In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

the american southwest 1848–1900 4 chicano historians have tended to neglect the second half of the nineteenth century. When they began their work in the late 1960s, this period was generally viewed as a hiatus between two much more promising epochs: the age of Mexican sovereignty before and the decades of massive Mexican immigration afterward. it was the latter period, the twentieth century, which tended to dominate historical interest. one reason was that chicano scholars are generally descended from twentieth-century immigrants and identify very little, if at all, with the so-called spanish dons. Moreover, many of them pride themselves on being scholar-activists; consequently, they believe that it is imperative not simply to describe what happened in the past, but to change it, an orientation that naturally leads to a preoccupation with more contemporary issues. still another reason for the neglect of this period was the abject condition of the Mexicano population in the southwest before 1900. small and powerless, they were despised and oppressed by mainstream society. it is a sad and depressing story, but one that needs to be told nonetheless. Adversity, after all, left a lasting impression among Mexicanos; many attitudes today are products of the trials and tribulations endured at the time. Happily, chicano scholars have come to appreciate this perspective, and today it is recognized that the period was a crucible on which the modern Mexican American has been forged.1 GrinGos And GreAsers Anti-Mexican attitudes during the second half of the nineteenth century were ubiquitous throughout the southwest, as many historians have noted. these sentiments arose for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the most obvious was the legacy of bitterness left by the recent war of conquest. While the fighting had not lasted very long, deep animosities created during the conflict persisted on both sides for many years. subjugated by their enemies, Mexicanos adopted an attitude that is perfectly uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu mexicanos 84 understandable. the response of the conquerors is more complicated. As in other American wars, enemies were portrayed as evil and unworthy of respect. this perception of Mexicanos was accentuated in the immediate postwar period by the success of spanish-speaking immigrants in the gold mines of california . envious of their good fortune, some Anglo Americans inflamed public opinion against these “greasers” as a means of expelling their competitors from the mother lode country. the conflict over land ownership, which inevitably arose after the military campaigns, would likewise encourage the portrayal of Mexicanos as a foreign and unfriendly element. religious prejudice was another source of anti-Mexican feeling. Vehement anti-catholicism had been characteristic of england since the sixteenth century, a legacy that remained relatively dormant in its American possessions, given the insignificant size of the catholic population. nor was there much concern with catholicism in the new republic during its first decades of existence. the massive influx of irish catholics in the mid-nineteenth century, however, rekindled Anglo fears of popery, concerns that were not assuaged in the least when in the midst of the Mexican War several hundred irish catholics serving in the American army deserted to the Mexican side. Led by captain John riley, the saint Patrick’s Brigade performed valiantly, and today the San Patricios are honored as heroes in Mexico. Both irish and Mexican catholics came to be seen as lazy, irresponsible, and priestridden minorities, largely incapable of assimilation. finally, there was the crucial element of race. the folklorist Arthur L. campa is correct in his assessment when he states: “cultural, political, and religious differences tended to polarize Mexicans and Anglo Americans, but the most persistent reason for the prejudice felt by Americans was that Mexicans were dark-skinned people. despite the rhetoric used to rationalize prejudice in the southwest, the lack of acceptance of darker skins by most europeans is by and large the most obvious.”2 the second half of the nineteenth century witnessed the rapid growth of racism throughout the Western world, and the United states was no exception. in the American West, where whites encountered people of color in large numbers, racism was widespread among the emigrants. it was primarily racial factors that led to the intense xenophobia experienced by the chinese in california, prompting the enactment of the 1882 chinese exclusion Act, the first instance of an entire ethnic group being barred from entering the country. While racial attitudes toward Mexicanos were never quite as hostile as toward Asians—most Mexicanos, after all, had some trace of european blood...

Share