Roberto R. Trevino

Teaching MexicanAmerican History

When 1 was teaching high school in the 1970s I could alwayscount on getting the right answer when I asked my studentsto identify Cesar Chavez, Today when I ask teens the same

question I get a lot of blank stares—and once someone blurted out,"Oh, isn't he that famous boxer (referring to the hugely popular formerchampion from Mexico, Julio Cesar Chavez)!" A generation removedfrom the Chicano civil rights era, many of our high school studentstoday have no idea who the really heroic Cesar was—the labor orga-nizer and champion of justice for farm v f̂orkers. Moreover, youngerstudents today. Latinos and non-Latinos alike, have little if any expo-sure to the history ofthe largest Latino group in the United States,Mexican Americans.

Given the growing importance of Mexican Americans and otherLatinos in our country today and in its future, it behooves all of us tobetter understand their history as part of our common historical ex-perience. I tell students in my classes that what I vi'ant most for themto take away from my courses is enough knowledge about MexicanAmericans in relation to other Americans so that they can better under-stand a television newscast or newspaper story dealing with MexicanAmerican issues. I want them to know how ethnic Mexicans have ex-perienced life in the United States in the past so that they can bet-ter understand what makes today's Mexican Americans "tick." In thatspirit 1 want to discuss some central themes in Mexican American his-tory that secondary and college teachers might incorporate into theirteaching ofthe history ofthe American West: land loss, migration, andthe Chicano movement.

There is no issue more important for understanding the MexicanAmerican experience than land loss. Had Mexican Americans retainedcontrol ofthe millions of acres of land they lost to Anglo-Americans after the war with Mexico ended in 1848, we might all be living in a verydifferent kind of United States today. After all, in the mid-nineteenthcentury, land not only was the greatest source of wealth but also rootedin it, of course, were social status and the economic power and po-litical influence to maintain it over generations. Uke many ofthe lesssavory aspects of American history, there has been a tendency to glossover this sensitive, yet vital, aspect of history. How can we more fullyexplain to students how Mexican Americans became and largely haveremained economically and politically powerless throughout their his-tory if we do not treat dispossession as something more than "the for-tunes of war," as too often has been the case?

This is not a call for teachers to embrace an uncritical historical re-visionism for the sake of political correctness—it is simply a challengeto engage students in more substantive discussions of important issuesbased on critical use of readily available scholarship and other strategies.Chicano historical studies {produced mostly, but not only, by MexicanAmericans) have matured past the point of simphstic "us versus them"interpretations ofthe past (i). Unlike thirty years ago when ! was des-perately looking for any materials in order to teach a high school sur-vey course in Mexican American history, today teachers can count on asophisticated and increasingly diverse body of historical scholarship todeepen their understanding of any number of issues in Mexican Ameri-can history. Take my earlier question about Mexican Americans' enduringpowerlessness. No one has deah with that query more convincingly (andeven-handedly) than Albert Camarillo in his book Chicanos in a Chang-ing Society (1979). Giving race due consideration while also establishingthe importance of economic factors and other developments that shapedpost-Mexican War California, Camarillo convincingly explains how itcame to be that generations of Mexican Americans became "stuck" ina lower social status. With equal sophistication, David Montejano's An-glos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas (1987) significantly revampedour understanding of Mexican Americans in Texas, His book offers arace/class analysis that paints a more complicated picture of what it hasbeen like to be Mexican in Texas, including why some Mexican Ameri-cans were more successful in some parts ofthe state than in others andhow changing economic developments as well as shifting racial attitudesmolded those experiences.

I am not suggesting high school teachers assign these books totheir students, although excerpts may ceriainly be appropriate for ad-vanced classes. But these are classics in Chicano history and shouldbe essential summer reading for teachers who can master their argu-ments and distill them for students as a segue into class discussions.As for student readings, short primary documents work best for thenineteenth century. A well-chosen letter, diary entry, or newspaper ar-ticle really can turn students on to history! Students are much more aptto feel the effects of Mexican American land loss when they read aboutit in the words of someone who experienced it than when they read orhear it second-hand. Consequently, they are more "primed" for discus-sion than they might otherwise be. Here again, we are fortunate to havegood published sources from which to choose appropriate short read-ings of actual voices from the past. David Weber's collection of primarydocuments. Foreigners in Their Native Land (1973), has been around for

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Map of U,S, Territorial Growth, 1830, All ofthe territory in orange was part of Mexico in 1830, (I mage courtesy of Images of American Political History,<http://teachpol,tcnj.edu/amer_poLhist/_browse_maps,htm>,)

many years and is still very useful. More recently the volume MajorProhlems in Mexican American History (1999), edited by Zaragosa Var-gas, is also an excellent resource.

Along with land loss it is vital to understand the role migrationhas played in Mexican American history. Here the central point is that,although we are a nation of immigrants, not all immigrant experiencesare the same, and we should not expect to understand Mexican im-migration and incorporation into the United States by thinking of itin terms ofthe traditional European model. Indeed, some ofthe dif-ferences would seem obvious—no ocean separates the countries, andMexicans were first incorporated through wars—or as the saying goes,"The border crossed us; we did not cross the border." Furthermore,racism has dogged Mexican immigrants (and native-bom) far longerand more virulently than it did any European group that at some giventime suffered from American anti-immigrant hysteria and nativism.Still, most historians and the general public alike mistakenly continueto try to make sense of Mexican immigration by comparing it to theEuropean experience.

In the absence of a full-blown survey of Mexican immigration,teachers can get good insights into this issue from the book by GeorgeSanchez, Becoming Mexican American (1993), and also from his jour-nal article, "Race, Nation, and Culture in Recent Immigration Studies"(2), To spice up the topic for students, teachers can use excerpts frominterviews conducted by the pioneering Mexican anthropologist Man-uel Gamio in the early twentieth century. His volume. The Lift Story ofthe Mexican Immigrant (1931), offers excellent vignettes told not onlyby immigrants but also by native-born Mexican Americans (3). ManyMexican American students will easily relate to these narratives giventheir own experiences or those of relatives and friends, and because ofthe current prominence of the immigration issue. Tensions between

native-bom and immigrants swirl uncomfortably around us today, asthey have historically, and they are present in any school as well. Whenapproached with sensitivity and engaging short readings, the study ofMexican American immigration history offers a golden opportunity toeducate all our students about an important contemporary issue.

The topic of immigration from Mexico overlaps with internal mi-gration by native-born Mexican Americans, The pattern of leavingschool early in spring and registering late in fall because of migrantfarm work is a well-known aspect ofthe Mexican American experience,but it is something we usually hear about only in a negative light—intalking about Mexican American poverty, family instability, and educa-tional underachievement. What about the many stories of triumph thatarise from that same setting.' It is important for students to leam aboutthe harsh realities of oppression Mexican American have faced, but itis also important that they hear other equally real stories of success.In practically any Mexican American community today, there are menand women who have left behind the migrant stream or other formsof poverty and built very successful and enviable lives. Teachers shouldinvite some of those everyday heroes into their classrooms to sharetheir experiences, or assign students to conduct oral history interviewsin their own communities.

Students can also explore the migrant world through a numberof published accounts suitable for them. One engrossing story is thehighly acclaimed short novel (published in bilingual format), y no selo trago la tierra/And ihe Earth Did Not Part {1971), by Tomas Rivera.More recently, Elva Trevino Hart has poignantly revealed some ofthestruggles of migrant women through her highly accessible autobiogra-phy. Barefoot Heart (1999), As for instructors' readings, historian SarahDeutsch significantly enriched our understanding of how gender hasfunctioned in Mexican American migration and cultural preservation.

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Teachers can use her book. No Separate Refuge (1987), to dispel someof the stereotypes about gender roles in Mexican American cultureand to leam about women's adaptive roles that were crucial in sustain-ing a "regional community" based on labor migration in New Mexicoand southern Colorado, Lastly, teachers who want to learn more aboutwomen in Mexican American history should look to the work of VickiRuiz, who has done more than any other historian to promote the studyof Mexican American women's struggles for equality (4),

Those struggles have a long history, of course, but they burst ontothe scene most dramatically and successfully in the 1960s and T970Sduring the Chicano movement, and are captured in a very useful bookof short documents by Alma M. Garcia, Chicana Feminist Thought: TheBasic Historical Writings {1997). The Ghicano movement is anothermajor theme secondary teachers should emphasize. Today, too manyhigh school graduates have a very limited understanding ofthe U.S.civil rights era, associating it narrowly with Martin Luther King Jr. andthe black freedom struggle,rather than with the manyindividuals and groups thatalso fought for equality inthe sixties and seventies,sometimes alongside Afri-can Americans—women,gays. Native Americans,Asians, and of course Chi-canas and Ghicanos, Thisis not meant to detract fromAfrican American history, torank the importance of anypeople's history, or to pointthe finger of blame in anyway. It is simply a reminderof our collective responsibil-ity to keep Dr. King's dreamalive by consciously strivingto leam more about eachother. Teachers can play apowerful role in this by help-ing today's young people dis-cover the larger, more inclu-sive meaning of civil rightshistory and its connectionsto their own lives.

Far-fetched? Idealistic.^I don't think so. When stu-dents learn that MexicanAmericans have suffered and triumphed and done great and not-so-great things—just like other people—they begin to see them in a differ-ent, more positive light. In talks I have given about Mexican Americanhistory to high school students over the years, two ofthe most consis-tent reactions I have gotten from non-Latinos (and even sometimesfrom Mexican Americans) go something like this: "Oh. I didn't knowthey'd had it that bad!" And, "Wow. she was pretty brave; that was cool,the way she stood up!" In a time of increasing uneasiness betweenAfrican Americans and Latinos, it is our responsibility to find commonground in our shared history.

Again, teachers can enhance their knowledge and teaching of as-pects of Mexican American civil rights history by tapping into the in-creasing number of published sources related to the Ghicano move-ment. In recent years several books have appeared about some ofthemajor figures and organizations of the movement, including biogra-

Not all Mexican Americans lived the lives ofthe peasantry. Posing for the photographer, thisMexican American family demonstrates their middle-class status by their dress. Stories ofMexican-American successes, as well as incidents of oppression, are effective and importantteaching devices, (Image courtesy ofthe Arizona Historical Society.)

phies of Cesar Chavez, the memoirs of Jose Angel Gutierrez and ReiesLopez Tijerina, the collected speeches of Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales,and case studies about different activist organizations and the youthmovement. These are books viritten by people who were intimately in-volved in the fight for Chicano civil rights. They give us unique, first-hand perspectives into a critical era in Mexican American history {5).

Luckily, many veterans of these civil rights campaigns live and workamong us; they may be the next-door neighbor, a local doctor, socialworker, or lawyer, even the teacher or principal down the hall. And, theyare often glad to share their experiences with students in classroompresentations or through interviews. In addition, there are good visualand other materials teachers may use. Nothing captures the attention oftoday's students as well as a good video. Particularly effective for learn-ing and teaching about the Chicano movement is the four-part publictelevision series. Chicano! History ofthe Mexican American Civil RightsMovement (1996). This landmark documentary covers the themes of

land, labor, educational re-form, and political empow-erment and never fails torivet students' attention andignite discussion. There areother good films made dur-ing the movement years orshortly after, including / amJoaquin (1969) and ChicanoPark (1988). Although thesemay be more difficult to find,they are worth searching forin university and large pub-lic libraries. Lastly—withregard to visual materials—teachers, students, and pro-fessional researchers alikewill find a gold mine in theseventy-seven videotapedinterviews conducted byChicano activist-professorJose Angel Gutierrez andreposited at the Special Col-lections Department of theLibrary of the University ofTexas at Arlington. This col-lection, Tejano Voices, is fullytranscribed and digitizedfor easy online access. Re-searchers can read the tran-

scripts or listen to the actual voices of these Mexican American menand women as they recount their struggles for civil rights (6).

Clearly, there are other important themes in Mexican Americanhistory I could highlight; these three—land loss, migration, and theChicano movement—are ones I have found students really respondto and would seem central to understanding the history of MexicanAmericans, What is most important is not so much the particular top-ics teachers choose to include but how they are handled. We know thatstudents' perceptions about a teacher's fairness and sincerity greatlyaffect their openness to learning. Dealing with some ofthe themes sug-gested here, especially through discussion sessions, requires groundrules, as well as a genuinely open and respectful atmosphere. Teach-ers should expect emotions to surface—not only anger from MexicanAmerican students who confront disturbing information for the firsttime, but also defensiveness or hostility from non-Mexican Americans.

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especially whites, for whom these kindsof discussions may trigger a sense of guiltor isolation. Both kinds of responses arenormal and should be handled openly andwith appropriate sensitivity so that all stu-dents can grow intellectually and emotion-ally.

What I have called for here is not sim-ply to teach particular aspects of MexicanAmerican history and integrate them intothe history of the American West. I amchallenging teachers to leave their com-fort zones in order to really awaken stu-dents to the relevance of history now andin their future. It is a tall order and easiersaid than done, I know. But it is also agolden opportunity for teachers to makea real difference. G

Endnotes1. Alex M, Saragoza, "The Significance of Recent

Chicano-Related Historical Writing: AnAppraisal," Ethnic Affairs i (Fall 1987): 24-62,

2. George J, Sanchez, "Race, Nation, and Culturein Recent Immigration Studies," JoMma/ ofAmerican Ethnic History 18 (Summer 1999):66-84.

3. See also Paul Schuster Tayior. An American-Mexican Frontier. Nueces County. Texas(Chapel Hill: University of North CarolinaPress, 1934).

4. For example, see Vicki Ruiz, From Out ofthe Shadows: Mexican Women inTwentieth-Century America (New York; Oxford University Press, 1998),

5. For starters, see lgnacio M. Garcia, Chicanismo: The Forging of a Militant EthosAmong Mexican Americans (Tucson; University of Arizona Press, 1997);F. Arturo Rosales. Chicano'.: History ofthe Mexican American Civil RightsMovement (Houston: Arie Publico Press, 1997); Carlos Munoz |r.. Youth,Identity, Power: The Chicano Movement (London: Verso, 1989); [ose AngelGutierrez, The Making of a Chicano Militant: Lessons from Cristal (Madison;University of Wisconsin Press, 1998); and Rodolfo "Corky" Conzales,Message to Aztldn: Selected Writings of Rodolfo "Corky" Conzates (Houston:Arte Publico Press, 2001).

6. The Tejano Voices collection is accessible at <http;//libraries,uta,edu/teianovoices>.

References and ResourcesCamarillo, Albert, Chicanos in a Changing Society: From Mexican Pueblos to

American Barrios in Santa Barbara and Southem California. 184S-19JO.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979.

Deutsch, Sarah, No Separate Refuge: Culture, Class, and Gender on an Anglo-Hispanic Frontier in the American Southwest, 1880-1^40. New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 1987,

Gamio, Manuel. The Life Story of the Mexican Immigrant: AutobiographicalDocuments. Reprint. New York; Dover, 1971, 1931.

Garcia, Alma M,, ed, Chicana Feminist Thought: The Basic Historical Writings.New York: Routledgo, 1997.

, The Mexican Americans. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002.Hart, Flva Treviflo, Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child. Tempe, AZ;

Bilingual Press, 1999.Martin, Patricia Preciado. Songs My Mother Sang to Me: An Oral History of

Mexican American Women. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1992.Matovina, Timothy, and Gerald F, Poyo, eds. Presente!: U.S. Latino Catholicsfrom

Colonial Origins to the Present. MaryknoU, NY: Orbis, 2000.Meier, Matt S, Encyclopedia of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement.

Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000.Meier, Matt S, and Margo Gutierrez. The Mexican American Experience: An Encydopedia.

Fr, Antonio Gonzales, Rev, )ames Novarro, and labor organizer Eugene Nelson lead the Minimum Wage Marchstaged by striking Texas farm workers in ig66, an event that initiated the Chicano civil rights movement in Texas.(Image courtesy of the Mexican-American Farm Workers Movement Collection, Special Coliections, The Univer-sity of Texas at Arlington Libraries, Arlington, Texas,)

Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003,Meier, Matt S. and Felidano Rivera, Dictionary of Mexican American History.

Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981.Montejano, David. Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1S36-19S6.

Austin: University of Texas Press, 1987.Rivera, Tomas, Y no se lo trago ia tierra/And the Earth did not Part. Berkeley, CA:

Editorial |usta Publications, 1977.Rosales, F. Arturo, Chicano,': The History ofthe Mexican American Civil Rights

Movement. Houston: Arte Publico Press, 1996.Sanchez, George ], Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity. Culture, and Identity

in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.Vargas, Zaragosa, ed. Major Problems in Mexican American History: Documents

and Essays. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Co., 1999.Weber, David J.,ed. Eoreignersin Their Native Land: Historical Roots of the Mexican

Americans. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1973.West, lohn O. Mexican-American Folklore: Legends, Songs, Festivals, Proverbs,

Crafts, Tales of Saints, of Revolutionaries and More. Little Rock, AR: AugustHouse, 1988.

Audiovisual ResourcesChicano!:The History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement. VHS,

Produced by Sylvia Morales, Susan Racho, Mylene Moreno, and RobertCozens. Los Angeies: National Latino Communications Center and GalanProductions, 1996,

Chicano Park. VHS. Directed by Marilyn Mulford, New York: Cinema Guild,1991,1988,

I Am Joaquin. VHS, Hollywood, CA: CFI, 1995, 1969,

A native tejano, Roberto Trevino worked in the Houston Independent SchoolDistrict as a high school history teacher and a coordinator in the MigrantEducation Program. Having received his Ph.D. in United States history

from Stanford, he is currently Associate Professor of History and assistantdirector ofthe Center for Mexican American Studies at the University ofTexas at Arlington.

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