Mexican-American history

Mexican-American history is a travel topic about the history of American people of Mexican descent.

Understand
The Mexican-American War, ending in 1848, resulted in the incorporation of half of Mexico into the United States, including California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and parts of Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. What was once considered Northern Mexico became the Southwest United States. Large-scale migration from Mexico to the United States continued as a result of the economic colonization of the United States during the Porfirio regime (1876-80 and 1884-1911) and this increased especially in the 1910s, as refugees fled the economic devastation and violence of Mexico’s high-casualty revolution and civil war. Until the mid-20th century, most Mexican-Americans lived within a few hundred miles of the border, although some resettled along rail lines from the Southwest into the Midwest.

In the second half of the 20th century, Mexican-Americans diffused throughout the U.S., especially into the Midwest and Southeast, though the groups’ largest population centers remain in California and Texas. During this period, Mexican-Americans campaigned for voting rights, educational and employment equity, ethnic equality, and economic and social advancement.

In addition to immigrants, there is a long history of braceros, Mexicans who come to the US for seasonal farm work, mainly at harvest time and mainly in California. Most return to Mexico voluntarily at the end of the season.

Partly due to the influence of Mexican-Americans, Mexican cuisine is now common across the U.S., and can be found in many other countries worldwide. In addition to cuisine from emigrants from Mexican states such as Pueblo, Sonora and Oaxaca, some U.S. states which used to be part of Mexico have their own distinctive variants of Mexican food.

Chicano movement
Many cities, especially in the Southwest, have historic sites from the Chicano movement, which reappropriated what was hitherto an ethnic slur as an identity for Mexican-Americans and encouraged Mexican-American pride.


 * Santa Catalina Island, California - site of a 1972 occupation by the Brown Berets meant to draw attention to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
 * Delano, California — site of the United Farm Workers (UFW) grape boycott. You can visit the Forty Acres which was the first headquarters of the UFW
 * East Los Angeles, California - site where the Brown Berets staged school walkouts which peaked with a August 29, 1970 march that drew 30,000 demonstrators
 * Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico — site where a small band of Chicanos affiliated with Alianza Federal de Mercedes attempted to arrest the County's district attorney and put him on trial