Thesis
Texas Mexican diaspora to Washington State: recruitment, migration, and community, 1940-1960
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2007
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/100919
Abstract
This study examines the non-bracero labor of Mexican origin in Washington State, from 1940 to 1960. I argue that research on the Bracero Program has overshadowed the complexity of Chicano/a history in the Pacific Northwest. As a result, limited scholarship on the migration of other Mexican descents exists before and during the program, as well as the role women played in the development of communities in the region. To further expand the discourse of Chicano/a Studies in the Pacific Northwest, I utilize oral history testimonies to examine the displacement and forced internal migration of Texas Mexicans to Washington State. First, I claim that Texas Mexicans in Washington Sate were paid higher wages, had increased employment opportunities, and faced lower levels of racial discrimination and anti-immigrant hostility. By emigrating to Washington State, they also avoided deportation during the 1930s and 1950s, as well as the mechanization of Texas agriculture. Second, unlike braceros, Texas Mexicans who migrated and settled in Washington State, during the 1940s and 1950s transferred their Tejano/Mexicano culture to the area and were pivotal to the establishment of our communities that still exist today. And third, I state that key to the development of these communities in Washington State were Tejana and Mexicana women and families, who labored in the fields, homes, and communities.
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Details
- Title
- Texas Mexican diaspora to Washington State
- Creators
- Josué Quezada Estrada
- Contributors
- José M. Alamillo (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Languages, Cultures, and Race, School of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; Pullman, Wash. :
- Identifiers
- 99900524808301842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis