MCCCD Official Course Competencies:

HIS209  1995 Spring – 1998 Summer II

The Chicano in Twentieth Century America

1.

Describe origins, causes, and conduct of the Mexican War. (I)

2.

Describe the Mexican American/Chicano cultural, economic, political, and historical experience from 1840s to 1900. (II, III)

3.

Describe the factors contributing to the growth of Mexican emigration into the United States from the 1880s until 1929. (III)

4.

Describe the social, economic, and political organizing efforts of the Mexican American/Chicano communities from 1900 until 1929. (III)

5.

Describe the impact of the Great Depression of the 1930s on Mexican American/Chicano communities with emphasis on the significance of repatriation New Deal programs. (IV)

6.

Describe the experience of the Mexican American/Chicano communities during World War II and its legacy into the 1950s. (V)

7.

Describe the nature of the Bracero program, its evolution, termination, and consequences including, changes in domestic Mexican agricultural policies which stimulate resurgence in Mexican emigration to the United States. (V, VI)

8.

Describe how the cold war and the internationalization of the United States economy impact on Mexican American/Chicano communities. (V, VI, VII)

9.

Describe the nature of the Chicano movement, its precursors, evolution, leaders, and issues including its relationship with the social and demographic upheaval during the Vietnam era of United States history. (V, VI)

10.

Describe how urban renewal projects have impacted Mexican American communities and how they have been justified. (V, VII)

11.

Describe the major issues inherent in the education of Mexican American/Chicanos and the resulting prospects for the future. (VI, VII)

12.

Describe selected current issues impacting Mexican American/Chicanos and the risks and opportunities inherent in them. (VII)

MCCCD Official Course Outline:

HIS209  1995 Spring – 1998 Summer II

The Chicano in Twentieth Century America

I. Introduction

A. Manifest destiny

B. Mexican independence

1. Liberal versus conservative

2. Domestic and international financial considerations

C. Texas rebellion

1. Land: costs and availability

2. Santa Ana

3. Boundary dispute

4. Legacy

D. Mexican war

1. Background and causes

2. Military aspects

3. Political and economic aspects in Mexico

4. Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo

II. The transition

A. Texas

B. California

C. New Mexico

D. Arizona

E. Resistance

F. Downward mobility

1. Political accommodation and isolation

2. Alienation from the land

3. Economic and occupational isolation and its acceleration with arrival of railroads

4. Barrioization

5. Consequences to family structures

G. Role of the Catholic church

III. 1880s to 1929

A. Socioeconomic and political conditions in Mexico during the Porfiriato

B. The railroads

1. Economic integration of Mexican cession to United States and the mining, agricultural, and industrial requirements for development

2. Domination of natural resources northern Mexico

3. Access to, and recruitment of, Mexicans for labor needs of United States economy

C. The Mexican revolution and its impact

D. United States nativism, World War I and the decline of European immigration

1. Immigration legislation

2. The interests of United States industrialists, agribusiness, and mining concerns

3. Concerns of United States labor organizations

4. Fears of social scientists

E. The depression of 1921, the deportation of Mexicans and the resumption of extensive Mexican labor recruitment

F. Mexican and Mexican American/Chicano labor organizing

G. Mexican American/Chicano community organization

1. Special location of communities and conditions

2. Mutual aid societies

3. The role of the Mexican consul

4. Spanish language newspapers

5. The rise of the LULAC approach

IV. The Great Depression

A. The extent, duration, and impact of the depression

B. Repatriation

C. Impact of the New Deal

1. CCC, WPA, etc.-inclusion and exclusion

2. Attempts to reinvigorate communities-New Mexico

3. Impact of Agricultural Adjustment Act on Chicano tenant farmers

4. The Wagner Act and positive impact on Mexican American/Chicano labor organizing

5. The Wagner Act and its exclusion of farm workers

D. The emergence of Latin American clubs and other political action organizations

V. World War II and the 1950s

A. The National Guard, the draft, and volunteers-the Mexican American/Chicano GI experience

B. Xenophobic fears and zoot suit riots

C. War employment: new opportunities

D. The Bracero program

1. Wartime cooperation

2. Postwar access to cheap labor and inhibition to farm labor organizing with concurrent rise in illegal immigration

3. Operation wetback

E. Activism of returning veterans and CSOs

1. "Americanization" of returning veterans

2. Grassroots organizing tactics

3. The challenging of social, economic, and educational barriers

F. Successes and problems in labor organizing

G. Urban renewal and the barrios

VI. The 1960s and the Vietnam era

A. End of the Bracero program and the Immigration Act of 1965

1. End of legal means of access to cheap Mexican labor

2. Severe restrictions placed on legal Mexican immigration

3. Loss of price supports to Mexican farmers creating displacement and further impetus for Mexican emigration

B. Television, civil rights movements, and war on poverty

C. The Chicano movement

1. The continuum of community political activism

2. Emergence of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers

3. Tijerina and the land grants

4. Gutierrez and La Raza Unida party

5. Gonzolez and the crusade for justice

6. Education, student activism, and MEChA

7. Vietnam, the Chicano moratorium, and Ruben Salazar

VII. 1970s and beyond

A. Dismantling of war on poverty programs

1. Resulting changes in community-based organizations

2. Resulting changes in community-based leadership

B. Transnational business enterprises and unions

1. Consequences to Mexican American/Chicano employment opportunities

2. The maquiladoras

3. The green card

C. International relations and foreign debts

1. Debt repayment and austerity programs

2. Increases in emigration

D. Demographic projections

1. Political implications

2. Cultural implications

3. Economic implications

E. The education dilemma

1. Achievement and failure

2. Bilingual education

3. Problems and opportunities

F. Immigration problems and prospects

G. Labor issues

H. Barrio and community issues

I. NAFTA and beyond