Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Mexican immigration to America
Proofs by richard rodriguez summary
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Mexican immigration to America
Turning Pocho
Early in the 20th century, there was a large increase of immigration not only in California, but the whole United states, and according to Dr. Joshua Paddison of Wittenberg University, “One-half million Mexicans migrated, with more than 30 percent setting in California” (Paddison, 1921-present: Modern California). Some of the immigrants’ transition from Mexico and into California be seen in both Ernesto Galarza’s “Barrio Boy”, and Richard Rodriguez’s “Proofs”. While both differentiate by their time period, there are some similar behavior patterns, such as the immigrants crossing over the border and into different states, their work, and their social life. The migration for any the Latinos wasn’t just a simple plane ride from
…show more content…
Since Galarza grew up in a strong community he was able to experience support from the colonia mexicana in Sacramento, while Rodriguez accounts for Mexican immigrants in various locations in California. Most of the immigrants Rodriguez interviewed or witnessed all had a resemblance to nostalgia. He had saw many drunk and lonely Mexican men, some being only teenagers, and even the men who lived with their families were still homesick. Rodriguez even said that, “the city is evil” (66), while meeting a preacher whose early years were all about drugs, gangs, and being a “junkie”. While most of everything Rodriguez experienced were negative, Galarza had an opposite perspective. It may have be the different locations or time periods that both authors experienced the immigrants lives, but the relations between the Mexicans were more than just the family they had to support, and instead it was the whole community. As Mexicans migrated to the community in Sacramento that Galarza grew up in, they became chicanos, and they were “the name of an unskilled worker born in Mexico and just arrived in the United States” (267). It was so much easier to for the immigrants to make money since the fellow Mexicans provided assistance to those in need of jobs or a place to live, and of it was provided by trusting one another. The community helped keep the Mexican heritage strong and tried avoiding becoming an American by speaking their native language, celebrating holidays they would normally celebrate in Mexico, and by not turning
In Richard Rodriguez’s “Proofs,” Mexican immigrant’s destination is described, as well as their perceptions and expectations of America. Rodriguez describes the passage to the United States as difficult, yet worthy. He states: “The city will win. The city will give the children all the village could not- VCR’s, hairstyles, drum beat. The city sings mean songs, dirty songs. But the city will sing the children a great Protestant hymn.You can be anything you want to be.” He also states: “Mexico is poor. But mama says there
In his book, “…And the Earth Did Not Devour Him,” author Tomás Rivera documents through a fictional non-traditional novel, the life experiences of a child that endured many difficulties, he describes the hope, struggles, and tragedies of the Mexican-American migrant workers in the 40s and 50s, and how they travel from home to work to survive. The book’s focus is in Texas, although other areas are mentioned throughout the United States. Divided into 14 different short stories and 13 vignettes the author records the predicament of the Mexican-American migrant workers in Texas and explains how the migrants had to overcome constant discriminatory actions by the White Americans and endure difficult living situations because of poverty as well as unsatisfactory job
In Sueños Americanos: Barrio Youth Negotiating Social and Cultural Identities, Julio Cammarota studies Latina/o youth who live in El Pueblo, and talks about how Proposition 187, the anti-immigrant law, is affecting Latina/o youth in California (Cammarota, 2008, p. 3). In this book review, I will write about the two main points the author is trying to get across. The two main points I will be writing about are how Proposition 187 is affecting the Latina/o community, and about how Latina/o youth are copping in the El Pueblo barrio. Afterward I write about the two main points the author is trying to get across, I will write a brief description of the author and write about the author’s strengths and weaknesses.
Through visiting La Plaza De Culturas Y Artes, I have learned a lot more interesting, yet, surprising new information about the Chicano history in California. For example, in the 1910’s and on the high immigration of Mexicans and other Chicanos, into coal mines and farms by major corporations, made California one of the richest states in the US. I also learned that most of California 's economy was heavily reliant on immigrants. Immigrants were the preferred worker for major corporations because they didn 't have American rights and were given the harder jobs for less pay.
This book was published in 1981 with an immense elaboration of media hype. This is a story of a young Mexican American who felt disgusted of being pointed out as a minority and was unhappy with affirmative action programs although he had gained advantages from them. He acknowledged the gap that was created between him and his parents as the penalty immigrants ought to pay to develop and grow into American culture. And he confessed that he got bewildered to see other Hispanic teachers and students determined to preserve their ethnicity and traditions by asking for such issues to be dealt with as departments of Chicano studies and minority literature classes. A lot of critics criticized him as a defector of his heritage, but there are a few who believed him to be a sober vote in opposition to the political intemperance of the 1960s and 1970s.
The focus of analysis will consist of Southern Chicago Mexicans and the way by which they established themselves as important features of US civilization. Within the late 1910s and early 1920s the first major waves of Mexican immigrants ventured into the Southside of Chicago. Members of the community overcame the discrimination against them while organizing themselves in way that introduced Mexican pride and community building across their
In this book, the lives of two wealthy American citizens and two illegal immigrants collide. Delaney and Kyra were whites living in a pleasurable home, with the constant worry that Mexicans would disturb their peaceful, gated community. Candido and America, on the other hand, came to America to seek job opportunities and a home but ended up camping in a canyon, struggling even for the cheapest form of life. They were prevented from any kind of opportunities because they were Mexicans. The differences between the skin colors of these two couples created the huge gap between the two races.
Weber, David J. Foreigners in Their Native Land: The Historical Roots of Mexican Americans. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1973.
Los Angeles was the place to find work if laboring was all you knew. Not speaking a word of English, but able to labor in the fields of California's various crops, Mexican immigrants flocked to Los Angeles. Los Angeles quickly became a Mecca for Mexicans wishing to partake of the American dream establishing themselves and creating families. The American dream, however, became just a dream as harsh unequal assessments by white Americans placed Mexican-Americans at the bottom of the social, economic, and political ladders. Whites believed that Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans had no place in their society: a place shared by many minorities (Del Castillo 7). Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans in Los Angeles were at a great disadvantage despite their great numbers. No representation existed for the minorities.
The Mexican Migrant Farm Workers’ community formed in Southern California in the 20th century because of two factors that came together: farming emphasized by migrations like the Okie farmers from the East and Mexicans “imported” to the U.S. because of the need for cheap labor as a replacement of Americans during World War II. The migrant labor group formed after an already similar group in the U.S had been established in California, the American farm workers from the East, known as the Okies. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s caused the movement of the Okies to the West and was followed by the transition from American dominant farm labor to Mexican migrant labor. The Okies reinforced farming in California through the skills they took with them, significant to the time period that Mexicans arrived to California in greater numbers. However, the community was heightened by World War II from 1939 to 1945, which brought in immigrants to replace Americans that left to fight in the battlefields. Robin A. Fanslow, archivist at the Library of Congress, argues that because of World War II, “those who were left behind took advantage of the job opportunities that had become available in [the] West Coast” (Fanslow). Although some Mexican migrants already lived in the U.S prior to this event, a vast majority arrived at the fields of California specifically to work as farmers through the Bracero Program, created because of the Second World War. Why the Second World War and not the First World War? WWII urgently demanded labor and Mexico was the United States’ closest resource. Although WWI also caused the U.S. to have a shortage of labor; at the time, other minorities dominated, like the Chinese and Japanese.
This book as mentioned before is a great addition to academia; Dr., García’s thorough research, and vast amount of statistics, give new light to the Mexican immigration into the United States in the nineteenth century, As well as the many contributions of the Mexican people in this country. Which has many times been overlooked by scholars, who choose to focus on immigration from the other side of the Atlantic, as the greater contributor of talent and greatness in this country. García’s book not only includes the struggle of men but also the struggle of the many women who sacrificed much, and had to endure even more while working as domestics for many racist patronas. Dr., Mario García obtained a PhD. At the University of California in San Diego, and is currently a professor of Chicano/Chicana studies at the University of California in Santa Barbara.
Monroy, Douglas. Thrown Among Strangers: The Making of Mexican Culture in Frontier California . 1990.
Steltzer, Ulli, “The New Americans: Immigrant Life in Southern California.” Kiniry and Rose 346-347. Print.
Despite having to battle discrimination and poor neighborhoods, second and third generation Mexican-Americans have made a great strife to overcome large obstacles. Mexican-Americans are finally gaining representation in city government representing the 9.6 million Mexican residents of Los Angeles. White politicians can no longer ignore Mexicans in Los Angeles, as former mayor Richard Riordan saw in the elections of 1997, in which his re-election was largely in part to the high turnout of Mexican voters in his favor. Although Capitalism still exists in the greater Los Angeles, its influence is not as great as it was fifty years ago. Los Angeles continues to serve as the breeding grounds for new cultures, ideologies, and alternative lifestyles. The pursuit of the American Dream becomes a reality for most immigrants in LA. LA is a great place to live, party, and be from. I knew little about the history of Los Angeles prior to this course, but now I am well prepared to answer the question of, “What makes Los Angeles, Los Angeles?”
In the short reading “Like Mexicans” Gary Soto is undecided about what route he should pursue when moving on into the future. In his early teens his grandmother told him to become a barber and to marry a Mexican girl, Soto’s mother told him this as well. When Soto was in his twenties he ended up falling in love with a Japanese woman named Carolyn. Towards the end of the story Soto realized that the reason his mom wanted him to marry a Mexican girl was because they are in the same social class as him. At the end of the story when Soto is at Carolyn’s house he perceived that her family was different, but they were just like Mexicans because they were poor. Throughout this story Soto crossed three life changes: Culture, food,