Essay On Mexican Repatriation
*Nevertheless, the number of repatriates was minuscule compared to those who returned to Mexico during the Great Depression. With the deterioration of the United States economy after 1929, between 400,000 and 500,000 Mexicans and their American-born children returned to Mexico. More than half of these departed from Texas. (The term Mexican is used in this article to refer to all Mexican-heritage repatriates, although a significant number of them were Mexican Americans since they had been born in Texas. For Mexican Americans, the term repatriate is actually inaccurate, for one cannot be repatriated to a foreign country.) Depression-era Mexican repatriation from Texas began in 1929, gained momentum in 1930, and peaked in 1931. In the last quarter of 1931 repatriation reached massive proportions; the roads leading to the Texas-Mexico border became congested with returning repatriates. Mexican border towns were also crowded as thousands of returning Mexicans awaited transportation to the interior of Mexico. The number of repatriates declined in 1932 and again in 1933. During the middle years of the depression - 1934 to 1938 - only occasional
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groups of repatriates left Texas. Then in 1939 and continuing into 1940, a significant number of Mexicans were repatriated from the state by the Mexican government.
*Dislocating the lives of all Americans, the great depression of the 1930s presented the greatest challenge to Mexicans. This faction, who was so desirable as workers in the previous decade, were now discharged from their jobs by the thousands and then pressured to leave by community authorities. Mexican labor was no longer needed as before. Moreover, Americans could not admit the crisis was the result of their own economic system, choosing instead to find a "scapegoat". Much of the blame was thus placed on the Mexican population in the United States. For many Mexicans, the depression was disastrous. As jobs became scarce, they were among the first fired and replaced by "real" Americans. Competition, anger, and frustrations increased anti-Mexican feelings and attitudes. These feelings prevailed throughout the 1920s. Discrimination by employers became a commonplace, as they too began to support the idea of returning Mexicans to México. By 1930, signs on company doors and gates marked "Only White Labor Employed" became familiar as desperate Euro-Americans willingly accepted jobs they had disdained in more prosperous times. The common belief was that Mexicans were taking jobs away, when in reality, most of these jobs were once undesirable to Anglo-Americans. The first indication of the repatriation to come occurred during the short, but severe, recession in the early 1920s. Faced with an excess of workers, repatriation became an acceptable means of getting rid of all "unwanted Mexicans". This was a cheap and effective way of reducing the suddenly bloated, idle work force. Throughout U.S. history, repatriations have occurred a number of different times, with each episode having a different motive that is tailored for the occasion. In this case, it involved sending people of Mexican descent to México, regardless if they were citizens or not. Repatriation endeavors, unlike these dealing with deportation, seldom involved the federal government. It was primarily a local undertaking carried out by a city, county or state government. Sometimes, it was a combination of all three. The main objectives were: to return indigent nationals to their own country, in this case México; to save welfare agencies money; and to create jobs for "real" Americans. The repatriation movement was the most intense in large industrial cites ravaged by unemployment, such as Los Angeles, Chicago and Detroit. Similar conditions existed in the Texas and Arizona mining communities, where the collapsed market for raw materials forced a drastic cutback of production. Working together with local governments, the steel mills of the industrial region of Indiana and of Southeast Chicago systematically pressured unemployed Mexican workers and their families to take free train rides back to the border.
Costumes for “The Highest Heaven”
*poor people (men and women) - They would have mended, darned the clothes that they already had.
If they wanted something new then they would go to second hand shops or stalls in markets for clothes. When it came to the children the oldest child's clothes would be passed down to the next child to wear until eventually they wore out. If they could afford to buy material or wool then perhaps they might have made clothes themselves or knitted jumpers, cardigans, scarves etc. The women's dresses would have been very simple and made of material that was made to last as they could not afford to go out and buy new clothes. If they were lucky they would have one dress for every day wear and perhaps another dress for either going to church/weddings etc. They would always wear aprons in the house to protect the clothes that they had
on.
*Most people in the 30's dressed more formally than we do today. Rich or poor, men generally always wore hats, suits, jackets and ties; women also wore hats and always dresses or skirts. Laborers wore overalls. Casual or sports clothes didn't quite set in yet, unless you were of the leisure or wealthy class.
*The most characteristic fashion trend of the period is attention at the shoulder, with butterfly sleeves and banjo sleeves, and exaggerated shoulder pads for both men and women by the 1940s. The period also saw the first widespread use of synthetic fibers, especially viscose for linings and lingerie, and nylon stockings, and the zipper became widely used.
*Women's wear: For women, skirts became longer and the waist-line was returned up to its normal position in an attempt to bring back the traditional "womanly" look. Other aspects of fashion from the 1920s took longer to phase out. Cloche hats remained popular until about 1933 while short hair remained popular for many women until late in the 1930s.
*Men's wear: For men, the most noticeable effect of the general sobering associated with the Great Depression was that the range of colors became more subdued. The bright colors that were popular in the 1920s fell out of fashion.
groups of repatriates left Texas. Then in 1939 and continuing into 1940, a significant number of Mexicans were repatriated from the state by the Mexican government.
*Dislocating the lives of all Americans, the great depression of the 1930s presented the greatest challenge to Mexicans. This faction, who was so desirable as workers in the previous decade, were now discharged from their jobs by the thousands and then pressured to leave by community authorities. Mexican labor was no longer needed as before. Moreover, Americans could not admit the crisis was the result of their own economic system, choosing instead to find a "scapegoat". Much of the blame was thus placed on the Mexican population in the United States. For many Mexicans, the depression was disastrous. As jobs became scarce, they were among the first fired and replaced by "real" Americans. Competition, anger, and frustrations increased anti-Mexican feelings and attitudes. These feelings prevailed throughout the 1920s. Discrimination by employers became a commonplace, as they too began to support the idea of returning Mexicans to México. By 1930, signs on company doors and gates marked "Only White Labor Employed" became familiar as desperate Euro-Americans willingly accepted jobs they had disdained in more prosperous times. The common belief was that Mexicans were taking jobs away, when in reality, most of these jobs were once undesirable to Anglo-Americans. The first indication of the repatriation to come occurred during the short, but severe, recession in the early 1920s. Faced with an excess of workers, repatriation became an acceptable means of getting rid of all "unwanted Mexicans". This was a cheap and effective way of reducing the suddenly bloated, idle work force. Throughout U.S. history, repatriations have occurred a number of different times, with each episode having a different motive that is tailored for the occasion. In this case, it involved sending people of Mexican descent to México, regardless if they were citizens or not. Repatriation endeavors, unlike these dealing with deportation, seldom involved the federal government. It was primarily a local undertaking carried out by a city, county or state government. Sometimes, it was a combination of all three. The main objectives were: to return indigent nationals to their own country, in this case México; to save welfare agencies money; and to create jobs for "real" Americans. The repatriation movement was the most intense in large industrial cites ravaged by unemployment, such as Los Angeles, Chicago and Detroit. Similar conditions existed in the Texas and Arizona mining communities, where the collapsed market for raw materials forced a drastic cutback of production. Working together with local governments, the steel mills of the industrial region of Indiana and of Southeast Chicago systematically pressured unemployed Mexican workers and their families to take free train rides back to the border.
Costumes for “The Highest Heaven”
*poor people (men and women) - They would have mended, darned the clothes that they already had.
If they wanted something new then they would go to second hand shops or stalls in markets for clothes. When it came to the children the oldest child's clothes would be passed down to the next child to wear until eventually they wore out. If they could afford to buy material or wool then perhaps they might have made clothes themselves or knitted jumpers, cardigans, scarves etc. The women's dresses would have been very simple and made of material that was made to last as they could not afford to go out and buy new clothes. If they were lucky they would have one dress for every day wear and perhaps another dress for either going to church/weddings etc. They would always wear aprons in the house to protect the clothes that they had
on.
*Most people in the 30's dressed more formally than we do today. Rich or poor, men generally always wore hats, suits, jackets and ties; women also wore hats and always dresses or skirts. Laborers wore overalls. Casual or sports clothes didn't quite set in yet, unless you were of the leisure or wealthy class.
*The most characteristic fashion trend of the period is attention at the shoulder, with butterfly sleeves and banjo sleeves, and exaggerated shoulder pads for both men and women by the 1940s. The period also saw the first widespread use of synthetic fibers, especially viscose for linings and lingerie, and nylon stockings, and the zipper became widely used.
*Women's wear: For women, skirts became longer and the waist-line was returned up to its normal position in an attempt to bring back the traditional "womanly" look. Other aspects of fashion from the 1920s took longer to phase out. Cloche hats remained popular until about 1933 while short hair remained popular for many women until late in the 1930s.
*Men's wear: For men, the most noticeable effect of the general sobering associated with the Great Depression was that the range of colors became more subdued. The bright colors that were popular in the 1920s fell out of fashion.