Mexican American Experience

Mexican Americans share some historical experiences with that of the Chinese American experience. Mexican Americans first arrived in California in 1917 as well as the large movement of Asians to the western hemisphere in the early 19th century. Mexicans and Asians were not accepted when they first immigrated to America. We have seen this before when African Americans came to America. Orientalism refers to the way in which non-western cultures are perceived by the west. There is a trend with immigrants not being accepted in America, when ironically Mexicans and Native Americans were the first settlers in North America. Orientalism involves the use of generalizations and stereotypes to depict what orientalist believers understood as the exotic

The greedy Americans that we are, kicked all of the Mexican Americans out of their own country and created the state California. The very first inhabitants of Mexico are thought to have been hunters who migrated from Asia approximately 18,000 years ago (Allan & Marín). They created civilizations throughout their country such as the: Olmec, Mayan, Teotihuacan, Toltec, Zapotec, Mixtec, and Aztecs. The civilizations prospered off architecture, mathematics, astronomy, and agriculture (Allan & Marín). In the early 1900s the economic status of Mexico had plummeted. Dynamic growth brought prosperity to many economic levels of various regions of the country, accompanied by increased levels of employment (Allan & Marín). People who lived in rural areas were affected by this and struggled to produce enough to survive from their own pieces of land (Allan & Marín). They worked long hours in poor conditions for minimum wage. All levels of economic classes were affected by this recession. Those people who were unable to recover from this economic disaster started the movement to America. They moved north in hopes to find economic prospects that were more

This eventually led to the famous “Battle of the Alamo”. Texians had driven Mexicans out of Texas by defeating the Mexican Army at the “Battle of San Jacinto”, on April 21, 1836, ending the revolution (Allan & Marín). About 1,500 Mexicans marched back into San Antonio to retake the Alamo (Allan & Marín). For the next 13 days they battled and killed all of the Texan defenders. War between Mexico and the United States ended with the Treaty of Gudalupe Hidalgo in 1848. Mexican immigration to America between 1850 and 1900 was surprisingly low (Allan & Marín). The Gold Rush was also a stimulant for Mexicans to migrant to California as was the Chinese. The abundance of ranching and agriculture America had to offer lured many Mexicans to Texas and California. By 1900 there was an estimated 500,000 people of Mexican ancestry living in America (Allan & Marín). The revolution combined with the downfall of the economy was also a main reason for the immigration into America, “The Mexican Revolution of 1910 and the aftermath of political instability and social violence caused many to flee northward across the border for their safety, and the growth of the U.S. economy in the 1920s attracted additional numbers of immigrants” (Allan & Marín). Border Patrol was created in 1942, after this was created crossing U.S. borders became highly illegal. Most of us alive