People of Color Ethnic Groups Excluded in U.S. History Research Paper

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Exclusion

Deutsch, Sarah. 1987. No separate refuge: culture, class, and gender on an Anglo-Hispanic frontier in the American Southwest, 1880-1940. New York: Oxford University Press.

Race has excluded people of color and ethnic groups in the Southwest. Deutsch draws parallels with all forms of subjugation around the world. Hispanic identity in particular was viewed as a threat by white Americans. White Americans began to cling to nativism, which was a theory that was related to white supremacy. This systematically excluded Hispanics, but especially Latin American women, from having access to social, cultural, and financial capital. Exclusion was built on race, as positions of power in politics, government, and business were reserved for white males. Stereotyping has been an important way for race to be used as a method of exclusion.

The theme or thesis on people of color and ethnic groups in the United States is that subjugation is the normative political and social policy, whether conscious or unconscious, in the dominant culture. Patterns of isolation, alienation, and victimization have defined public policy related to urban planning and social engagement. Non-whites have been relegated to specific labor market sectors, according to the author. No Separate Refuge is a book detailing the patterns of migration and settlement, and how these patterns have impacted generations of social, political, and economic realities. Lack of access to social, political, and economic capital prevented upward social mobility.

3. Deutsch argues that barrios were a conscientiously creative response to social subjugation, because in the barrio, personal and collective empowerment became politically possible. It was possible to create a unique Chicano identity within the barrio, and the subculture became a source of pride. Ironically, Deutsch argues that Chicano culture blossomed not just in spite of, but because of, the racial subjugation that was the barrier to entry in the dominant culture. As an oppositional force, the barrio community self-generated and provided economic, social, and cultural capital that was uniquely meaningful. The act of self-empowerment transformed the attitudes and lifestyles of people within the barrios.

4. The main points of No Separate Refuge include the following. First, barrio culture arose out of the need for self-definition, self-empowerment, and self-confidence. Second, the barrio cultures informed the overall character of borderland communities. Third, Anglos systematically disenfranchised Latinos by prohibiting access to the means of production. This means that Latinos would have been systematically prevented from attaining status in the community, status as politicians, or status in the business sector. For this reason, Deutsch argues that Latino businesses and culture evolved on its own accord and for the better rather than simply succumb to assimilation.

5. The strengths of this book are that the arguments are cogent and well-presented. The information is culled from primary and reliable secondary sources. Gender issues are addressed sensitively. Case study and ethnographies are an ideal source of data. The weaknesses include the redundancy and questionable applicability to domestic or public policy.

Jacobson, Matthew Frye. 1998. Whiteness of a different color: European immigrants and the alchemy of race. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

1. Race is socially constructed. Therefore, race can be used to exclude people of color and ethnic groups in the United States. In the United States, people of color were originally classified as anyone who was not of the original white Anglo-Saxon Protestant stock. This included even Irish people, who would now be considered white but were not in the 19th century because they were Catholic and had a different accent. Therefore, race was also used to conveniently delimit who could and could not be counted as American. Race was a politically expedient element in American society, and remains so today.

2. The thesis of Jacobson's book is that people of color and ethnic groups are classified as white or non-white on the basis of factors that have nothing to do with skin color. For example, Jews are a distinct ethnic group. Sometimes Jews are classified as white when they are part of the dominant culture. Yet other times, Jews are presented as outsiders. Similarly the differentiation of Hispanic-American and white Hispanic-American shows that American conceptualizations of race are flexible, malleable, and ridiculous from an objective or rational standpoint. From a political and economic standpoint, though, it makes sense to classify people and groups according to race.

3. Jacobson's main arguments include the following. First, race is socially constructed. Race is not real. Second, race as a socially constructed domain has been used to create artificial social, political, and economic hierarchies.

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People in power take advantage of those hierarchies to entrench their positions and maximize personal and political gain. Third, the social construction of race has implications for both personal and collective identity. Some people choose to pass as white to gain access to white privilege, whereas others opt to identify with the subordinate group to encourage pride and empowerment. Fourth, social constructions of race can lead to perpetuations of inequities across multiple generations.

4. The main points and objectives of Jabobson's book include that fact that a black man was once acquitted of miscegenation on the grounds that he married a Sicilian woman, and Sicilian women were questionably white in 1920. Therefore, it is clear that race is socially constructed. Now, all Europeans are viewed as white. A hundred years ago, only WASPs were white. Another main objective is to show readers that whiteness is a factor related to social power and privilege, and the creation of dominant culture. A minority group is a group that does not have access to social power and privilege.

5. The strengths of the Jacobson book are as follows. First, the book has a strong thesis and its premise is grounded in factual evidence. Second, the book is straightforward and easy to read. The weaknesses of the Jacobson book include the fact that the author uses case studies and examples without always citing them, and this makes the book seem amateur and not scholarly.

Ruiz, Vicki. 1998. From out of the shadows: Mexican women in twentieth-century America. New York: Oxford University Press.

1. Ruiz's book shows that race has excluded people of color and ethnic groups in the United States. The author describes her personal journey towards becoming a historian. Her journey was rooted in the fact that her family used to tell stories that formed one component of history; and school taught her something different. Ruiz wanted to find the bridge. The author shows that exclusion occurs along racialized dimensions in all areas of social and public life including the workplace, education, and politics. Women of color are particularly excluded, labeled as they are as gender and ethnically deficient.

2. The thesis or theme about people of color and ethnic groups in the United States relates to the fact that Latino-Americans have not been given sufficient credit due to the fact that their lives have been discredited on account of their lacking the social status to matter to white Americans. Latinos in America, but especially Latinas in America, have chartered their own journeys and navigated their own territories. Self-empowerment is the key to overcoming prejudice and racism. The author also claims that communities create their own identities in spite of oppression, and this process is healthy.

3. Ruiz argues that Mexican-American culture has evolved distinctively. However, there is great variation within Mexican-American culture. Another argument that Ruiz makes is that women have created a unique dimension of social life in Mexican-American society. Men have also created a unique social dimension. Both women and men have created social, political, and economic zones that are strategically manifested and interrelated for mutually beneficial realizations of goals. Overcoming racism or prejudice means starting with developing personal pride and the means by which to create cultural capital. This is especially true for women.

4. The main points and objectives in Ruiz's book include the fact that women in Mexican-American society have had to create micro-economies in order to survive. These micro-economies became part of the universal cultural identities, which helped inform collective awareness. Immigration has also had a profound bearing on Mexican-American identities, culture, and community. Immigration has strongly impacted the Mexican-American economy, as well as the American economy. Border journeys have qualified Mexican-American identities. Assimilation is balanced with integration and cultural preservation to inform a personal harmony with community life. Historical events have shaped personal lives and collective identities.

5. The strengths of this book include the fact that it is well-researched, with many footnotes and facts. The author's credibility is established early, with the purpose for her writing the book clearly stated at the outset. There are no weaknesses that are glaring enough to discuss within the framework of the narrative.

Taylor, Quintard. 1998. In search of the racial frontier: African-Americans in the American West, 1528-1990. New York: Norton.

1. Race has excluded African-Americans from participating in the established white power structures in the Westward expansion program and frontier life, as Ouintard points out in Search for.....

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