chapter presentation

mexican -
american
ethnicIty

Nicole Lopez - EDU 280 - Prof. Flowers

 Table of contents

02 01
background/
Ethnic identity
origin
How Mexican Americans
identify themselves in the U.S. Origin and significance of
background of Mexican
Americans
03 04
Stereotypes statistics
Stereotypes Mexican Important statistics about
Americans endure and how Mexican Americans in the U.S.
they affect them
01
Ethnic
identity

Mexican Americans are Americans of full or some Mexican descent or

heritage. They can be of any race.

Mexican Americans also fall into the ethnicities Hispanic, referring to

people of Spanish culture, and Latino, referring to people in the U.S.
from Latin America.

Hispanics / Latinos are currently the largest minority group in the

United States.
 01
Ethnic
identity (cont.)

✹ Today, many Mexican Americans view

themselves differently when it comes to
ethnic identity, or even, how Mexican or
American they are.
✹
✹ The way the feel about this usually depends
which generation they are, and even their
citizenship status (DeSilver, 2013).
 02
background/
origin
✹ Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) - This treaty occurred after the Mexican
American War and it allowed for many Mexicans in the now U.S. territory to
obtain an American citizenship but offered minimum protection for Mexicans
and their property, and from discrimination (Vargas, 2017).
✹
✹ “Juan Crow” - “Emerged as a way to legally discriminate against Mexican
Americans … Anglos pushed for segregation of Mexican-Americans in school
because they believed having their children learn alongside
Mexican-American children would hinder them … Juan crow laws that
essentially justified discrimination and mistreatment of Mexican-Americans”
(Garza, 2019).
 02
background/
origin (cont.)
✹ Braceros Program (1942) - “Through an agreement with Mexico, the United States initiated a
contract labor program that brought Mexican braceros as replacements for domestic
migratory farm workers” (Vargas, 2017). This program was a form of cheap labor in which
Mexican workers labored in horrible condition and, in many situations, for a payment with
no raise. They were also not granted any citizenship and could risk deportation.
✹
✹ Chicano Movement (1960s)- Inspired by the Civil Rights movement, Mexican Americans, one
of the poorest minorities at the time, protested and fought to make a change in their
communities by demanding citizenship rights, better education, better incomes, better
treatment in the agriculture workplace, and more. They demanded for an end to the
discrimination in the work place, schools, economy, and more.
 03 Stereotypes

Stereotypes of Mexican American Stereotypes of Mexican American

Men: Women:

✹ Janitors ✹ Maids
✹ Very Macho ✹ Very sexual
✹ Gardeners ✹ Illegal
✹ Criminals ✹ Cleaning Lady
✹ Illegal ✹ Bad tempered
✹ Laborer ✹ Uneducated
✹ Gangster
Stereotypes lead to slurs, and slurs lead to discrimination, which then leads to
racial profiling. This path is then normalized and Mexican Americans have had to
endure this treatment for years. Many of these stereotypes occur because of
institutional racism.
 Stereotypes
Example

Racial
discrimination profiling
The child is then taunted The child grows and is now
or bullied by his culture singled out based on appearance
and other’s stereotypes and assumed to be criminal.

stereotypes slurs enduring

A Mexican American child
is assumed to be “illegal”
and uneducated by his
classmates
Classmates call the child Convince that he is less than
offensive slurs, like because he grew up with
“wetback” and “spic”, to stereotypes, and institutional
demean him (Croom, racism continues to push him
2014). and community down.
 Stereotypes (cont.)

Stereotypes can easily turn into a slur, the way an assumption can turn into an offense.
Examples:

“Wetback” and “Illegal” are slurs refering to

The assumption or stereotype that a
the assumption that they have illegally entered
Mexican American is an immigrant or
the US by swimming across the Rio Grande
immigrated illegal to the U.S.
(Croom, 2014).

The assumption or stereotype that “Spic” is a degrading word and slur for a
a Mexican American can not speak person from a Spanish-speaking country
English or that speaking Spanish or community (Croom, 2014)
means they are uneducated.
 04 Statistics

“Mexicans are the largest population of

Hispanic origin living in the United States,
accounting for 62% of the U.S. Hispanic
population in 2017. Since 2000, the
Mexican-origin population has increased
76%, growing from 20.9 million to 36.6
million over the period. At the same time,
the Mexican foreign-born population living
in the U.S. grew by 29%, from 8.7 million in
2000 to 11.2 million in 2017”
(Noe-Bustamante, Flores, & Sono Shah,
2019)
Mexican-origin population in the U.S., 2000-2017 foreign
u.s. born
born
 Statistics (cont.)
50% 12% 48%
homeownership Education Marital status
Is the rate of Of Mexican Americans ages Of Mexican Americans
homeownership among 25+ have obtained at least a ages 18+ are less likely to
Mexican Americans bachelor’s degree be married

71% 20% 31%

Language poverty Immigration
Of Mexican Americans Of Mexican Americans Of Mexican Americans
ages 5+ speak English at live in poverty are foreign born
least “very well,”
All statistics above : (Noe-Bustamante, Flores, & Sono Shah, 2019)
 Works cited

Croom, A. M. (2014). Spanish slurs and stereotypes for mexican-americans in the USA: A context-sensitive account of
derogation and appropriation. Pragmatica Sociocultural, 2(2), 145-179.
doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.library.csn.edu/10.1515/soprag-2014-0007

DeSilver, D. (2013, May 3). How Mexicans in the United States see their identity. Retrieved September 27, 2021, from Pew
Research Center website:
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/05/03/how-mexicans-in-the-united-states-see-their-identity/

Garza, P. (2019, December 9). Untold Stories of Mexican-American Lynchings – StMU Research Scholars. Retrieved
September 28, 2021, from Stmuscholars.org website:
https://stmuscholars.org/untold-stories-of-mexican-american-lynchings/

Noe-Bustamante, L., Flores, A., & Sono Shah. (2019, September 16). Facts on Hispanics of Mexican origin in the United
States, 2017. Retrieved September 28, 2021, from Pew Research Center’s Hispanic Trends Project website:
https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/fact-sheet/u-s-hispanics-facts-on-mexican-origin-latinos/

Vargas, Z. (2017). Crucible of struggle : A history of Mexican Americans from colonial times to the present era (Second
ed.).