Foundations of Mexican American History
These structures were built by Spanish missionaries to spread Christianity and expand control in North America
What are missions?
This war reshaped North America by expanding U.S. territory and permanently changing Mexico's northern border
What is the U.S. - Mexico War?
What is the Mexican American War?
The removal of an undocumented person from a country
What is deportation?
This movement in the 1960s and 1970s used protests, walkouts, and cultural expression to fight for Mexican American rights and equality
What is the Chicano Movement?
This group used theater performances to educate farmworkers and raise awareness about labor injustice
What is El Teatro Campesino?
This civilization built the great city of Tenochtitlán
(Modern-day Mexico City)
What is the Aztec civilization?
This treaty created long-term legal citizenship conflicts for Mexicans living in newly acquired U.S. territory
(Ended U.S.- Mexico War)
What is the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?
This 1924 federal agency was created to enforce immigration laws, which targeted Mexican workers and turned the border into a space of surveillance and control
What is the U.S. Border Patrol?
This organization combined labor rights with cultural pride and organized boycotts for better working conditions
What is the United Farm Workers?
This 1967 poem by Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales expresses the struggles, history, and identity of Mexican Americans during the Chicano Movement
What is I Am Joaquín?
This was the Spanish colonial government in Mexico
What is New Spain?
Sparked by widespread inequality, lack of democracy under Porfirio Díaz, and demands for land reform led by figures like Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa.
What is the Mexican Revolution?
This Great Depression era policy led to the forced return of households of thousands of Mexican and Mexican Americans to Mexico
What is the Mexican Repatriation?
This political party was created in the 1970s to fight for Mexican American political power, representation, and community control in government
What is the La Raza Unida Party?
This 1986 law granted amnesty to millions of undocumented immigrants, while also introducing employer sanctions and programs
What is the Immigration Reform and Control Act (ICRA)?
This region was home to advanced civilizations such as the Maya
What is Mesoamerica?
This system, used in Mexican Texas during the early 1800s, granted land to individuals who were responsible for bringing settlers to the region in exchange for land and loyalty to Mexico
What is the empresarion system?
This WWII Program brought Mexican workers into the U.S. to fill labor shortages in agriculture and railroads
What is the Bracero Program?
Mexican American students walked out of their schools in 1968 to protest unfair education, lack of resources, and discrimination
What are the East L.A. walkouts?
This 1973 poem by Luis Valdez, rooted in Indigenous philosophy like In Lak’ech, became widely known after being banned in Tucson schools and is now used to affirm Mexican American identity
What is Pensamiento Serpentino?
This term describes the blending of Indigenous and Spanish cultures
What is Mestizos?
This concept explains how culture, identity, and politics overlap in regions where national borders shift over time
What is the Borderlands?
This 1950s federal operation led to the mass deportation of Mexican immigrants, often without due process, and was widely criticized for civil rights violations
What is Operation Wetback?
These two Mexican American organizations fought discrimination through court cases and advocacy, including defending veterans’ rights and challenging school segregation
What are the American G.I. Forum and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)?
This trend shows how Mexican American culture has influenced mainstream U.S. music, media, and fashion today
What is cultural influence?