The Mexican Americans - Essay Example

Running Head: MEXICAN AMERICANS The Mexican Americans s Institute’s The Mexican Americans Mexico, a country situated in the southern part of North America and is bordered by the United States to its north, the Gulf of Mexico to its east, Guatemala, Caribbean Sea and Belize to its south east and Pacific to the south and the west. (BookRags) It is believed that the primary dwellers of Mexico came from Asia about 18000 years ago, who were mostly hunters. As time passed these people formed various systematized societies.

Some of the civilizations formed here were Olmec, Teotihuacan, Toltec and Aztec societies. These societies were skillful in art, architecture, mathematics, astronomy and agriculture. (Englekirk & Marin) History of Immigration: A Spanish explorer, Francisco Fernandez de Cordoba, discovered Yucatan in 1517. Yucatan was a peninsula which was the south eastern part of Mexico. The Spanish conquistador, Hernando Cortez, succeeded in bringing Mexico under its control by the year 1521. The following 300 years Mexico or New Spain agonized under the foreign rule of Spain.

Under the tyrannical colonial system of Spain, Mexico’s commercial and industrial growth was stifled. Any revolutionary or new ideas went through a thorough expurgation. Only the natives of Spain were given the access to significant governmental authority. Equality was nowhere to be found in Mexico. As the population of the country increased, the unequal dissemination of wealth and land also went on growing. This resulted in an accumulation of hassle and tension in the ordinary population of the country who were poor and being plagued day by day.

This anxiety and unrest in the population gave birth to a revolt against Spain in the year 1821. In the latter portion of the nineteenth century, under the 30- year dictatorial rule of Porfirio Diaz, no doubt that Mexico had improved its industrial structure,(backed up by foreigners), foreign trade, growing economy, increased employment opportunities yet by the end of the century, there was no progress felt or seen in the status of natives of the country. The natives living in the rural areas had to strive for a living on their own by working on their small parcels of land or by working under dues peonage scheme (agricultural lands owned by someone who is very rich).

Even if the natives, who lived in the urban areas, were lucky enough to get full time employment, they worked very hard under poor conditions and for very low wages. They lived in such a locality where diseases fostered. Due to the inevitable circumstances prevailing in the country, it’s crashing economic and commercial status, people who were suffering from poverty and other destitutions migrated to the neighboring countries in pursuit of better employment opportunities. Many went to United States where at that time industrialization was at its peak and the government of United States needed labor for the completion of their huge projects such as construction of railroads.

At that point of time 55000 migrants from Mexico entered United States illegally between 1850 and 1880 for the purpose of making railroad and nobody called them illegal aliens, neither was Mexican workers given any legal protections. (Mexican Americans in the Columbia Basin). Immigration reached its peak in 1910 with the Mexican Revolution. 50,000 Mexicans migrated every year to United States in search of jobs. (ThinkQuest) Challenges and Accomplishments: The challenges which the Mexican Americans had to face were as follows: They were oppressed in their own country, Mexico, by the cruel colonial rule.

They were deprived of their basic rights and necessities. They had to strive for their survival by working very hard under poor conditions and with extremely low wages. They had to migrate to neighboring countries for employment. Mexicans who worked in United States also had to go through tough times. Legal rights were not given to them. They worked for them as illegal aliens. The government of United States cracked down on undocumented immigrants when they saw their public was getting tensed as aliens were eating up their jobs.

Mexican Americans were used by the United States when they needed them and were exploited and were discarded when they did not need them. The Accomplishments of Mexican Americans were as follows: After so many years of struggle, they accomplished jobs. Their conditions got better than before. The demand of Mexican labor increased. President Ronald Reagan and the Democratic congress of 1986 approved official pardon to three million Mexican-American workers. They secured confidence of the government and came under the shade of U.

S human rights protection. “A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm”. (Schwab) Contributions to the American Culture: Mexican-Americans are known as the forgotten people but the fact is that the history of United States is incomplete without the mention of Mexican-Americans. Whenever and wherever Mexican-Americans are talked about, it is never in the positive light. This only shows lack of awareness about the Mexican Americans. Mexican-Americans are no more considered as newcomers in fact they form large and vital part of the society.

Due to their contributions, we have gained a lot. One of their contributions is their willingness to work hard and cultivate land in the south west as well as in other parts of the country. America has been enriched with their contributions. Throughout the United States, the impact of Mexican-Americans is vivid varying from fine arts to sports, cuisines, languages, politics and demographics. (ThinkQuest) References BookRags. (n.d.). Mexican Americans. BookRags. Retrieved from http://www.bookrags.

com/research/mexican-americans-gema-02/ Englekirk, A. and Marin, M. (n.d.). Mexican Americans. Countries and Their Culture. Retrieved from http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Le-Pa/Mexican-Americans.html#b Oracle ThinkQuest. (n.d.). Impact of Mexican Culture on America. ThinkQuest. Retrieved from http://library.thinkquest.org/C008371/ Schwab, C. M. (n.d.). Famous Success Quotes. YummyQuotes.com. Retrieved http://www.yummy-quotes.com/famous-success-quotes.html Anonymous. (n.d.). Mexican Americans in the Columbia Basin.

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