Summary Of Constructing History Constructing Race By Martha Menchaca

In Martha Menchaca’s, “Constructing History, Constructing Race,” she exposes how Anglo-American’s neglected Spanish American roots creating a false representation of Chicanos throughout history socially, economically and politically. She emphasizes that race was created by racist people in order to degrade certain ethnic groups. Mexican Americans were seen as an inferior race being that they lived in poverty because of their “dysfunctional culture”. (Menchaca 14) Lionel Steinberg’s quote, “Farmworkers, unfortunately, were considered just another item in producing products…like fertilizer, boxes, or water. Most growers didn’t treat their workers with any degree of respect or dignity,” from the documentary, “CHICANO!: Struggle in the Fields,”