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5. Revolutionary Mexican Nationalism and the Mexican Immigrant Community in Los Angeles during the Great Depression: Memory, Identity, and Survival
- Texas A&M University Press
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ChaPTeR 5 Revolutionary Mexican nationalism and the Mexican immigrant Community in los angeles during the Great depression Memory, Identity, and Survival Francisco E. Balderrama My study of the Mexican Revolution began very early in my career as a historian . It was at the age of six during the first grade, but this was not part of the first-grade curriculum of Sister Anne Marie at Saint Michael’s Elementary School in Los Angeles, California, during the 1950s. Rather, my grandfather Francisco Balderrama Terrazas presented the Mexican Revolution as a history lesson at home. Coming from the small town of Satevó, Chihuahua, my grandfather masterfully told tales of the valor of the Division of the North and especially the enigmatic Francisco Villa. The exciting stories extended beyond the northern state of Chihuahua to include the entire Mexican nation and even reached across the border to Columbus, New Mexico, the site of Villa’s famous raid. Grandfather also discussed a pantheon of revolutionary leaders from the inspiring brothers Ricardo and Enrique Flores Magón to the martyred Francisco I. Madero and Emiliano Zapata, as well as the politically astute Venustiano Carranza and Álvaro Obregón. Accounts also included the villains of the revolution, such as the usurper Victoriano Huerta and the meddling US president Woodrow Wilson. Grandfather did not confine his storytelling to home but continued the conversation at our family’s small grocery store in East Los Angeles, where customers enthusiastically shared their own tales or passionately debated revolutionary issues. My family’s teaching of history also included field trips on family outings to see the natural wonders of the Golden Gate of San Francisco and the Grand Canyon of the Southwest. All of these sites were introduced by my family with the lesson that “all of this once belonged to Mexico before 118 • francisco e. balderrama the Mexican-American War.” Learning the legacy of the Mexican-American War was valuable; however, the Revolution of 1910 always ranked as the most enthralling lesson. Years later, I discovered in the course of my studies that my experience was far from unique. The distinguished historian of Mexico Ramón Eduardo Ruiz recounted that during his childhood in Southern California “he would listen to his father . . . discuss what had taken place in the country he had recently fled. A magnificent storyteller, my father eagerly shared his wealth of anecdotes and opinions with all his children.”1 Elena Herrada of Detroit, Michigan, shared a similar experience. Her grandfather José Santos Herrada told her countless episodes of the Mexican Revolution, including its leaders, battles, and especially the ideals of the revolutionaries.2 Often these talks about the revolution took place on Sunday morning visits to the “Detroit Industry Frescoes” painted by the great Mexican muralist and revolutionary Diego Rivera. These frequent visits to the Rivera masterpiece also celebrated the heritage of revolutionary art because “it belongs to us, the people.”3 Clearly, many Mexican immigrants valued the legacy of the Mexican Revolution and employed storytelling to pass on this treasured heritage to posterity as they struggled to adapt to US culture and society. The presence of the Herrada, Ruiz, and Balderrama families in the United States was a result of the first massive movement of Mexicans north to the United States during the early twentieth century. The movement northward became truly enormous. According to official statistics compiled by both the Mexican and US governments, scholars conservatively estimate that more than half a million Mexicans entered the United States legally between 1899 and 1928. In 1930, the United States census reported some 1,422,533 Mexican nationals and Mexican Americans residing in the United States. This exodus meant that some 10 percent of the Mexican population lived on North American soil and thereby created México de afuera, or Mexicans and Mexican Americans outside Mexico.4 By 1930, massive immigration had created a formidable Mexican presence in Los Angeles and Southern California: at least 170,000 Mexicans and Mexican Americans, a larger Mexican population than El Paso or San Antonio, ranking as second and third, respectively, in concentration. The Mexican community also had the distinction of being the largest ethnic community in Los Angeles. The city also became the final destination for many Mexican immigrants who had resided elsewhere in the United States. An analysis of consular matrícula, or matriculation records, as well as oral-history testimony confirms that most Mexican immigrants had lived and worked in other parts of the United States before becoming residents...