Crucible of Struggle: A History of Mexican Americans from Colonial Times to the Present Era

by Zaragosa Vargas

Overview

Latinos in the U.S. are a major political, economic, and cultural force that is fast changing the national identity of this country. Mexican Americans, specifically, account for nearly two thirds of this population. Mexicans are the oldest settlers of the United States and the nation's largest group of recent immigrant arrivals. Their population is increasing faster than that of all other Latino groups combined. The growing importance of this minority group—which will be felt strongly in twenty-first-century America—calls for a fresh assessment of Mexican-American history.

The second edition of Crucible of Struggle: A History of Mexican Americans from the Colonial Period to the Present Era includes a new final chapter that examines such issues as increased anti-immigrant activity after 2006, the crucial role of Latinos in the election of Barack Obama, increased border enforcement and deportation in the wake of the U.S. Senate's failure to pass amnesty legislation,
Latinos and private detention centers, the role of individual states in immigration reform, the surge of unaccompanied children from Central America, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190200787
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/15/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Zaragosa Vargas is Kenan Eminent Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
A Note on Terminology

Chapter 1. The Era of the Spanish Northern Frontier to 1821
Spanish Institutions and Mixed-Race Society of the Northern Frontier
The Founding of New Mexico
Resisting Spanish Colonization: The Pueblo Revolt of 1680
Duty to the Crown and Church Fulfilled: The Spanish Reconquest of New Mexico
A Buffer Zone Against Expansion: Spanish Colonial Texas
The Apache and Comanche Threat in Texas
The Condition of the Spanish Texas Colony in the Early Nineteenth Century
Guarding the Western Periphery: Spanish Colonial Alta California
Mexican Independence Comes to the Northern Frontier
Conclusion

Chapter 2. Life and Society in Mexico's Northern Borderlands, 1821-1846
Indian Relations on the Northern Frontier After Mexican Independence
Men of the Plains: New Mexican Ciboleros and Comancheros
The Opening of Commercial Markets: The Taos Trade Fair and the Santa Fe Trail
Conflict in New Mexico: The 1837 Revolt
Tejano Life on the Texa s Frontier Under Mexico
The Never-Ending Indian Menace: Comanchc Raid in Texas
The Growing Conflict in Texas with Mexico
The Drive for Texas Independence
Making California Mexican
The California Missions: Making Indians Faithful and Industrious Christians
The Golden Age of California Ranching
The Californio Era Revolts Against Mexican Rule
Conclusion

Chapter 3. Mexican Americans in the Era of War and American Westward Expansion
The Southwest on the Eve of the Mexican War
The Outbreak of War
The American Occupation of New Mexico
The 1847 Taos Revolt Against American Occupation of New Mexico
The American Occupation of California
The Battles at Monterrey and Buena Vista
The Enduring Paradox: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Conclusion

Chapter 4. Mexican Americans from the 1850s to the End of the Civil War
Mexican Americans in the Postconquest Southwest
The Californio Banditti Joaquin Murieta and Tiburcio Vasquez
Juan Cortina: Champion and Hated Villain of the Texas Border Region
Mexican Americans in the American Civil War
Mexican Americans Fight in the Indian Wars
Conclusion

Chapter 5. Mexican Americans in the Southwest, 1870 to the Early Twentieth Century
The Mexican Americans of California
The Tejanos and Mexicans of Texas
Disenfranchising Tejano Voters as Political Strategy
The Mexicans of Arizona and New Mexico
The United States and the New Mexico Land Grants Question
Las Gorras Blancas and the Struggle to Protect Land Grants
Statehood for New Mexico Arizona?
The New Southwest Economy and the First Modern Phase of Mexican Immigration to the United States
Conclusion

Chapter 6. Mexican Immigration, Work, Urbanization, and Americanization, 1910-1929
Mexican Labor Strife and Struggle
Teja no Freedom Fighters: The Plan de San Diego
The Killing Fields of South Texas
Immigration from Mexico During the Years 1910-1920
Mexicans, World War I, and the 1920-1921 Depression
Mexican Immigration from 1920 to 1929
Mexican Los Angeles
Mexicans in the Rocky Mountain and Plains States
Mexicans in the Urban Industrial Heartland of the Midwest
Mexicans and Social and Cultural Change and Americanization
Mexican Mutualism and Fraternalism
Conclusion

Chapter 7. The Mexican American Struggle for Labor Rights in the Era of the Great Depression
The Plight of Mexicans in the Early Years of the Great Depression
The Repatriation Campaign Unfolds
Mexicans in the Era of the National Recovery Act
Mexican Women Workers Battle for Equality
Mexican Coal Miners' Wage War in Gallup
Tejano Struggles for Unionism in South Texas
Emma Tenayuca Brings Social Justice to San Antonio's Mexicans
The 1938 Strike by San Antonio's Pecan Shellers
The UCAPAWA Organizes Colorado's Mexican Farmworkers
Mexican American CIO Unionists Organize Los Angeles and Southern California
Conclusion

Chapter 8. The Mexican American People in the World War II Era
Mexican Americans on the Eve of the Second World War
Justice Delayed: The Sleepy Lagoon Incident
Mexican Americans and the Sinarquista Menace
America's War at Home: The Los Angeles Zoot Suit Riots
Mexican Americans on the Pacific and European War Fronts
Mexican Americans Fight Against Discrimination: The Case of Los Angeles
Mexican American Women War Workers
Braceros: The Mexican Contract Labor Program Begins
American Race Relations and Mexican Americans
Conclusion

Chapter 9. Mexican Americans in the Postwar Years,1946-1963
Forgotten: The Status of Mexican Americans in Postwar America
Mexican Americans in the Early Postwar American Labor Movement
The Radicalism of ANMA
Mexican Americans and the Community Service Organization
Mexican Americans Caught in the Web of the Red Scare
Mexican Americans in the Dragnets of Operation Wetback and Operation Terror
Civil Rights Litigation by Mexican Americans
Don't Bow to the Powers That Be: Shifts in the Mexican American Rights Movement
Mexican Americans and the Democratic Party
Conclusion

Chapter 10. Mexican Americans in the Protest Era,1964-1974
Viva La Huelga!:Gaining Ground for Farmworkers
The People's Choice: Reies Lopez Tijerina and the New Mexico Land Grants Movement
Cultural Nationalism and Community Control: The Crusade for Justice
A Search for Identity: The Chicano Student Movement
Righteous Discontent: The Chicana Women's Movement
Raza Si! Guerra No!:The National Chicano War Moratorium
"Pardon My English": La Raza Unida Party
Conclusion

Chapter 11. Mexican Americans at the End of the Twentieth Century
Mexican Americans and Reagan's "New Morning in America"
"Tú Voto Es Tú Voz" (Your Vote is Your Voice): Mexican Americans and the Political Process
Mexican Americans and the Civil Wars in Central America
Unemployment, Drugs, Gang Warfare, and the 1992 Rodney King Riots
The 1986 Simpson-Mazzoli Act or IRCA, the English-Only Movement, and Proposition 187
"Fight the Power": From the Bakke Decision to Proposition 209
Mexican American Workers Organize
"NAFTA's Gonna Shaft Ya": Mexican Americans and the North American Free Trade Agreement
Latino: A New National Identity and Continued Latino Immigration
Conclusion

Chapter 12. Latinos and the Challenges of the 21st Century
Latinos and Increased Anti-immigrant Activity After 2006
Latinos Help Elect Barack Obama in 2008
Latino Bear the Weight of Deportation
Latinos and the Great Recession
Adequate Health Care for Latinos
Individual States Take On Immigration Reform
Latinos Once More Standup for Immigrant Rights
The Dreamers and Doers
Latinos and the 2012 Reelection of Barack Obama
Latinos and Private Detention Centers
The Surge of Unaccompanied Children from Central America
Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

"Crucible of Struggle remains a landmark book for readers interested in Mexican American, labor, and civil rights histories in the United States. Vargas's detailed and powerful account reveals how working people have long fought for dignity and rights, and his final chapter now traces the legacies of those past struggles for our own time. This groundbreaking work of analysis charts an important path for scholars, policymakers, and students."—Stephen Pitti, Yale University

From the Publisher