Latinos in Twentieth Century California: National Register of Historic Places Context Statement Despite the unsavory practices of recruiters and the poor working conditions awaiting them, many Mexicans contracted with labor agencies. Most intended for their time in the U.S. to be transitory; they did not intend to settle permanently. They would work on farms or in railroad yards seasonally, save money for their families, and return to Mexico in the off-seasons or when they had earned enough to live for a while. The border in the first two decades of the twentieth century was porous. There were few regulations and the border patrol did not exist yet. Thus, it was relatively easy to move back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico, and a circular pattern of migration developed that would continue until later in the twentieth century when a new set of “From the Dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz to the forces would encourage permanent U.S. settlement Revolution,” a mural by David Alfaro Siquieros. over back and forth migration.11 The 1910 Mexican Revolution propelled even

Changes in U.S. Immigration Policy (1917-1929)

greater numbers of immigrants from Mexico into the U.S. (Photo courtesy Creative commons/wikiart)

The Immigration Act of 1917 marked a turning point in U.S. immigration policy.12 The new law restricted immigration by imposing an eight-dollar head tax, a literacy test, and a physical exam on all who wished to enter from a foreign country.13 These requirements applied to all immigrants, not just those from Mexico. The supposed goal of the law was to keep out “undesirables,” such as people with mental or physical disabilities or with criminal histories. While the law did not significantly reduce the numbers of people emigrating from Mexico, it did have a significant impact on the circular pattern of migration established in previous decades. Instead of moving back and forth across the border with relative ease, Mexicans had to pay the head tax, take the literacy test, and endure an embarrassing physical exam at each crossing. Increasing numbers of migrants sought to avoid the new red tape at the border either by staying in the U.S. indefinitely or by crossing illegally.14 The subsequent Immigration Acts of 1921 and 1924 took U.S. policy a step further by imposing numerical limitations on immigration. These acts set quotas by country of origin and prompted the formal creation of the Border Patrol in 1924. The Border Patrol’s primary charge was to curb illegal border crossings. At the time, agents were not particularly concerned with Mexicans. The demand for Mexican labor in the U.S. was still very high, and big business was able to use political influence to ensure that its demands were met.15 As a result, the Border Patrol’s focus during its early years was catching immigrants from Asia who attempted to enter the U.S. illegally through Mexico. 16 Nonetheless, the establishment of the Border Patrol created another reason for Mexicans who would normally return to their home country during off-seasons to stay in the U.S. indefinitely.

Mexican Migration and Settlement Patterns (1900-1929) Most Mexicans migrating to the U.S. in the early twentieth century originated from central and southern Mexico and traveled by rail to border towns, like Juárez and Tijuana, before crossing the border. Very few came directly to California. For example, naturalization records indicate that less than seven percent of Mexicans arriving in Los Angeles came through the land ports of Calexico or San Ysidro or the seaports of San Diego or San Francisco.17 By far, the most common crossing point for Mexicans who would end up in California was the Juárez -El Paso crossing on the Mexico-Texas border.18 Most settled 5

Latinos in Twentieth Century California: National Register of Historic Places Context Statement initially in Texas and remained there for several years before heading west in search of higher wages.19 Once in California, common settlement locations included the Imperial Valley and the San Joaquin Valley.20 Both valleys were major agricultural regions and benefited from significant improvements in irrigation and farming technology in the early twentieth century. These improvements led to increased production, which in turn led to increased labor demands. One-third of the farm laborers in the Imperial Valley were of Mexican origin by the late 1920s.21 Likewise, Mexican laborers formed the San Joaquin Valley’s largest single ethnic group as early as 1920.22 As the numbers of Mexicans remaining in the U.S. increased in the late 1910s and 1920s, settlement patterns shifted. Instead of taking seasonal work in agriculture, immigrants sought permanent or at least better off-season employment in the industrial, construction, and transportation sectors.23 These jobs were typically located in urban areas. By 1930, more than half of the Mexican population in the U.S. resided in urban areas, rather than in rural, agricultural areas.24 In California and in the nation as a whole, the primary urban area for Mexican settlement was Los Angeles. 25 Mexicans often ended up in Los Angeles after working for a while in one of the agricultural valleys. 26 Much of Los Angeles remained agricultural during this time period, so the attraction of the city to farm workers was obvious. It also provided coveted permanent and off-season employment opportunities in other fields, primarily transportation and manufacturing.27 Another key factor adding to the appeal of Los Angeles was the rapidly expanding public transportation system.28 While achieving permanent employment was the goal of most Mexican immigrants, it was not necessarily easy. Therefore, even after moving into a city, many still worked several different jobs each year. Los Angeles’ public transit allowed workers to take Red Car lines to work in the fields during prime agricultural seasons and to factories in off-seasons without changing residence. Other California cities attracted Mexicans as well, just in smaller numbers than Los Angeles. Examples include Santa Barbara, San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, and San Diego. Table I provides a comparison of Mexican populations in three California cities in the early twentieth century.

TABLE I: TOTAL MEXICAN POPULATION AND PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION, SELECT CALIFORNIA CITIES, 1900-1930 Percentage of Total (high-low range)

Total Population

Mexican Population (high-low range)

1900

102,479

3,000 - 5,000

2.9 - 4.9

1910

319,198

9,678 - 29,738

3.0 - 9.3

1920

576,673

29,757 - 50,000

5.2 - 8.7

1930

1,238,048

97,116 - 190,000

7.8 - 15.3

1900

17,700

638 – 893

3.6 - 5.0

1910

39,578

1,588 - 1,595

4.0 - 4.0

1920

74,683

3,563 - 4,028

4.7 - 5.4

City/Year Los Angeles

San Diego

6

Latinos in Twentieth Century California: National Register of Historic Places Context Statement 1930

147,995

9,266 - 20,000

6.3 - 13.5

1900

6,587

1,108 - 1,551

16.8 - 23.5

1910

11,659

1,644 - 2,221

14.1 - 19.0

1920

19,441

2,558 - 2,888

13.1 - 14.8

1930

33,613

3,279 - 5,157

9.7 - 15.3

Santa Barbara

Source: Albert Camarillo, Chicanos in California, 34.

Mexican immigrants during the early twentieth century often settled among other immigrant groups from Europe and Asia, not in isolated communities. For example, the area around Los Angeles’ Plaza was a common place of residence for many European and Asian immigrants, not just for Mexicans. The Plaza vicinity had a significant Italian population, as well as a Chinatown and a Little Tokyo.29 The Mission District in San Francisco and the Lower Quarter in Sacramento are additional examples of mixed immigrant neighborhoods that included large Mexican populations.30 A noteworthy exception to the mixed immigrant communities in which many Mexicans settled before 1930 was Belvedere. Since known as East Los Angeles, Belvedere was located east of the Los Angeles city limits on unincorporated county land. A mixed community of white citizens and European immigrants in the early 1900s, Belvedere became attractive to Mexican immigrants in the 1920s due to the completion of a new interurban rail line and the low cost of housing.31 By 1930, the community was home to the largest single concentration of Mexicans in the Los Angeles area – 90,000 out of the total county population of one million.32 While some residents of other nationalities remained, it could no longer be described as a mixed community. Another noteworthy, albeit much smaller, example of a Mexican community that developed prior to 1930 is the Casa Blanca neighborhood in the City of Riverside. Casa Blanca was subdivided in 1889. It developed gradually in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and primarily consisted of workers’ housing for Riverside’s thriving citrus industry. Residents were mostly Mexican at first, though some Chinese and Italian residents were also present. In the 1920s, like Belvedere, Mexican settlement in the area increased significantly. The increase is attributed to the fallout from the Mexican Revolution, as well as a change in

Mexican families settled in the Casa Blanca neighborhood of Riverside beginning in the 1880s; the neighborhood maintained its Latino majority and identity throughout the twentieth century. (Photo courtesy City of Riverside)

7

Latinos in Twentieth Century California: National Register of Historic Places Context Statement preference among citrus farmers for year-round, rather than seasonal labor. Also like Belvedere, Casa Blanca retained a large Mexican majority throughout the twentieth century.33 In addition to the geographic changes, demographic shifts accompanied the increase in permanent settlement in the late 1910s and 1920s. Previously, when circular migration was simpler, the vast majority of Mexicans entering the U.S. were working age males. Once it became more difficult to cross the border and Mexican men working in the U.S. extended their stays indefinitely, the numbers of women and children emigrating from Mexico increased accordingly. They came to join their husbands, fathers, and sons, and those of working age looked for employment to help support their families. Women typically found employment in factories and services in urban areas and in canneries in rural areas.

Mexican Repatriation during the Great Depression (1929-1939) With the stock market crash of 1929 and the economic turmoil that followed in the 1930s, millions of Americans lost their jobs. Both work and government assistance were scarce. Consequently, resentment of new immigrants and non-U.S. citizens, who were viewed as unwelcome competitors for employment and assistance, rose sharply. In response, both individual states and the U.S. government began passing laws to discourage hiring of Mexican workers and to encourage deportation. The laws led to repatriation programs in which Mexicans citizens and Mexican Americans alike were returned to Mexico en masse. Mexican repatriation in the 1930s meant that Latino immigration ceased and the numbers of Mexicans living in the U.S. and California decreased for the first and only time in the twentieth century. While some immigrants may have left by choice due to a lack of economic opportunities, most went by force. The majority of the victims of repatriation were U.S. citizens whose civil rights were unjustly violated. Estimates of the numbers of affected Mexican Americans in California vary widely from approximately 100,000 to as many as 400,000, the number cited by the California Apology Act for the 1930s Mexican Repatriation Program.34 The act also states that an estimated 2,000,000 were deported nationwide and that 1,200,000 of them were born in the U.S.35 Deportations were often the result of clandestine raids of known Mexican neighborhoods. Repatriation, in conjunction with the new immigration laws and other forces favoring permanent U.S. residency and citizenship in the early 1910s and 1920s, led to the beginning of a significant shift in the numbers of foreign-born Latinos living in America versus U.S.-born. Prior to 1930, population estimates indicate that there were more immigrant Latinos than U.S.-born. The numbers began to shift in the other direction in the late 1920s; in 1930, the immigrant population remained larger. By 1940, the shift was complete. For the first time in the twentieth century there were more U.S.-born Latinos, estimated at 262,100, than foreign-born, estimated at 111,900. The higher proportion of U.S.-born Latinos was a trend that continued and magnified at least through 1960, as demonstrated in Table II below. 36

TABLE II: U.S.-BORN AND FOREIGN-BORN LATINOS IN THE U.S., 1910-1960 Decade

Foreign-born Latinos

U.S.-born Latinos

Total Latinos

1910

33,444

24,744

58,188

1920

86,610

34,566

121,176

1930

199,165

168,848

368,013 8