We are excited to announce our multimedia online book project. Told in a three-part series, Part 1 & 2 are now online.
OUR AMERICAN STORY
LEGACY MAJOR SPONSORS
State of California
OUR AMERICAN STORY
Left to right: cover photos courtesy of John Nelson at The San Diego Union-Tribune, NASA Johnson Space Center, and Mickey Strand ©2021 Latino Legacy Foundation
Table of Contents
Introduction . ....................................................................................... 10 Acknowledgements from The Chair ................................................. 12 Thank You Sponsors .............................................................................. 16
Our Stories: • Keep the Faith by Sister Margaret Castro ..................................... 50 Life’s Journey Has its Challenges by David Valladolid ................. 52 • Starting a New Life by Jess D. Haro ............................................... 54 My Awakening by Amalia Meza ...................................................... 56 My Father’s Legacy by Elisa Gonzalez Gomez .............................. 58 The Lemon Grove Incident by Paul Espinosa ............................... 60 Chapter 3 Service to America, Struggles with America By Luis Alvarez, Ph.D. . ........................................................................... 62 – WWII ........................................................................................................ 63 – Latino Service ........................................................................................ 63 – On the Home Front ............................................................................... 66 – Rising Racial Tension ............................................................................. 68 – Civil Rights Efforts ................................................................................. 70 Our Stories: • Welcome Home Soldier by Bernard Gonzales ............................. 73 • My Dear Dad & Uncles by Tony Millan .......................................... 76 • Making a Living After the War by Frank Peralta .......................... 78 • The Neighborhood Café by Alicia Ketcham .................................. 80 • Those Far Away From Home by Refugio I. Rochin, Ph.D. ........... 82
Timeline & Milestones . ............................................................. 19
Chapter 1 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
By Richard Griswold del Castillo, Ph.D. ............................................. 20 – San Diego Life before 1848.................................................................. 21 – The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ....................................................... 22 – The Articles: Retaining Lands & Citizenship ...................................... 24 – Article X: Land Ownership ................................................................... 25 – Broken Promises ................................................................................... 26 – California Land Act ................................................................................ 26 – Californios Lose their Land .................................................................. 27 – Californios No Longer ........................................................................... 28 – The Aftermath of the U.S. and Mexico Peace Treaty ...................... 28 – Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Legacy ................................................. 29 Our Stories: • Californio Descendant by Georgia Callian .................................... 30 Chapter 2 Rebuilding Lives, Against All Odds By Jimmy Patiño, Ph.D. .......................................................................... 34 – The Mexican Revolution ....................................................................... 35 – The Brown Scare ................................................................................... 37 – World War I ............................................................................................ 40 – Migration from Mexico Increases ........................................................ 41 – The Great Depression and Repatriation ............................................ 42 – School Segregation ............................................................................... 44 – Neighborhood Segregation ................................................................. 46 – San Diego Segregated Neighborhoods by Ricardo Flores .............. 48
Chapter 4 The Rise of the Chicano Movement
By Isidro Ortiz, Ph.D. .............................................................................. 84 – Chicano Park – Community Self-Determination................................ 85 – Unity with the Farmworkers’ Strike .................................................... 88 – Student Movement ............................................................................... 89 – The Chicano Vietnam Moratorium ..................................................... 92
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Table of Contents – Political Representation ....................................................................... 94 – Immigration............................................................................................ 96 – Chicano Legacy Rooted in Community .............................................. 97 – The Chicano Movement and the Struggle for Immigrant Rights by Jimmy Patino Ph.D........................................................................... 98 Our Stories: • The Road to Social Justice by Irma Castro .................................. 102 The Journey by Richard Ybarra .................................................... 106 Self-Determination, Chicano Park by Josie Talamantez ............. 110 My Vietnam War Experience by David Valladolid........................ 114 • Your Voice Counts by Norma Cazares .......................................... 118 • UCSD Pursuing a Vision by Joe Martinez..................................... 120 • Saving Lives by Roger Cazares ..................................................... 122 Chapter 5 The Chicano Cultural Renaissance By Rita Sanchez & Isidro Ortiz, Ph.D. ............................................... 126 – Música.................................................................................................... 128 – Teatros ................................................................................................. 129 – El Centro Cultural de la Raza ............................................................. 130 – Chicano Park Murals ........................................................................... 132 – Lowriders Car Clubs............................................................................ 134 – The Cultural Renaissance Continues to Bloom .............................. 135 – Danza Azteca ....................................................................................... 135 – Día de los Muertos .............................................................................. 136 – Teatro Máscara Mágica ...................................................................... 137 – The Latino Film Festival ...................................................................... 138 Our Stories: • Centro Cultural de la Raza & Chicano Murals by Rita Sanchez .............................................................................. 140
Mama’s Legacy by Viviana Enrique Acosta ................................. 146 • Preserving our Culture by Mario E. Aguilar, Ph.D. ..................... 150 • A Stage for All of Us by William A. Virchis.................................... 154 • San Diego’s Lowriding Legacy by Alberto López Pulido, Ph.D. ..................................................... 162 Chapter 6 Perseverance, Achieving American Dreams By Isidro Ortiz, Ph.D. & Maria Nieto Senour, Ph.D. ......................... 164 – Pursuing Their Own American Dreams............................................ 167 – The Quest for Representation........................................................... 167 – La Raza Lawyers Association............................................................. 168 – MANA de San Diego............................................................................ 170 – Education............................................................................................… 171 – Report Card.......................................................................................... 171 – Student Mentorship Programs ......................................................... 172 – Parent Mentorship Programs............................................................. 173 – Student Activism................................................................................... 174 – DACA....................................................................................................... 174 – Propositions Rally Community........................................................... 176 – 100 Portraits......................................................................................... 178 – HR Bill 4437........................................................................................... 180 – Community Resilience......................................................................... 181 – Who We Are.......................................................................................... 182 Our Stories: • The Power to Give by Connie Hernández …................................ 184 • Taking Down Barriers by Judge Rafael Arreola …....................... 188 • Born to Serve by Mary Casillas Salas…......................................… 192 • The Power to Dream by Arcelia Magaña….................................. 196 • Present! by Edith Hernandez......................................................... 200
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Table of Contents
Chapter 7 Latino Notables By Sylvia Mendoza, M.A. ..................................................................... 204 Profiles: • Reaching for the Stars, Ellen Ochoa.................................................. 206 • What a Beautiful Voice, Juan Felipe Herrera.................................... 208 • The Fish Taco King, Ralph Rubio........................................................ 210 • Most Valuable Player, Adrián González............................................ 212 • Art Heals, Inocente.............................................................................. 214 • Equal Justice, CA Supreme Court Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero.. 216
Chapter 9 Proudly We Serve
By Peter D. Haro, M.A. ........................................................................ 256 – American Patriotism............................................................................ 259 – The Draft to Voluntary Service........................................................... 260 – Earning American Citizenship............................................................ 260 – The Medal of Valor............................................................................... 263 Our Stories: • Combat Medic by Livia “Livy” Jimenez Lazaro............................ 264 • Logan Heights Veterans Memorial Monument by Frank “Kiko” Peralta............................................................................................... 270 • Every Veteran Deserves that Moment by Miguel Alatorre.......... 274 • Not to Be Forgotten USNS César Chávez by David Aguilar & Juan Gonzalez................................................................................. 280 • San Diego Padres, A Gallant Hero Manuel “Nay” Hernandez... 284 • A Legend Brigadier General Robert L. Cardenas, USAF............ 288
Chapter 8 Facing COVID-19
By Norma Chávez-Peterson ............................................................... 218 – ‘By Almost Every Metric’...................................................................... 220 – Job Losses.............................................................................................. 221 – Using Political Influences . ................................................................... 223 – Our Shared Legacy.............................................................................. 223 Our Stories: • Hope by Juan Manuel Tovar, M.D.................................................. 224 • Getting Back to a Better Normal by Argentina E. Servin, M.D., .. 230 • Trusting the Messenger by Maria Carriedo-Ceniceros, M.D..... 234 • Three Lessons by Richard Barrera, MPP................................... 238 • Resiliency by Chancellor Carlos O. Cortez, Ph.D........................ 244 • We Make a Difference by Inez González Perezchica, Ed.D ........ 250
Epilogue Our American Story . ............................................................... 292
Board of Directors ............................................................................... 293 Multimedia Production & Editorial Team ...................................... 294 Chapter Contributors . ........................................................................ 296 Learn More ............................................................................................ 300
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Introduction
More than 100 collaborators have shared their talents and insights. Among them, distinguished Latino professors from San Diego State University, UC San Diego, the University of San Diego, and our community colleges, who guide us through the chapter eras.
The stories of San Diego’s Latino community—our challenges, our triumphs, and lasting contributions—have too often been forgotten, overlooked or left untold. Yet from the beginning, we have been an essential part of our American history. Some of us lived these moments. Others carry the memories of parents, grandparents, and friends who sacrificed so we could inherit lives filled with greater opportunity and hope. It is an honor to bring these stories to life through the power of multimedia storytelling—to build knowledge, deepen understanding, and bring us together. That vision inspired the Latino Legacy Foundation’s online project, San Diego Latino Legacy: Timeline – Milestones – Stories, made possible by the generosity of major donors the San Diego Union-Tribune and the State of California/State Library. San Diego Latino Legacy highlights our journey: from the aftermath of the 1848 Mexican-American War, through the nation’s civil rights struggles that gave rise to the 1960s Chicano Movement, momentous events that changed our lives, and to our proud tradition of military service to the United States. These chapters come alive through first-person video storytelling —the voices of those who made history, those who carry the torch forward, and the descendants who keep their legacies alive.
San Diego Latino Legacy is a living, ever evolving multimedia project —and freely accessible to the public on the Foundation’s website.
I am deeply grateful to the founding members of the Latino Legacy Foundation—Maria Nieto Senour, Ph.D., Richard Ybarra, George Saldamando, Ricardo Flores, Joe Martinez, and Edward Lopez—whose passion and dedication, together with the generosity of our sponsors, turned this vision into a reality.
It is our collective gift to the community.
As ever, our mission is both simple and profound: to remember, to honor, and to celebrate the enduring accomplishments of our community.
With deep gratitude,
Maria Velasquez President & Chair Latino Legacy Foundation
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Acknowledgements from The Chair
Words alone cannot fully express our gratitude to our first major sponsor, The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Joe Martinez Founding Board Member President/Principal, Martinez & Cutri
Our journey began in November 2019 when we first met with then Publisher and Editor Jeff Light who embraced our vision and provided crucial start-up support for our multimedia, educational project—sponsorship, promotion, video, feedback, and archival research. Most importantly, he believed in our mission to illuminate our rich history and share our stories. Our gratitude also extends to then California Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins, whose leadership in 2022 secured state grant funding to continue preserving our Latino history and celebrating our community’s contributions. For this, we also gratefully recognize the State of California/State Library. Six remarkable individuals joined me in early 2019 and became founding board members of the Latino Legacy Foundation. Each brought their expertise—from community leadership and education to public service and civic engagement—helping shape our mission and the Foundation’s lasting legacy:
George Saldamando Founding Board Member Assistant Chief of Police (Ret.), San Diego Police Department
Maria Nieto Senour, Ph.D. Founding Board Member San Diego Community College District Board of Trustees (President, 2015–2023); Professor Emerita, San Diego State University
Richard Ybarra Founding Vice President CEO, Mission Neighborhood Centers, San Francisco; Former Executive Assistant to Civil Rights Leader César Chávez (1971–75)
We are especially indebted to SDSU Professor Isidro Ortiz, Ph.D., whose guidance was invaluable in bringing together leading scholars to present the chapter eras: SDSU Professor Emeritus Richard Griswold del Castillo, Ph.D., UC San Diego Professor Luis Alvarez, Ph.D., UC San Diego alumnus Jimmy Patiño, Ph.D., along with dedicated community college professors. Finally, we recognize our Multimedia Production Team, all award-winning independent professionals, whose creative skills brought this vision to life as a superb multimedia, educational project: Multimedia designer Matthew Franco, videographers/editors Edwin Cruz and Michael Mora, content editors Jimmy Estrada and Sylvia Mendoza, and researcher Lynn Stedd-White. A complete list of our team appears under Multimedia Production & Editorial Team.
Ricardo Flores Founding Secretary/Treasurer Executive Director, LISC San Diego
Edward Lopez Founding Board Member Executive Director, Utility Consumers’ Action Network; Board Member, San Diego Unified School District (1996–2004)
San Diego Latino Legacy is a year-round educational venture.
We can be reached at info@latinolegacyfoundation.org.
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Acknowledgments
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Charter Sponsor
Acknowledgments
October 14, 2021
Dear Readers,
S an Diego Latino Legacy, Timeline-Milestones-Stories is a salute to our community’s Latino heritage, accomplishments and future.
The purpose of this online book aligns with the Union-Tribune’s fundamental mission: to spread knowledge and build understanding within the communities we serve.
While our daily journalism focuses on current events, we recognize that without the context of history, our work is incomplete. We are proud to be able to help underwrite this project, which will be accessible at no cost to the general public, including educators, students and parents. San Diego Latino Legacy tells the story of our region’s Latino community, its history as a people colonized in place by Mexico’s surrender of half its territory to the U.S. in 1848, its civil rights movement, and notable people and events of today. The chapters are written from the perspective of community members and include dozens of videos featuring San Diegans who have made and witnessed history. These are stories that need to be told – and heard. The events of the last year and a half have brought a new awareness of the roots of inequity within the American story. Yet, even with that reckoning, too little is known of America’s Latino story. What better place to deepen our understanding and celebrate that legacy than in California’s first city?
We hope San Diego Latino Legacy will serve as a tool to build knowledge, foster understanding and bring people together.
Our staff provided support and feedback to the project’s volunteers. The editorial decisions, the vision and the credit for this project belong to the Latino Legacy Foundation.
Jeff Light Editor & Publisher The San Diego Union-Tribune
Editor’s Note: Mr. Light left the UT July 2023 Senator Toni Atkins termed out of office December 2024
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Thank You Thank You Sponsors
The Latino Legacy Foundation expresses its appreciation to our Sponsors for their generous support in preserving our history and celebrating our achievements. San Diego Latino Legacy, Timeline-Milestones-Stories .
Legacy Supporters
Toni G. Atkins – Senate President pro Tempore (2021) Ann Parode Dynes The McGrory Family Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation The County of San Diego
OUR COLLECTIVE GIFT TO THE COMMUNITY
Legacy Major Sponsors
State of California
Legacy Supporters & Friends (Partial list at publication)
Port of San Diego Juan Vargas for Congress (2021) George Saldamando Family Edward Lopez Family Candelario & Alicia Velazquez Family
Alicia Ketcham Nancy Maldonado Arnulfo Manriquez Tony Millan
Legacy Patron
Luis Natividad Victor Ochoa Rachael Ortiz Frank Peralta Alberto Lopez Pulido, Ph.D. Refugio I. Rochin, Ph.D. John Valdez
Jess & Jane Haro Josie Talamantez Tina Woods Roger & Norma Cazares Irma Castro Paul Espinosa, Ph.D. Bernard Gonzales Daniela Kelly
Legacy Donors
David Valladolid William A. Virchis
Legacy Academic Partners
Beatrice Zamora & Mario Aguilar, Ph.D.
We invite you to become a Legacy Sponsor info@latinolegacyfoundation.org
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Latino Legacy Foundation San Diego Latino Legacy – Timeline • Milestones • Stories
Thank You to Our Sponsors Thank You Sponsors
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Timeline & Milestones
The Timeline & Milestones covers nearly 100 events in our country that have impacted Latinos.
San Diego Latino Legacy is being released in three installments with the timeline reflecting those eras.
Let’s begin the journey.
VIEW TIMELINE & MILESTONES
Left to right photo courtesies© John Nelson at The San Diego Union-Tribune, ©Mary Casillas Salas Family Archives, ©Latino Legacy Foundation, and ©San Ysidro Health
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Introduction: Richard Griswold del Castillo, Ph.D. SDSU Professor Emeritus Chicano History
Chapter 1 The Treaty Of Guadalupe Hidalgo
F
or thousands of years the Kumeyaay people populated, settled, and lived in the area known as present-day San Diego. Prior to the arrival of the Europeans and the colonization of the lands that would become California, the impact, significance and legacy of the Kumeyaay people formed the backbone communities of San Diego. In 1821, Mexico won its independence after 300 years under Spain’s control. San Diego was a relatively small pueblo of about 400 families. Another 100 lived in the surrounding area. Approximately 29 Mexican land grants covered more than half a million acres. With names like Rancho Guajome, Rancho Cuyamaca, and Rancho El Cajon, these ranch properties dotted the semi-arid landscape. Between 1821 and the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848, Mexican residents occupied the political, economic, and social leadership roles that dominated local governance. Families like Osuna, Estudillo, Machado, Pico, Bandini, and others were mayors, business owners, hotel proprietors, large landowners, and ranchers. Their influence lasted until 1848.
Mexico before ceding its territories to the United States
Battle of San Pasqual in Escondido – December 6th & 7th, 1846 Photo courtesy©CA Department of Parks & Recreation
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The treaty introduced a racially-mixed ethnic group to the U.S.; the Californios—a combination of Spanish (and other Europeans) and indigenous bloodlines. They had settled much of the ceded Mexican territory of Alta California and following the war’s end found themselves living in newly conquered homelands. They were legally classified as “white” for naturalization purposes, when only “free white people” could be granted citizenship.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo On February 2, 1848, the United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended a two-year-war that was initially instigated by efforts in Texas to take over land belonging to the citizens of the Mexican Republic. The peace treaty established a new border between Mexico and the U.S., one that began “one marine south of the southernmost point below San Diego.”
As for the Kumeyaay people, the treaty did not recognize them as citizens and they were forced to abandon their ancestral lands.
Mexico ceded more than 500,000 square miles of its territory to the U.S. for $15 million. California was then divided into two areas: Alta California in the north that would become part of the U.S and Baja California in the South that remained a part of Mexico.
“The Californios were not recognized, however, as being racially or juridically equal to white Americans of European Ancestry.”
According to the Smithsonian archives, “the two countries ratified different versions of the same peace treaty, with the United States ultimately eliminating provisions for honoring the land titles of its newly absorbed Mexican citizens.” Under Treaty Articles VIII, IX and X, the Mexican Californios were to be provided protection of their civil and property rights—ensuring they would have the same rights as other U.S. citizens. The Californios were not recognized, however, as being racially or juridically equal to white Americans of European ancestry. Historical accounts have recorded such inequities that eventually led to discrimination, lynching, and violence—in violation of the terms of the originally negotiated treaty.
Map of the ceded territories U.S. President James K. Polk envisioned a United States from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
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The Articles
(to be judged of by the Congress of the United States) to the enjoyment of all the rights of citizens of the United States,according to the principles of the Constitution; and in the meantime, shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty and property, and secured in the free exercise of their religion.
Article VIII: Retaining Lands & Citizenship Article VIII referred to property rights of the newly-defined Californios, respecting their right to retain their lands and inhabit them, as well as those those who chose to become U.S. citizens. It read: Mexicans now established in territories previously belonging to Mexico, and which remain for the future within the limits of the United States, as defined by the present treaty, shall be free to continue where they now reside, or to remove at any time to the Mexican Republic, retaining the property which they possess in the said territories, or disposing thereof, and removing the proceeds wherever they please, without their being subjected, on this account, to any contribution, tax, or charge whatever. Those who shall prefer to remain in the said territories may either retain the title and rights of Mexican citizens, or acquire those of citizens of the United States. But they shall be under the obligation to make their election within one year from the date of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty; and those who shall remain in the said territories after the expiration of that year, without having declared their intention to retain the character of Mexicans, shall be considered to have elected to become citizens of the United States. In the said territories, property of every kind, now belonging to Mexicans not established there, shall be inviolably respected. The present owners, the heirs of these, and all Mexicans who may hereafter acquire said property by contract, shall enjoy with respect to it guarantees equally ample as if the same belonged to citizens of the United States. However, the U.S. Senate altered Article IX, which did not grant Mexican citizens within the ceded territories automatic citizenship status, thusly: The Mexicans who, in the territories aforesaid, shall not preserve the character of citizens of the Mexican Republic, conformably with what is stipulated in the preceding article, shall be incorporated into the Union of the United States and be admitted at the proper time
1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Photo courtesy©Library of Congress
Article X: Land Ownership Article X protected Californios land grants, and read in part:
All grants of land made by the Mexican government, or by the competent authorities in territories previously appertaining to Mexico, and remaining for the future within the limits of the United States, shall be respected as valid, to the same extent that the same grants would be valid if the said territories had remained within the limits of Mexico.
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Contrary to the provisions of the treaty, the “burden of proof” was now placed on the shoulders of the grantees. Every grantee was required to affirmatively present evidence supporting title within two years, a requirement that necessitated participation in extended litigation. Those failing to do so would have their property pass to the public domain. Californios Lose Their Land Many of the Californios did not speak English, and were taken advantage of by a biased judicial system. Many eventually were forced to sell or mortgage their property at below-market values to pay lawyers hired to prove their land ownership, defend their property from squatters, pay property taxes, and pay for other legal expenses, such as hiring translators. One of the land grant cases challenged in the courts was by Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton who owned Rancho Jamul. She defended her property against white U.S. citizens and immigrant squatters for more than two decades. In 1885, she published the first novel written in English by a woman of Mexican origin in the U.S. Based on her experiences, The Squatter and the Don was an indictment of the racist and discriminatory practices toward Mexican landowners in the San Diego area.
Broken Promises In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo’s promises proved to be hollow. Article X was defeated by the U.S. Senate Constitutional Committee and the treaty was ratified on March 10, 1848. It would have guaranteed all land grants previously bestowed by Spain and Mexico to the Californios, whether or not they chose to become U.S. citizens.
Perhaps the most infamous case was the loss of Rancho Santa Margarita y las Flores owned by Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of Alta California. Pico, who had grown up in San Diego, held the largest rancho in California—208 square miles. Today it is known as Camp Pendleton. The non-En- glish speaking Pico lost his prop- erty to his brother-in-law, John Forster, believing he had signed a loan to pay a $44,000 family debt. Instead, he had signed over the property. He tried to regain it, but lost the case in court.
Photo courtesy©Homestead Museum
California Land Act In 1851, Congress passed the California Land Act, which set up a Board of Land Commissioners whose job would be to adjudicate the validity of Mexican land grants in California, according to the treaty, the law of nations, Spanish and Mexican laws and previous decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Pio Pico Photo courtesy©The San Diego Union-Tribune
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Californios No Longer In the first decades after California’s first constitutional convention in Monterey in 1849, Section 21, Article IX decreed that all laws must be published both in Spanish and English. The following year, on September 9, 1850, California became the 31st state in the union and was admitted as a non-slave state. Californios capitalized on their growing population and the right to vote to achieve representation at all levels of the new state government. However, from 1875 onward, the Californios underwent a political decline. None served as delegates at the second Constitutional Convention in 1879. In their absence, the requirement that the constitution and laws of California be published in both English and Spanish was repealed. In former Californio strongholds such as Santa Barbara, English literacy tests were established as a requirement for voting, a practice that disenfranchised Spanish-speaking Californios, a precedent that continued for decades throughout California. The Aftermath of the U.S. and Mexico Peace Treaty Thirteen years after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the new territories of the U.S. increased the conflict over slavery between the North and South. A bloody civil war would erupt in 1861 that would eventually lead to the abolition of slavery. For Mexico, the humiliating loss of its territories to the U.S. resulted in a reform movement in 1854 that led to the creation of a new government emphasis, that would curb the powers of the army and the Catholic Church. It was known as La Reforma, which was led by the first indigenous president of Mexico, Benito Juarez. But more political and social turbulence would soon face the Mexican Republic: The French occupation of Mexico from 1861-1867, and the Mexican Revolution of 1910, which ended Mexico’s 30-year dictatorship. However, it also led to the mass migration of Mexicans to the U.S. in hopes of escaping the added violence.
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Legacy The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo remains an important part of America’s heritage. It is the starting point for the study of Mexican American civil and property rights. We look to the past of these broken promises that resulted in discrimination and inequities: segregation of schools and public and private facilities, barriers to serving on juries, and voter suppression. The fight for equality continues to this day. At Friendship Park in San Ysidro, the boundary markers and the triple fences that separate the two countries are clearly visible, a stark contrast to the intended goodwill of the Mexican Republic in the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo with the United States.
Photo courtesy©The San Diego Union-Tribune
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Our Stories
Californio Descendant By Georgia Callian
Georgia Callian sitting in her great-grandfather’s chair
My family descends from the earliest Californios.
In fact, many of the sites that dot the plaza in Old Town San Diego still retain the names of my ancestors: the Machado house, the Machado-Silvas and Machado-Wrightington homes, are all properties that started within my family. My own family line goes all the way back to the Junipero Serra expedition in 1769. My great-great-great-grandfather, Josef Manuel Machado, born in San Gabriel, California in 1781, oversaw the Presidio’s cattle operation at Rancho de la Nacion (now National City) in the 1820’s.
Homes that were in Georgia Callian’s family Illustrations courtesy©Callian family archives
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Our Stories
Some of my family stories, reflect the divisions among Californio families during the Mexican-American War.
was one of those that lost his rancho. Leandro Serrano, filed his claim to Rancho El Temescal in 1852 but died before the claim was denied in 1855. His wife and minor children had to move to an in-law’s ranch. I continue to document the history of other, early Californio families through the Descendants of Early San Diego group in Old Town; we are an organization dedicated to San Diego’s beginnings. As I saw the elders passing, I thought, “Oh, my god, our history is being lost.” That’s why I got involved, to share and protect that history.
My great-great-grandaunt Maria Antonia, who as the U.S. Americans entered San Diego, rushed out of the Machado house, cut down the Mexican flag so the Americans would not desecrate it and stuffed it under her skirt to protect it. But the American flag was raised in Old Town. Josef’s son, Juan Machado, was prominent in San Diego during the Californio period. Juan was a ranchero who built an adobe home in Old Town (site of the former old Fandango Restaurant). During the Mexican-American War, Juan—who loved to organize horse races and was known for a certain white stallion—supported the Mexican side. At the 1846 Battle of San Pasqual (near present-day Escondido), Mexican soldiers were surprised to see Juan’s famous white stallion charging them from the American lines. But, as it turned out, a fellow townsman, Phillip Crosthwaite, had “borrowed” his horse to aid the Americans. But for Juan that wasn’t as bad as his younger brother, Jesus, volunteering to guide some of General Stockton’s soldiers to the battleground. Following the Mexican-American War all Californios had to defend their property rights by filing claims to their own ranchos with the United States Surveyor General’s Office. Many Californio grants were recognized but some families had lost their documents or had difficulty because they did not speak or write English and did not understand the process. In some cases, grants were recognized only to be lost in the process of paying lawyers. My great-grandmother Maria Fe Machado’s was Juan’s daughter. Her maternal grandfather
Georgia Callian’s great grandfather and grandmother Rafael Apolonio Serrano and Maria Fe Machado Photos courtesy©Callian family archives
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he Mexican Revolution forced Pedro Garcia Haro in 1910 to leave his hometown of San Martin de Bolaños in the state of Jalisco for the United States. “There was a lot of poverty, a lot of violence in Mexico at that time,” he told his son Jess Haro, a United States Marine Corps veteran and the first Latino elected to serve on the San Diego City Council. Arriving in California from Colorado in 1923, Pedro worked at a farm labor camp in El Monte, California known as Campo Hicks, where he met his wife. They settled in Stockton, raising a blended family of nine children, including five sons who served in the military. The story of the Haro family reflects the mass migration that occurred during the 10-year Mexican Revolution led by Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata in their fight for land and social reform. The war began in 1910 and eventually ended the 34-year dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz. Introduction: Jimmy Patiño, Ph.D. – University of Minnesota, Associate Professor Chicano & Latino Studies and UCSD Alumnus T
Chapter 2 Rebuilding Lives, Against All Odds
Mexican American Students of Lemon Grove Grammar School – 1928 Photo courtesy©San Diego History Center
Pedro Garcia Haro Family – 1935 Photo courtesy©Jess D. Haro family archives
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Moreover, the Mexican Revolution worked in tandem with the economic shifts in the region that attracted more migrant workers to San Diego and Imperial counties. From 1910–1920, the Mexican-origin population grew from an estimated 1,200 to more than 4,000 and reached 20,000 by 1928. 1 Among the immigrant population group that arrived in the U.S. were soldiers who fought in Mexico’s revolutionary war. One of them was Amalia Meza’s father, Arturo Meza, born in 1900 in Saltillo, Coahuila. At 12 years of age, Arturo left home and fought with the rebels led by Pancho Villa. After the war, he headed for the U.S., but returned to Mexico City where he met his wife. They moved to East Los Angeles, California in 1951, raising three children, while he developed his gravestone business. After the death of his wife, Arturo came to live with Amalia and her family. Arturo passed away at 100-years of age, having lived to see Amalia become a federal prosecutor, but not long enough to see her become a San Diego Superior Court Judge. The Brown Scare The Mexican Revolution also initiated what historians labeled the “Brown Scare,” an intensification of discrimination against Mexicans on the part of white America. It was rooted in suspicions that the radicalism and violence of the Mexican Revolution would reach across the border to challenge the status-quo on the U.S. side. In response, local, state, and federal forces from San Diego to Brownsville, Texas, began to militarize the international border region. Alongside growing xenophobic sentiment, 1924 marked the creation of the label “illegal aliens,” and the accompanying formation of the United States Border Patrol.
Mexicans rebels during The Mexican Revolution Photo courtesy©Library of Congress • LC-USZ62-75786
U.S. Border Patrol – 1927 Photo courtesy©The San Diego Union-Tribune
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By the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), a racist and anti-immigrant organization, was well entrenched in San Diego.
“In those years, many elected officials and influential elites in Southern California were members of the KKK”
The KKK’s greatest concern in San Diego was fear that the recruitment of Mexican workers would give “foreigners…a place in the sunlight, and our [white Americans’] money, but when we trade with them, we build them at our own expense {sic}.”
In those years, many elected officials and influential elites in Southern California were members of the KKK. 2
The San Diego Union – January. 9, 1921 Courtesy©The San Diego Union-Tribune
KKK meeting hall, San Diego – 1920 Photo courtesy©The San Diego Union-Tribune
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World War I During this dynamic historical period, the first World War began in 1914. Historian Howard Zinn argues that the U.S. entered the war in 1917 to protect foreign business interests and support the allies who held material contracts with the U.S. 3
Migration from Mexico Increases From 1926 to 1928, another conflict in Mexico occurred between the government and the Catholic Church. Known as the Cristero War, it caused hundreds of thousands of more Mexicans to escape persecution, as Vietnam veteran David Valladolid explained is his family’s history. “My father, Genaro Valladolid, was a Cristero in Mex- ico during that difficult period of time for members of the Catholic Church, and his family was told that they all would be killed.”
Entering the war for the U.S. meant the need to recruit able-bodied, working-class peo- ple into military service. Actual numbers of people of Mexican ancestry who enlisted are not verifiable. According to profes - sor of history Lorena Oropeza, the legal white classification status of some “Mexican-origin soldiers makes it difficult to de - termine the exact number that served in WWI, [however] it is safe to say that the estimate of numbers is in the thousands to tens of thousands.”
The San Diego Union – April 6, 1917 Courtesy©The San Diego Union-Tribune
The 100th Congress issued Resolution No. 253 on November 9, 2007, indicating that approximately 200,000 Hispanic American service- members were mobilized during WWI, the majority of them being of Mexican heritage. During heightened periods of anti-Mexican sentiment, some Mexican American veterans viewed their war service as a claim to the “American” identity that entitled them access to the same civil rights afforded all other U.S.-born citizens. San Diego was an important war-time port city and home to various military posts. 4 There is evidence that U.S.-born and immigrants of Mexican ancestry helped construct Camp Kearny during WWI, and it is likely they participated in the construction of various other facilities. 5
Cristero leaders and their banner – 1926
David said his grandfather made the decision for the family to leave Zamora, Michoacán. In 1927, he applied for U.S. refugee status and relocated the family, first to Santa Paula, California and then settled in nearby Oxnard. After his father passed away at the age of 39, his mother, Rita Virginia Valladolid, moved to San Diego with her five children, all under the age of eight. Her career in nursing would lead her to the San Ysidro Health Center where she was hired as the first nurse at the clinic from which she retired after four decades in the nursing field.
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Historians describe the environment as a “frenzy of anti-Mexican hysteria” where violence and scare tactics were utilized as an “incessant cry of ‘get rid of the Mexicans’ swept the country.” 6 In San Diego, the National Club of America for Americans, Inc. helped local governments draft anti-immigrant ordinances. The Mexican consulate also worked with charitable organizations to ar- range travel by ship for those deported to Mexico. Families of more than three were typical of those repatriated from San Diego, and about half were children. Many resettled in border states, and created, for instance, the Colonia Libertad neighborhood in Tijuana, Baja California. 7
The Great Depression and Repatriation The Great Depression of the 1930s led to the collapse of the U.S. economy, triggering massive unemployment and food shortages. It also instigated aggressive programs to force people of Mexican ancestry to leave the country. At least 500,000 Mexicans and Mexican Americans in California were coerced—or chose—to leave the U.S. Repatriation efforts ranged from Mexican immigrants accepting invitations to return to Mexico, to local government pressure to repatriate Mexican citizens by deeming them a “public charge.” Both citizens (mainly children) and non-citizens of Mexican origin were relocated in an intensified atmosphere in which all apparent “Mexicans” were considered foreign and became scapegoats for the high unem- ployment numbers experienced by white U.S. citizens. Almost 76 years later, the California State legislature issued an Apology Act (Government Code-Section 8721) declaring that almost 2 million people of Mexican ancestry were forcibly relocated to Mexico. Approximately 1.2 million had been born in the U.S., a great number of them from California.
The San Diego Union – Oct 29, 1931 Courtesy©The San Diego Union-Tribune
The San Diego Union – May 1, 1936 Courtesy©The San Diego Union-Tribune
The San Diego Union – May 27, 1936 Courtesy©The San Diego Union-Tribune
Los Angeles, CA: Train carrying 1500 Mexicans being deported to Mexico. Families waving goodbye – August 20, 1931
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While not recognized as a formal legal precedent for future desegregation court cases, it did influence some of the legal strategies used in other landmark cases such as in the neighboring community of Orange County, where Mexican American families sued and won in the case of Mendez v. Westminster in 1946. Mendez would also influence Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
School Segregation Guadalupe Ruiz Cuelles, a widow, mother of eight, and former teacher who resided in Lemon Grove, California, was one of the leaders of the nation’s earliest and successful school desegregation cases in the country. However, the Ruiz family was deported before the court victory was announced. 8 The Ruiz family, like many of their neighbors, struggled against segregated schools, one of the most meaningful social movements originating in San Diego County. The 1931 case of Roberto Alvarez v. The Board of Trustees of the Lemon Grove School District was among one of the first in a series of successes against segregation in the U.S.
“However, the families originally asserted a broader claim that segregation and inferior learning conditions of non-white students were unacceptable and illegal.”
The court ruled in favor of the Mexican community because it had historically categorized Mexicans as “Caucasian.” Therefore, the ruling was outside the legal definition of segregation that was tech - nically limited to “Negro, Oriental or Native American” students. However, the families originally asserted a broader claim that segregation and inferior learning conditions of non-white students were unacceptable and illegal. The plaintiffs insisted on equal treatment under the law for Mexicans in Lemon Grove regardless of their immigration status and argued for the continuation of a multi-ethnic school environment that included Japanese, European and Mexican students before the district attempted to impose segregation. 9
The San Diego Union – Mar. 12, 1931 Courtesy©The San Diego Union-Tribune
Top: 1924 Lemon Grove Grammar School • Bottom: the “La Caballeriza” building, once a segregated one-room classroom for Mexican students Photos courtesy©Lemon Grove Historical Society
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