due to the annexation of Texas. The United States won and both countries signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which gave a massive amount of land to the conquering nation. In accordance to the treaty most of the Mexicans who stayed in the new United States regions would become U.S. citizens. The treaty also guaranteed their safety and property rights, but in reality these Mexican Americans found themselves unlawfully dispossessed of their land, which for many Mexicans were their only source of income. This forceful invasion of a great part of Mexico’s Northern territory brought along with it discrimination and hatred towards the new citizens of the United States. In A History of Latinos in America (2011), Gonzalez shows how

Law acknowledged Mexican-Americans as white, although this had only a small impact in practice. Mexican Americans were far from having a privileged status as they were significantly discriminated and experienced discrimination very similar to African Americans. Mexicans faced segregation in public schools, were only allowed to rent or own property in Mexican colonies, and faced major discrimination in employment. “Mexican-Americans were earmarked for exclusive employment in the lowest brackets of employment and paid less than Anglo-Americans for the same jobs” ( Martinez, 211). Mexican Americans were assigned similar tasks as Anglo Americans but because they were seen as inferior they did not receive the same benefits as Anglos. Even after performing the same task, Anglo Americans received higher wages, but despite this fact many Anglo Americans were still not satisfied with their