Mexican Labor in 1920s

DOCUMENT A

Paul Taylor writes: The interviews took place at one of the railroad labor camps

of a type frequently seen in and near Chicago. The camp consists of old box cars

taken from their tracks. Additions have in some cases been built to provide extra

rooms, covered porches, or open floors. There are gardens, chickens, and even

pigs, with the usual cats and dogs. The first man I spoke to had a box car with

the addition of a covered porch and a screen for flies. His wife was sick but the

rest of the family was well.

I left Mexico in 1919, when there was good work in Texas. My first job

was digging ditches. The good work lasted about a year and a half.

Then I was laid off. So were many, many Mexicans. Some of them

had worked there a long time but they kept the Americans. It made

some of us mad but what could we do? Nothing.

I went North to Detroit in hope things would be better. Then to

Pittsburgh. But they were worse. In 1923, I came to Chicago and

worked for the steel mills. I like the work there. It pays well. It is very

hot and heavy but I could stand that. Then I was laid off. I did not

work for three months and I was desperate. Finally I landed here. I

have been here four years.

The track work does not pay so well but it is steady. Out here we get

our coal and water free. That makes it very nice in the winter. In the

summer we have ice and that is a great luxury. We have no rent bill

to pay and that makes it very much better than in town. There is

always plenty of fresh air and sunshine and the children like it here

because they can play in the open country.

We get La Prensa here and when I finish reading it I pass it to

someone else. One man gets a paper from Los Angeles in California.

That is a pretty place and I have often heard so much about it. There

are many Mexicans there and we hear from them very often. Many of

the people around here would like to go there. They say the people

down there are so very happy and it is not cold like it is here.

Source: Between 1927-1930, sociologist Paul Taylor conducted interviews with

Mexican immigrants living in Chicago. The interview above was probably

conducted in 1928.

DOCUMENT B: “Corrido Pensilvanio”’

Source: A corrido is a Mexican narrative song or ballad that is passed around in

the oral tradition. The corrido highlights important social, political and cultural

issues that affect Mexican and Mexican American communities.

DOCUMENT C: Lynching

In September 1911, four hundred Mexican activists assembled in

Laredo, Texas. The delegates denounced the brutal oppression of

their people that had continued unchecked since the signing of the

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848). It was agreed to establish a new

civil rights organization with the purpose of protecting its members

against white injustice. La Grán Liga Mexicanista de Benefiencia y

Protección intended to attract the support of wealthy philanthropists

and the liberal press in order "to strike back at the hatred of some

bad sons of Uncle Sam who believe themselves better than the

Mexicans because of the magic that surrounds the word white".

In 1929, Mexicans founded another defense agency, the League

of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). LULAC organizers

experienced difficulty mobilizing Mexican Americans, especially in

small towns and remote rural areas. The only way to prevent further

lynchings was for Mexicans to rally in protest. Yet it was the very fear

of mob violence that frightened [many] into silence.

Source: “The Lynching of Persons of Mexican Origin or Descent in the United

States, 1848 To 1928,” William D. Carrigan. Journal of Social History, 2003.