Chapter 7 Reading Assignment
Communists were central to the powerful strike wave that broke out in ·1933-1934. They led militant protests to dramatize the common interests of all workers, regardless of race. a. True b. False
a. true
For the remainder of the Great Depression the Spanish-speaking community lived in a climate of fear and unease; no one was ever completely sure that they were safe. Mexicans became convenient scapegoats, blamed for job loss, strained relief services, housing congestion, and other social ills. a. True b. False
a. true
In 1930, the city of El Paso adopted an ordinance prohibiting the employment of Mexicans on city construction projects. The state of Texas enacted legislation restricting employment on public work projects to U.S. citizens." a. True b. False
a. true
In 1937, Emma Tenayuca was elected to the National Executive Committee of the Workers' Alliance of America. This was the first time a national organization of any kind had chosen a Mexican American woman for a top position. a. True b. False
a. true
Mexican artist, David Alfaro Siqueiros painted a series of murals in the city, one of which was La America Tropical (Tropical America), a pictorial critique of racism and colonial domination in southern California. Deemed offensive, the mural was white washed in 1934. It can still be seen today, right? a. True b. False
a. true
Mexicans faced greater hardships and different kinds of problems than Anglos, namely, racial discrimination and nativism. As a result Mexicans became victims of the practice "last hired, first fired." a. True b. False
a. true
Most Mexican workers were employed in agriculture, with high labor force participation as farmworkers. This national policy prompted Mexican farmworkers to challenge the long-standing exploitive authority of the growers through a massive wave of strikes in their own defense. Sixty-one agricultural strikes unfolded involving 56,800 farm workers, with most of the labor battles taking place in California. a. True b. False
a. true
The CIO union drives in Los Angeles brought the city's Spanish-speaking rank-and-file workers into the newly built and integrated union movement. Mexican American women cannery and food processing workers organized themselves and applied for membership in the UCAPAWA. a. True b. False
a. true
The Great Depression ended two decades of almost uninterrupted immigration from Mexico. a. True b. False
a. true
The Great Depression increased the number of Mexican migrant workers. a. True b. False
a. true
The following sentiment was the exception of labor unions towards Mexicans and Mexican Americans. "The Detroit Federation of Labor warned of the dangers Mexicans posed to the city's workers. It declared that "most of the illegal entrants were undesirable ... " and contended that "the result ... is a rapid and alarming increase in numbers of unassimilable groups, and a gradual submersion of the class of citizenry upon which the nation must rely for maintenance of standards and life." a. True b. False
a. true
The garment shops were labor-intensive industries that employed female labor. Many garment factories relocated to the South and Southwest, where labor was cheaper because of restrictions imposed on occupations in which Mexican women could find work and where unions were nonexistent. a. True b. False
a. true
The garment strike laid the foundation for the ILGWU in Los Angeles and drew attention to the contributions of Mexican women toward the larger goal of labor rights. The push for equality for Mexican women workers had begun. a. True b. False
a. true
The union drives in Texas shifted to San Antonio, a center for light industrial work with an entirely Mexican workforce. San Antonio became the site of the biggest labor upheaval by the nation's Spanish-speaking workers when more than eight thousand pecan workers went on strike. a. True b. False
a. true
Congress introduced legislation to curtail immigration from Mexico, passing the Immigration Act of 1929 making unlawful entry into the United States a misdemeanor. a. True b. False
b. false
Displaying an extraordinary amount of labor militancy, Mexican women did not participate in the strikes that swept through tobacco, garment, and cannery factories. Domestic workers also organized to address their needs. a. True b. False
b. false
Having always known hardship, Mexicans still could not cope with the worst depression in American history. Yet they would be the first to ask for relief until despite not having all their resources exhausted. a. True b. False
b. false
In 1936, four thousand workers struck the orange orchards and packing plants in Orange County for higher wages. The defiant orange workers stayed out for seven weeks, but growers broke the strike with friendly negotiations. a. True b. False
b. false
In El Paso, two-thirds of the city's one hundred thousand Mexican were crammed into the Westside, a place of considerable human suffering. It had the nation's lowest health standards, as tuberculosis, diphtheria, and other infectious diseases swept through the impoverished shanty communities and posed a grave health threat. a. True b. False
b. false
Senator Dennis Chavez of New Mexico helped get work relief to Spanish-speaking communities. Even though he was one of three Mexican Americans in the U.S. Senate, Chavez made sure that Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Public Works Administration (PWA) money came home to his state. a. True b. False
b. false
The Mexicans departing for Mexico were permitted to carry with them only a few personal possessions. They were taken by train or truck and loaded by family groups. No special arrangements were made for invalid Mexicans taken out of hospitals for removal to Mexico. a. True b. False
b. false
The following was NOT a common sentiment during the Great Depression --Always against the inflow of labor from Mexico, organized labor openly endorsed the campaign to pressure Mexicans to repatriate to Mexico. Echoing the notion that jobs "belonged" to whites, the Los Angeles Labor Federation announced "Employ no Mexican while a white man is unemployed .... Get the Mexican back into Mexico regardless by what means." a. True b. False
b. false
The repatriation movement gained national dimensions when President Franklin D. Roosevelt mobilized public opinion against the Mexican population. The president did this to deflect attention from his inability to deal with the deepening economic crisis and sharply mounting unemployment. Hoover made Mexicans the prime targets for government persecution, regardless of whether or not they were citizens of the United States. a. True b. False
b. false
Thousands of Mexican American steelworkers imbued with the spirit of rank-and-file militancy were active in the SWOC organizing drive at East Chicago's Youngstown and Inland Steel plants and but would make up only 10 percent of the pickets. a. True b. False
b. false
Traditional organizations such as LULAC experienced a decrease in membership and saw some of its chapters collapse. They were ineffective in achieving social change for Mexican Americans that would alleviate hunger and the need for adequate housing and health care and bring economic well-being. The Americanized LULAC, moreover, heartily protested immigration restriction from Mexico, and Mexican workers increased their support of the LULAC. a. True b. False
b. false
