Andrea Escobar
Final Draft
9/30/15
ANTH-202
Yingkun
Topic: Mexican Americans in Chicago and how they struggle to keep their cultural alive so far away from the border. The first Mexicans that came to Chicago, came in the turn of the 20th century. Chicago had its first significant wave of immigrants in the mid to late 1910s. The first immigrants to arrive to Chicago where men who were working in semiskilled and unskilled jobs. These men at the time originated from Texas, Guanajuato, Jalisco, and Michoacán. While in the 1920s immigration significantly increased. As far as the demographics go, the 1990 to 2000 U.S Census reported the percentage of Mexican Americans in all of cook county, increased by 69%, while the percentage of Mexicans in …show more content…
In Chicago they did not feel the need to necessarily change their ways to the “American way” completely, but to just adapt to some of the cultural, and social patterns that came with migrating to America from Mexico. Living in a city full of cultural diversity, in the aspects that Mexicans were not the only immigrants who were struggling to keep their own cultural and traditions alive while still trying to fit in with the cultural that is America. When the Mexicans first came to Chicago they came as contract workers. Then as time went by, they began migrating to the united states because they saw a country of opportunity, therefore once they had arrived their intentions were finding jobs in being itinerants, and entertainers in hopes of still being able to be successful in a new country while being able to still preserve the cultural they left …show more content…
In the end many immigrants maintained strong ties to their Mexican homeland. The methods in how they did this was they often conveyed news in short lived newspapers, by sponsoring rallies for presidential candidates in Mexico. Although so far from the border, they supported their home country by spreading current events to all the citizens in the area. This was ultimately established to help one and other feel welcome in such a foreign country where basically everything is different, compared to what they are used to in Mexico. another way of preserving their cultural identity, was by having celebrations of important events that would be celebrated south of the border, such as Cinco de Mayo, Independence day,
Final Draft
9/30/15
ANTH-202
Yingkun
Topic: Mexican Americans in Chicago and how they struggle to keep their cultural alive so far away from the border. The first Mexicans that came to Chicago, came in the turn of the 20th century. Chicago had its first significant wave of immigrants in the mid to late 1910s. The first immigrants to arrive to Chicago where men who were working in semiskilled and unskilled jobs. These men at the time originated from Texas, Guanajuato, Jalisco, and Michoacán. While in the 1920s immigration significantly increased. As far as the demographics go, the 1990 to 2000 U.S Census reported the percentage of Mexican Americans in all of cook county, increased by 69%, while the percentage of Mexicans in …show more content…
In Chicago they did not feel the need to necessarily change their ways to the “American way” completely, but to just adapt to some of the cultural, and social patterns that came with migrating to America from Mexico. Living in a city full of cultural diversity, in the aspects that Mexicans were not the only immigrants who were struggling to keep their own cultural and traditions alive while still trying to fit in with the cultural that is America. When the Mexicans first came to Chicago they came as contract workers. Then as time went by, they began migrating to the united states because they saw a country of opportunity, therefore once they had arrived their intentions were finding jobs in being itinerants, and entertainers in hopes of still being able to be successful in a new country while being able to still preserve the cultural they left …show more content…
In the end many immigrants maintained strong ties to their Mexican homeland. The methods in how they did this was they often conveyed news in short lived newspapers, by sponsoring rallies for presidential candidates in Mexico. Although so far from the border, they supported their home country by spreading current events to all the citizens in the area. This was ultimately established to help one and other feel welcome in such a foreign country where basically everything is different, compared to what they are used to in Mexico. another way of preserving their cultural identity, was by having celebrations of important events that would be celebrated south of the border, such as Cinco de Mayo, Independence day,