Mexican Americans In The Twentieth Century: Chapter Analysis

In chapter nine, Menchaca brings us to the present with an overview of the racial laws affecting Mexican Americans in the twentieth century. Such racial laws included; marriage, citizenship, de jure segregation, and affirmative action. Menchaca discussed the common struggles facing Mexican Americans, African Americans, and other people of color. The thirteenth and fourteenth amendments were created and passed by the federal government. The thirteenth amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude and was directed toward freeing Blacks, it became the foundation to improve the political status of Mexicans and other racial minorities. The fourteenth amendment was passed and granted a uniform citizenship law eliminating the states' rights …show more content…
I never knew this before because in my history classes in high school we always taught how African American's endured segregation and racial discrimination. After reading Menchaca's chapter it was a shock and a new thing I learned. Many Mexicans were segregated from public intuitions. School segregation cases serve as further illustrations of racial discrimination against dark-complexed Mexican people. I was shocked to read how schools segregated Mexican students because of social deficit justification (language), intelligence quotients, and the "infectious diseases of Mexicans". I was appalled to read how stupid and how racist these legislations were at attacking Mexican students. The bottom line was that most legislators attempted to segregate Mexican students on the ground the most of them were non-white. This section of the chapter offered an interesting view of how Mexicans students were segregated in public schools. This racial segregation of schools would not be dealt with until Brown v. Board of Education would go to the Supreme