Latino Americans in WWII

War Effort

• Pressure to volunteer• Puerto Ricans escape Depression• Selective Training and Service Act of 1940– ½ million Latinos– Hazardous duties

War Effort

• Units drawn from geographical locations–Few Latino units–Fought alongside Whites

War Effort

• 88th Infantry Division– The Blue Devils

• Company E of the 141st Regiment from El Paso

• 65th Infantry Regiment– The Boriqueneers

War Effort

War Effort

• Puerto Ricans– More jobs to Puerto Rico– Joined to win respect in hopes of independence– Fought in North Africa, France, Germany– Defend a country they knew nothing about– Related to displaced European farmers

War Effort

• Segregation – Eugene Calderon• Trained with

Tuskegee Airmen• Moved around a lot

during training • No white or black

barracks

Home Front

• Spring 1942– Harvest time and no

workers– Women flock to jobs– Heavy immigrant

recruitment– Forced immigrant

interactions

Home Front

• August 1942 Bracero Program– US and Mexico sign

agreement to export temporary workers

– 1 million initially in 21 states

Home Front: Bracero Program

Home Front: Bracero Program

• Picked beets, plums, tomatoes, peaches, cotton• Went on strike

Home Front: Bracero Program

• 1943 76,000 • 1944 118,000• 1945 300,000• 1946 26,000

Home Front: Bracero Program

• Some wanted to end the program– Children not in school– Illiterate adults– Poor wages– Substandard living– Tuberculosis

Home Front: Bracero Program

• Complaints of illegal immigrants

• Attorney General Herbert Brownell, INS Commissioner Joseph Swing Operation Wetback in 1954

Home Front

• 1st and 2nd generation Mexican-Americans (Pachucos)– Too young to enlist

but work – Get extra $ for leisure– Zoot Suit and marcel-

style hair

Home Front

• New Barrio Language– Vato– Guerro– Me Comprendes, Mendez?– Al rato, vato– Nada Nada, Limonada– Dale gas!– Homes/Homebody/Holmes

Home Front

• Pachucos wanted to be different– Seen as un-

American– Unwilling to

assimilate– Thought of as gangs

Home Front

• Zoot Suit Riots– Los Angeles June 3, 1943– Sailor starts fight with

pachuco– June 4, 1943 Sailors start

attacking anyone in a Zoot suit

– Police did not step in– Sailors were at fault but

no one arrested or charged

Veterans Coming Home

• Refused services at home

• The Fearless Mexican Macario Garcia– Medal of Honor

8/23/1945– Heroes welcome in

Sugarland Texas– Refused service at

Oasis Cafe

Veterans Coming Home

• Veterans still stuck in barrios• No access to sanitation or healthcare• G.I. Bill of Rights– Guaranteed mortgages for new homes– No new homes or kept out of neighborhoods– Pushed into trade schools

Veterans Returning Home

• Funeral Refusals– Felix Z. Longoria Jr.–Wife Beatrice is

denied services–Garcia contacts

LBJ for help

Veterans Returning Home

• Veterans become human rights activists

• Dr. Hector Garcia and the American G.I. Forum– Denied status and

slowly promoted– Thought Bracero

Program was doing harm

Veterans Returning Home

• Dr. Hector Garcia and American G.I. Forum– Thought Bracero

Program was bad– Supported Operation

Wetback until protests– Chapters and

influence spread