Hispanic History Through California
History of Hispanic immigration in the United States and how much of an impact it had on California and why California it is the way it currently right now.
The Mexican American War 1846-1848
California was once Mexico's territory along with other states such as Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. It wasn't until a dispute regarding the border of Texas that would lead to the United States annexing the state, thus leading to a two year war between the two nations. As the war ended, around 75,000 to 100,000 Mexicans had decided to stay in the newly claimed land of the United States. Those who stayed would be treated fairly and guaranteed citizenship in theory, However they would actually be treated poorly and robbed of their land. If they could not remain on their land, a typical place for relocation would be California. Thus beginning California's history of being a sanctuary state for immigration.
The Mexican Revolution 1910 - 1917 and Early 20th Century
A war among several factions in Mexico, which would lead to the end of a 30 year rule dictatorship rule in Mexico. The 1910 Mexican Revolution would also be one of the reasons as to why many Mexicans would migrate to the United States, in order to escape the war. Besides the revolution being a reason for immigration, other reason as to why Mexicans would migrate to the United States would be for work, better wages and how easy it was to cross the boarder.
The Great Depression and World War Two
The Great Depression would heavily affect job opportunities for immigrants, as it would be encouraged to let them go or to hire actual citizens. Work for immigrants would remain in this state up until the Second World War, in which there would be a boom in job opportunities, thus changing people's attitudes towards immigrants and hiring them for work. This is because of many of the United States men being drafted for the war, there would be a labor shortage, which hiring Immigrants would solve.
The Bracero Program
With the attitude towards immigrants changing and the demand of agricultural labor during the Second World War, the Bracero Program would be created. This program would allow Immigrants to cross the boarder legally and work under a contract. They would be allowed to work and live on a farm for a limited amount of time. This program would mainly be active in areas with many farms, such as California(The first 500 people a part of this program were actually sent to Stockton to grow sugar beets) However, many immigrants who would be a part of this program would be taken advantage and then be forced in financial debt with land owners. Which is similar to what had happend in Mexico with Haciendas. This would then add onto how in recent times, Immigrants would migrate to the next job location. Because of the Bracero Program, employers now and back then would allow immigrant workers a temporary place to stay and work for them. The only difference is the immigration laws that we have now.
Barrios
Barrios are an essential topic for Mexican history. A barrio is a community primally populated with Hispanic people. These areas would be implemented in the early 20th century as many hispanic immigrants needed a place to stay. So they would create their own communities and live together. Because of this many families would celebrate together and share many foods, families would also get married to one another. Barrios would evolve from simple sturdy shacks to actual houses in the lat 20th and early 21st century. Although these barrios would still be in areas of poverish areas. places like Stockton would be an example of this, with barrios or mainly Hispanic populated areas being found only in areas of east Stockton near many of the fields where mist immigrants work.
Conclusion
In conclusion California and Hispanic people had transform side by side. At first being a part of Mexico and then the United States. The few Mexicans that stayed would unfortunately be robbed of their property and forced to move from place to place. California would be one of the best places since of the demand of labor was high. Also because of the better wages and farming policies, many immigrants from Mexico would head over to the United States for work. The population of Hispanic people in the United States would continue to grow exponentially until the Great Depression. Where it was encourage to hire Citizens, there would also be a strike down on immigrants leading to quite a bit of deportations. However this attitude would change due to World War Two because of a shortage of labor. The Bracero Program would then be initiated, allowing immigrants to legally travel to the United States for work, unfortunately many of them would be put through poor working conditions and be finically bound to their employer. Similar to how Haciendas worked during the Diaz Regime. Many would stay and create communities of their own, which would be called Barrios. With the implementation of laws that would protect immigrants for work and in general, California would become the state that it is today, with the population of people being hispanic being around 40%. Many of them still work in fields, but also a good majority of them would work in construction. Newer generations would come forth and begin receiving higher education, becoming more finically stable. Thus leading to the current hispanic culture that many see today in California.