Spanish American Whiteness Essay

The periods of Prehistoric America, slavery, Antebellum America, and Reconstruction had the most change regarding the definition of white. Yet, periods such as the imperialism of America and Third Wave Immigration served to maintain factors of whiteness. For example, America’s participation in the Spanish-American war proliferated the superiority and manliness attached to whiteness. This can be seen through rhetoric discussing the Spanish foe and the Filipino child. For example, when contemplating going to war with Spain, imperialist described Spain as ill-suited to govern considering they lacked manhood because they were governed by a queen and had the self-restraint of a boy (Hogenson, 11). Thus, America needed to go to war with them to free

To properly analyze and understand how Mexicans reinforced the definition of whiteness and allowed it to contract, we must first observe how their ancestors described whiteness. For instance, according to Jacoby, the Vecinos described whiteness as a class and social construct that was based on one’s socioeconomic status and not one’s skin color or biology (Jacoby, 76). This definition of whiteness is supported by some whites when thinking of Mexicans considering when discussing Mexicans involvement in American affairs few Americans said that “clean Mexicans with Spanish blood and fair complexions” (Foley, 42) should be allowed to integrate with white school children. Howbeit, in the 1940s Mexicans were most frequently considered nonwhite considering (a.) they were a mixed race of people, known as the mestizos – meaning one that is mixed with both Spanish and Indian blood, and (b.) due to the South’s “one drop rule”, Mexicans were considered black. Moreover, defining Mexicans in this way depended on time and location (Foley, 54). For example, Tafolla was a Mexican who had immigrated