Reviews for Manifest Destinies: The Making of the Mexican American Race

The average rating for Manifest Destinies: The Making of the Mexican American Race based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-12-11 00:00:00 Robin Rae The formation of the racial hierarchy in the Viceroyalty of New Spain was instrumental in the creation of identity and class structure in the present-day southwest United States. Following the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848, the U.S. completed its territorial ambitions of a continental nation within 100 years of the country's formation. Twenty years prior, these territories were of the original inclusion of United Mexican States. This transition was eclipsed by over 200 years of Spanish rule; however, the original inhabitants and settlers of New Mexico and the neighboring northern territories reached a decisive moment in cultural preservation and representation for statehood while subjugated to the new defining racial norms of the United States. Author Laura E. Gomez bring attention to anti-Mexican racism that coexisted with the U.S. Civil War, the segregation of African-Americans and genocide of the indigenous Native American tribes, setting a precedent in the culmination of the Chicano movement in the twentieth century and Chicanx identity. Through legal history, Gomez highlights the origins that placed Mexican Americans as second-class citizens, as well as organization within the collective struggle. Manifest Destinies is critical of historical misconceptions that have defined Mexican Americans as a relatively new group, despite settlement occurring at the same time of New England colonialism and Spanish settlements in Puerto Rico and Florida pre-dating Jamestown. The former inhabitants of Mexico would be racialized compared to African-Americans and anti-blackness was reinforced in the New Mexico territory based on a desire to include New Mexico as a slave state. Gomez does not focus her research with Manifest Destinies on Mexican American identity in California, but builds upon the significant historical underpinnings in New Mexico and Texas. During Reconstruction., Santa Fe and Albuquerque became distinct urban examples of residential segregation. Las Vegas became racially divided from the new neighborhoods clear into the 1970s, which is built from Gomez's own research and official city codes and census data. The railroad expansion in these regions included exploitation of Mexican American and Pueblo Indian workers. Evidence is based on recorded pay documents, where Mexican and Pueblo Indian workers received less than half the pay of the Irish workers for the same company. This correlates an important understanding that while Mexican Americans were coerced as white for convenience, they were still discriminated against and considered to be beneath other marginalized workers. The inclusion of the Puebloan Indians perplexed the new settlers. Gomez demonstrates from Clara Rodriguez's book Changing Race: Latinos, the Census and the History of Ethnicity in the United States that Mestizos sought to distance themselves from Puebloan Indians, who were isolated from nomadic Indian life after having established sedentary communities. The book is not intended to explore Mexican American racial identity formation in California, emphasizing the legal framework that was imposed in New Mexico and Texas. In relation to new insights of Chicanx scholarship, Gomez effectively provides an introduction to the origins and of an often underlooked saga in American history. Of great importance is the author's postscript, which is updated to address the increase in racial division and hostility from the 2016 election, "where [race] is at the center of current immigration rhetoric and policy." Proponents of Donald Trump who profess to "Make America Great Again" have a false sense of nostalgia of American greatness and sentiment in a time before Caesar Chavez's labor organizing or the Plan de Santa Barbara, crucial to Chicanx preservation in the face of despotism and kakistocracy. The response to anti-immigration policies will enact young Latinos to continue working together in grassroots efforts. Manifest Destinies is a relevant examination towards the social consciousness of Chicanx and Latinx understanding of the past and present.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-08-12 00:00:00 Angie Myers This book reframes Manifest Destiny as part of American colonization--which, sadly, few people actually perceive as colonialism. In that sense, this is a crucial intervention to popular American history. My favorite aspect is Gomez moving beyond the black/white racial formation dichotomy to suggest that the first Mexican Americans fell on a spectrum the mixed Spanish racial orders with American racial orders, meaning Mexicans fell into an "off-white" status: legally white but socially non-white. Excellent book. Five stars, for sure.