Transcript How the Latinx Became People of color

HOW THE LATINX BECAME
PEOPLE OF COLOR
Charles Johnson
HIST 5030: The South to 1877
Historical Origins Project Presentation
29 November 2016
Auburn, Ala.
IMMIGRATION & THE COLOR LINE
LATINXS AS “PEOPLE OF COLOR”:
DEMOGRAPHICS
LATINXS AS “PEOPLE OF COLOR”:
POLITICS
• “On June 25, 2015, a week after Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president of
the United States, the Census Bureau released a landmark report on the demographics of
American children under the age of five. For the first time in U.S. history, it reported that a
minority of this group is ‘white’—neither black, nor Asian, nor Hispanic.”
– D. Thompson, “Donald Trump & the Twilight of White America,” The Atlantic (May 2016)
• “Beyond the Obama coalition, Clinton was also not as popular with white voters as
Obama was. She won only 37% of the white vote, compared with Obama’s 39% … 65% of
Latinos backed her, while 29% cast their votes for Trump…”
– Tami Lubhy, “How Hillary Clinton Lost,” CNN.com (November 9, 2016)
LATINXS AS “PEOPLE OF COLOR”:
THEMES
• A patchwork of often inconsistent treatment that varies by location and context …
• … linked to a perception of racial ambiguity and racial intermediacy
• … partly arising from the mestizo heritage of many Latinx populations
• … and usually resolved by racial bracketing to group Latinx people either together
with non-Latinx whites or together with “people of color” depending on context
• … often highlighting significant gaps between the legal or official categories applied
to Latinx people and their customary or social treatment.
H.O.P. THESIS
• Latinx people have not always been considered people of color in U.S. racial politics.
• The “darkening” of Latinx racial status was a historical process…
• … with roots in the contested racial classification of Texas Mexicans under Texas’s Deep South racial order.
• Despite complex, often brutally prejudiced social treatment of Texas Mexicans…
• … in the period before 1877 the legal construction of whiteness predominantly included Texas Mexicans as
a distinct white population.
• Texas Mexicans were gradually cast out of whiteness, unevenly but increasingly reclassified as people of
color, only in the period after 1877…
• … by an evolving Jim Crow social system, rooted less in the Old South slave system than in a hybrid of a
Deep South economy with a new, increasingly Western and Continental U.S. racial culture.
“A SOUTHERN STATE, THE MOST
SOUTHERN STATE …”
Source: Neil Foley, The White Scourge
Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1997, p. 3
EARLY TEXAS ROOTS
• 1800-1811: province of New Spain
• 1811-1821: war zone in Mexican War of
Independence
• 1821-1823: province of Mexican Empire
• 1824-1835: state of Mexican Republic
• 1835-1845: Republic of Texas
• 1845-1860: U.S. statehood, antebellum slave state
• 1861-1865: Confederate slave state
• 1865-1874: Reconstruction (Military District 5)
• 1874-1954: U.S. statehood, Jim Crow state
• 1811-1821: first Anglo-Americans enter Texas to
trade with Indians, fight in war
• 1821-1835: white Anglo colonists, black slaves,
and displaced Indians enter Texas, mostly from
frontier South. Anglos come to get land, buy
slaves, and grow cotton.
• 1835-1845: Open immigration from U.S. to Anglodominated Texas, increasingly from Deep South.
• 1845-1880s: mass migration of white Anglos and
African-American slaves from Deep South U.S.
SPANISH/MEXICAN COLOR CONTINUUM
& THE SISTEMA DE CASTAS
THE COLOR LINE IN ANGLO TEXAS LAW
Condition on citizenship (“free white person”)
Basis of legislative representation (“free population
(free negroes and Indians excepted)”, “qualified electors”)
Qualification for suffrage (“free white male person”, “free
Qualification for headright land claims (“All
male person (Indians not taxed, Africans, and descendants of Africans
excepted)”
persons (Africans, the descendants of Africans, and Indians
excepted)”)
Condition on marriage (“any person of European blood”
Competency to testify in court (“All negroes, mulattoes,
with “Africans, or the descendants of Africans”, “any white person” with
“negro, or a person of mixed blood, descended from negro ancestry”)
Indians, and all other persons of mixed blood, descended from negro
or Indian ancestors”)
Freedom, slavery, and slave-holding (“all persons of
Status in criminal law (“when committed by a slave or free
color who were slaves for life”, “No free person of African descent”)
person of color … on … a free white person”)
Freedom of Association (“to prevent the assembling of
Basis for militia service (“every free white able-bodied
colored persons”)
male inhabitant”, “every able-bodied free male inhabitant”)
Census Enumeration (“white, black or mulatto”)
Poll tax obligation (“on every white male of this Republic”)
Indian Relations (“between the white and red men of Texas,”
Postal service, card games, etc. … (“no other than a
“within four miles of … any white inhabitant of this State,”
“accompanied by some white man, or men”)
free white European, Anglo-American or Mexican,” “If any free white
person or persons shall play at any game of cards….”)
ARE MEXICANS WHITE?
LET’S ASK AN ANGLO
Texas Mexicans are non-white and Anglo-Americans are “white folks”:
“… They are regarded by slaveholders with great contempt and suspicion, for their
intimacy with slaves, and their competition with plantation labor. Americans, in
speaking of [Mexicans in Texas], constantly distinguish themselves as ‘white folks.’ I
once heard a new comer informing another American, that he had seen a Mexican
with a revolver. ‘I shouldn’t think they ought to be allowed to carry fire-arms. It might be
dangerous.’ ‘It would be difficult to prevent it,’ the other replied; ‘Oh, they think
themselves just as good as white men.’ …”
– Frederick Law Olmsted, A Journey Through Texas (1857), 163-164.
ARE MEXICANS WHITE?
LET’S ASK AN ANGLO
Texas Mexicans are “white people,” not people of color, with “just as much right to be free”:
“He [an East Texas Anglo farmer] spoke very angrily, and was excited. Perhaps he was
indirectly addressing me, as a northern man, on the general subject of fugitive slaves. I said
that it was necessary to have special treaty stipulations about such matters. The Mexicans
lost their peons — bounden servants; they ran away to our side but the United States
government never took any measures to restore them, nor did the Mexicans ask it. ‘But,’ he
answered, in a tone of indignation, ‘those are not n——rs, are they? They are white
people, just as white as the Mexicans themselves, and just as much right to be free.’”
– Frederick Law Olmsted, A Journey in the Back Country (1860), 173.
WHY TEJANXS POSED A RACIAL PROBLEM
FOR WHITE, ANGLO SOUTHERNERS
Mexican difference and “color”
Mexican commonality and “whiteness”
• Segregated laboring class in South Texas
• Rivalry for land and jobs in Central Texas
• Status as a conquered people, fears of
possible disloyalty in revolution and war
• Perceived lines of linguistic, religious and
cultural difference (Mexican/AngloAmerican, Catholic/Protestant)
• Redefinition of “Mexican” from nationality to
an inherited ethnic term
• Perceptions of physical difference and skin
color (“olive,” “brown,” “chocolate brown”)
• Perceptions of racial ambiguity or impurity
due to mixed heritage (“half Indians,”
“mixed blood,” etc.)
• Alliances between Tejanx and Anglo elites
in shared racial projects (African slavery,
Indian removal)
• Texas Revolution and participation of Tejanx
patriots.
• Post-war settlement and international
diplomacy with Mexico
• Protecting status of marriages between
Anglo men and Tejana women
• Tejanx self-definition, especially among elite
Tejanx patriots
• Tejanx resistance to attacks on racial status
or privileges of citizenship
• Assistance from other sympathetic
populations in Texas (Germans, etc.)
WHITENESS IN CITIZENSHIP & SUFFRAGE
Naturalization Act of 1790 (U.S.A.)
WHITENESS IN CITIZENSHIP & SUFFRAGE
1845 CONVENTION DEBATE, MAJORITY VIEW
TEJANO MEN AS “QUALIFIED ELECTORS”
Draft Language of “Qualified Electors” Clause:
“Every free white male person who shall be a citizen of the United States, or who is …
a citizen of the now Republic of Texas … (Indians not taxed, Africans and
descendants of Africans excepted) shall be deemed a qualified elector.”
Source: Weeks, Debates of the Texas Convention (1845), pp. 53.
1845 CONVENTION DEBATE, MAJORITY VIEW
TEJANO MEN AS “QUALIFIED ELECTORS”
“Mr. Runnels said that the term white was intended by the committee to include
Mexicans. The construction of the law was understood to be that all persons not Africans or
the descendants of Africans, are deemed and considered white persons.”
“Mr. Jones … was satisfied that every Mexican and descendant of Indians would have
the same rights with or without that word in the section.”
“Mr. Hogg … could not give his assent to striking out the word “white” … He was as much
opposed as any gentleman to excluding from the right of suffrage the aborigines of
this country, who had participated in the revolution… But he was opposed to striking
out this word.”
Source: Weeks, Debates of the Texas Convention (1845), pp. 157-159.
1845 CONVENTION DEBATE, MINORITY VIEW
TEJANO MEN AS “MEXICAN INDIANS”
“Mr. Moore said: … I will say to that gentleman [from Bexar] that I shall rejoice to see any
portion of the Caucasian race come here and enjoy the blessings of our institutions; I shall
welcome the Norwegian and the Spaniard alike, let them come from the far North, to the
pillars of Hercules, they are all welcome…. It is not these I fear. No, sir, strike out the term
‘white,’ and what will be the result? Hordes of Mexican Indians may come in here from
the West, and may be more formidable than the enemy you have vanquished. … I fear not
the Castilian race, but I fear those who, though they speak the Spanish language, are but
the descendants of that degraded and despicable race which Cortez conquered. They,
if we adopt the amendment, will have representation equal to that of the Anglo-Saxon or
European races…”
Source: Weeks, Debates of the Texas Convention (1845), p. 236.
1845 CONVENTION DEBATE
THE RACIAL ACCOMMODATION
“Mr. President Rusk said that he hoped the word white would be stricken out. If, as decided by the
courts of the United States, all others except Africans and the descendants of Africans are white,
where is the necessity of retaining it? … Every gentleman will put his own construction upon the term
white. It may be contended that we intend to exclude the race which we found in possession of the
country when we came here. This would be injurious to those people, to ourselves, and to the
magnanimous character which the Americans have ever possessed.”
“Mr. Jewett was in favor of striking out… If the word ‘white’ be retained, by the construction of the
judges of elections in different counties, the rights of this class of citizens may be abridged. A large
class of Mexicans might not be considered white by some of the judges, though all lawyers will
agree that they are so.”
Source: Weeks, Debates of the Texas Convention (1845), pp. 157-159.
1845 CONVENTION DEBATE
ELITE TEJANOS & RACIAL ACCOMMODATION
“Mr. Navarro said, that if the word white means anything at all
it means a great deal, and if it does not mean anything at all
it is entirely superfluous, as well as odious, and, if you
please, ridiculous. … [T]he Mexican people … are
unquestionably entitled to vote. He was as much opposed to
giving the right of suffrage to Africans or the descendants
of Africans as any other gentleman. He hoped the Convention
would be clearly convinced of the propriety and expediency of
striking out this word.”
Source: Weeks, Debates of the Texas Convention (1845), pp. 157-159.
1845 CONVENTION DEBATE
THE RACIAL ACCOMMODATION
Final Language of “Qualified Electors” Clause:
“Every free male person who shall have attained the age of twenty-one years, and who
shall be a citizen of the United States, or who is, at the time of the adoption of this
constitution by the Congress of the United States, a citizen of the republic of Texas …
(Indians not taxed, Africans, and descendants of Africans excepted)…”
Source: Constitution of Texas (1845), Article III, Sec. 1.
THE RACIAL ACCOMMODATION
AND WHITENESS IN MARRIAGE
1837, Republic of Texas: “That it shall not be lawful for any
person of European blood or their descendants, to
intermarry with Africans, or the descendants of
Africans….”
1858, state of Texas: “If any white person shall, within this
state, knowingly marry a negro, or a person of mixed blood,
descended from negro ancestry, to the third generation
inclusive, though one ancestor of each generation may have
been a white person …”
SECOND-CLASS CITIZENSHIP IN TEXAS
1837: “[T]he following shall be considered as capital offences when
committed by a slave or free person of color, to wit: Insurrection or any
attempt to excite it, poisoning or attempting to poison, committing a rape or
attempting it on any free white female, assaulting a free white person, with
intent to kill… That if any slave or free person of color shall use insulting or
abusive language to, or threaten any free white person, upon complaint
thereof before any justice of the peace, such justice shall cause such negro to
be arrested….”
1836: “All negroes, mulattoes, Indians, and all other persons of mixed
blood, descended from negro or Indian ancestors, to the third generation
inclusive, though one ancestor of each generation may have been a white
person, shall be incapable in law to be witnesses in any case whatsoever,
except for and against each other.”
1845: “That the said corporation [the city of Bastrop] shall have the power to
pass and enforce all necessary ordinances and resolutions, to preserve order,
and also to prevent the assembling of colored persons within said limits.”
Source: Republic of Texas Statutes
SECOND-CLASS CITIZENSHIP IN CALIFORNIA
1855: “All persons who are commonly known as
‘Greasers’ or the issue of Spanish and Indian blood, who
may come within the provisions of the first section of this
Act, and who go armed and are not known to be peaceable
and quiet persons, and who can give no good account of
themselves, may be disarmed by any lawful officer, and
punished otherwise as provided in the foregoing section…”
Source: “An Act to punish Vagrants, Vagabonds, and Dangerous and
Suspicious Persons,” Statutes of California, April 30, 1855.
HOW WERE TEJANXS DISPOSSESSED?
LAWS OF RACE VS. LAWS OF WAR
“All persons (Africans, the descendants of Africans, and Indians excepted) who
were residing in Texas on the day of the Declaration of Independence shall be
considered citizens of the Republic, and entitled to all the privileges of such.”
Constitution of the Republic of Texas (1836), General Provisions, Sec. 9
“All persons who shall leave the country for the purpose of evading a
participation in the present struggle, or shall refuse to participate in it, or shall
give aid or assistance to the present enemy, shall forfeit all rights to citizenship,
and such lands as they may hold, in the Republic.”
Constitution of the Republic of Texas (1836), General Provisions, Sec. 8
LAW, CUSTOM & EXTRA-LEGAL VIOLENCE
1850S: WHITE PANIC & RACIAL TERROR
“MATAGORDA.— The people of Matagorda county have held a meeting and ordered
every Mexican to leave the county. To strangers this may seem wrong, but we hold it to
be perfectly right and highly necessary; but a word of explanation should be given. In
the first place, then there are none but the lower class or ‘Peon’ Mexicans in the
county; secondly, they have no fixed domicile, but hang around the plantations, taking
the likeliest negro girls for wives; and, thirdly, they often steal horses, and these girls,
too, and endeavor to run them to Mexico…”
Matagorda County, 1856
Source: Frederick Law Olmsted, A Journey Through Texas (1857)
1850S: WHITE PANIC & RACIAL TERROR
“… a well-organized and systematized plan for the murder of our entire white
population … More than two hundred negroes had violated the law… Without
exception, every Mexican in the county was implicated. They were arrested, and
ordered to leave the county within five days, and never again return, on penalty of
death…. We are satisfied that the lower class of the Mexican population are
incendiaries in every country where slaves are held, and should be dealt with
accordingly.”
Colorado County Vigilance Committee, September 9, 1856.
Source: Olmsted, A Journey Through Texas (1857)
1865-1874: EMANCIPATION
& NATIONAL RECONSTRUCTION
1880S-1920S: “REDEMPTION” AND RACIAL
RECONSTRUCTION
White Man’s Primary Association (1900-20s)
1880S-1920S: JIM CROW SEGREGATION
1880S-1920S: JIM CROW SEGREGATION
COTTON & CONTRACT LABOR
CONTINENTAL U.S., CALIFORNIA
& CHINESE EXCLUSION
LOS RINCHES DE TEJAS
1874: Texas Rangers recommissioned
MIGRATION AND THE MIDWEST
CIVIL RIGHTS STRATEGIES
& EL MOVIMIENTO CHICANO