After learning about the Chinese and the Japanese from Thomas Sowell in Ethnic America, it's time for the Puerto Ricans and Mexicans.
The Puerto Ricans
Puerto Rico became part of the US in 1898 as a result of the Spanish American War, but its culture reflects "nearly four centuries of Spanish rule." There were 40,000 people there before Columbus discovered it, but most died of disease and in rebellions. What with import of slaves and Spanish and population explosion, the population was about one million in 1900.
Puerto Ricans didn't start migrating to the US in significant numbers until after World War II, and the migration has been notably two-way, with people maintaining contact with the folks back home. By 1970 the Puerto Rican population in the US was 1.5 million, half of the population back home. Most Puerto Ricans live in New York City.
In 1900 Puerto Ricans "worked in agriculture under primitive conditions. Illiteracy was 83 percent in 1898 and still 31 percent in 1940. They learned little English, and the Catholic priests were mostly Spanish. The family was important but broke up frequently. Female chastity was protected and young men had a machismo culture.
As an agricultural people Puerto Ricans were not big on education, and 70 percent of households speak Spanish. Children have not done well in school and "bilingual" teaching has not seemed to help. Puerto Ricans "have had high rates of crime, violence and dependence on relief." In 1969 "almost 80 percent of Puerto Rican men were either blue-collar... or service workers... and 60 percent of women." Incomes are lower than other groups because Puerto Ricans work less.
Although Puerto Ricans are eligible to vote, most do not do so, but when they vote, it is overwhelmingly Democrat. They mostly arrived in the US after the construction of the welfare state. As a result they have not built their own grass-roots organizations like the NAACP or B'nai B'rith. In some ways things have been easier for them, but it doesn't seem to have made much of a difference. But the race wars have pitted Puerto Ricans against other ethnic groups. Minimum-wage laws and occupational licensing laws make it difficult for Puerto Ricans to get started.
Although Puerto Rican progress does not seem great, the bulk of the population is still the first generation of immigrants, where the young lack experience and the old lack education.
The Mexicans
Mexican Americans are both the oldest and the youngest of Americans. There were settlements of people from Mexico in the southwest long before Americans arrived. But most Mexican Americans arrived in the 20th century and especially after World War II.
The term Mexican American covers a variety of peoples, including the descendants of the original Mexican settlers in the southwest, illegal aliens from Mexico, legal migrants from Mexico, legal transients, and naturalized Americans. Altogether, about 5 million in 1980, according to the US Census, but probably 8 million. About 4 million live in five southwestern states, half of that in California where Mexican American well outnumber the black population. Racially and culturally they are both Spanish and Indian in various degrees.
Before Mexico there were the Aztecs, of human sacrifice fame. But when Cortez arrived the emperor Montezuma showered him with gifts, including gold. So the Spaniards had to conquer them. They were assisted by Indian tribes and by European diseases. Right from the beginning, Spanish soldiers began sexual liaisons with native women, and by 1800 the mestizos outnumbered the Spanish-born and the Negro slaves.
From Mexico the new rulers spread northwards into the American southwest. Mexico declared independence from Spain in 1821; they allowed US citizens to settle in their northwest. But as the number of Americans swelled they wanted independence from Mexico: thus a Texas war of independence and US troops capturing Mexico City in 1847. Territory acquired from Mexico included what is now California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Texas, New Mexico and parts of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Wyoming. So the Mexicans in the US southwest became a minority and tended to lose their land from fraud, corrupt officials, and violence. The multicolored masses were "rigidly excluded from social and political participation."
But railroads, the Mexican revolution of 1909 -- one million killed -- and the rapid development of the US attracted Mexicans to the southwest where they could make double or triple the wage back home. As with the Italian padrone system, US employers employed Mexicans in gangs through a "coyote" labor contractor. This lasted until Mexicans learned the language and the country of the United States. As with other ethnic groups the whiter and more acculturated Mexicans were accepted into mainstream society but the new migrants were shunned and exploited.
In the Great Depression, migration stopped and a massive program of deportation was begun. The Mexican population of the United States declined from 600,000 in 1930 to 400,000 in 1940. But in World War II there was a sudden demand for labor and the bracero program of contract laborers began in 1942, starting at 50,000 per year and ended at 400,000 per year in the late 1950s. The program was terminated in 1964. But there were other forms of admission, including illegal immigration. There was also a program of expulsions: 0.5 million in 1951, one million in 1954.
The expulsion drive did not last long. 440,000 immigrated legally in the 1960s, and small border force was not able to stem the flood of illegal immigrants. Meanwhile social agencies and civil rights organizations intervened in deportation cases and raised the cost of deportation. And the Mexican government did nothing to discourage Mexicans from migrating to the US; it has regarded enforcement of the border as an American problem.
The three great waves of Mexican immigration -- pre World War I, post World War II, and post-1960s -- mean that Mexican Americans differ in the length of time their families have been in the US. Today Mexican Americans are more urbanized than Americans in general, but they have been urbanized for a shorter time than most Americans. Half the high-income Mexican Americans in Los Angeles live in predominantly white areas, and half their daughters marry outside the Mexican American groups. Less than 10 percent of high-income Mexican-American family heads were born in Mexico.
Over the years Mexican-American incomes have risen, absolutely, and relative to other Americans.
In 1949, the personal income of Mexican-Americans was 57 percent of that of non-Hispanic whites in the southwest... By 1971 they earned 73 percent of the US average.
But meaningful comparisons are difficult because Mexican Americans are younger than average Americans, and have larger families, and have fewer people working per family. Labor-force participation among women is less, and unemployment among Mexican-American men is about double that of black men and triple that of white men. And in addition, substantial numbers of Mexican-Americans are illegal aliens.
The family is central to Mexican-American culture. Female chastity is important, and leads to early marriage and low college attendance. And family breakups are much less common. Divorce is less than white and less than half that of blacks and Puerto Ricans. Family size is larger, but goes down with increased education.
About half of Mexican-American families speak Spanish at home, and this affects educational achievement. But their values have never centered on education.
In politics Mexican-Americans have not shown much interest, and not too many have, by 1980, risen to political prominence.
Still, Mexican-Americans hold their own with other ethnic groups. In 1979 family income was 18 percent higher than blacks and 54 percent higher than Puerto Ricans, and 73 percent of the national average.
Next: Conclusion.
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