Author: jp

Operation Wetback 1954

Operation Wetback was a military style campaign in the border states intended to track down and deport as many people of Mexican heritage as possible. It was also one of the largest campaigns of deportation ever as over 1.5m+ immigrants were deported in a single year. However, the militarization and coordinated deportation efforts between Mexico […]

From Immigration to Deportation: 1890 and 1940

The Rise and Fall of Immigrant Mexican Communities between 1890 and 1940 California and much of the Southwest had a native Mexican and American  Indian culture throughout the 1800’s. This changed with an explosion of immigration between 1890 and 1930. The population of Los Angeles county alone grew from 101,000 to 2.2 million. This growth […]

Corky Gonzales Origins: Mexico, Immigration and Beets

Corky’s story starts June 18th, 1928 in Denver Hospital. (1) Corky’s father was from Chihuahua, Mexico and served in Pancho Villa’s army during the 1910 Mexican Revolution. It could be tall-tales but the timeline fits and many immigrants to the states in the 1910/20’s were fleeing the violence of the Mexican Revolution of 1910. The […]

What’s a Chicano?

So, what do we call you? Chicano? Latino? Mexican? Hispanic? Hispano? Spanish Surnamed? Mexican-American? or maybe just American? And what about Chican@ and Latinx?   Well, it’s complicated so let’s start with the term Chicano. This is an pre-columbian term from the Nahuatl language used by the Aztecs to describe their original homeland in what […]