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Week 9 · Module overview

Week 9 — Chicana/o and Latina/o Experiences I: Conquest, Labor, and the Courts

Introduction to Ethnic Studies Free sample edition

Why this matters

An agriculture student working beside farmworkers and a pre-law student who may sit on a jury both meet this week's treaty, contracts, and court cases.

In plain language

This chapter follows Mexicans and Mexican Americans from 1848 to 1964 through three kinds of record: a treaty, a labor agreement, and two court cases. In 1848 a cession (a formal handing over of land from one country to another) moved the border, so many Mexicans became part of the United States without moving at all. In the 1930s many people were pushed to leave for Mexico, and from 1942 to 1964 the Bracero Program (a set of agreements between two governments) brought Mexican men north on short work contracts. In the courts, Mexican American families used the 14th Amendment to fight school segregation and exclusion from juries. You will learn to read one worker's account beside the dated record and say, in one plain sentence, what each one shows.

  • Already covered: Week 3's immigrant and incorporated peoples; Week 6's 14th Amendment.
  • This week: the 1848 treaty, the 1930s removals, the Bracero Program, two court cases.
  • How they connect: the courts used the same 14th Amendment.
  • Where we're going next: Week 10, Movements and Many Communities.

Focus

How did conquest, labor, and the courts shape belonging for Mexican Americans?

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

  • [ ] explain why Article VIII made the people who stayed incorporated, not immigrants
  • [ ] describe the Bracero Program as an agreement between two governments
  • [ ] read the E1 excerpt against the dated record
  • [ ] name the court for Mendez and say what Hernandez decided

To-do

Plan your week

  1. Read Chapter 9 (about 30–40 minutes), then the lecture and slides.
  2. Work the lecture tutorial (60–90 minutes).
  3. Try the practice set (15–25 minutes).
  4. Do the workshop (about 90 minutes), the discussion, and the assignment, then the quiz.

This week's checkpoint: explain why the border moved but the people of the ceded lands did not.

You've got this

Take it in order, and ask your instructor if a step snags.

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