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Repatriation program
Following economic depression in the United States, local authorities in Southwest cities begin to deport Spanish surnamed people to Mexico. More than 500,000 people were deported, including many of them who were born in the US. -
Self-taught artist, Martín Ramírez
Mute, itinerant Martín Ramírez, still suffering from the trauma he experienced during the Mexican Revolution, is picked up in Los Angeles, and diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. He is deemed to be incurable and committed to an asylum until death in 1963, making drawings with pencil, crayon and tempura that will later be recognized as the work of a great artist. Murals are very important part of Chicano culture as they influence the social, political and cultural development of society. -
Salvateirra v. Del Rio School District--school segregation
Salvatierra v. Del Rio School District, the first class-action lawsuit against so called “Mexican schools,” was filled by the League of United Latin American Citizens files. Mexican students were segregated from Anglo students with inferior resources and facilities, mainly in Texas. LULAC loses the suit on appeal, the court finding that the segregation was for instructional purposes only. It will not be until 1948 that public school segregation of Mexican children in Texas will be outlawed. -
América Tropical
Mexican muralist Davíd Alfaro Siquieros painted the fresco mural América Tropical for F.K. Fernentz who promptly whitewashes the mural for its political content showing a crucified Indian on a double cross with the eagle of the U.S. dollar on top of the cross. Siqueiros is deported.
Importance of murals in Chicano culture is critical for social workers to view murals from an asset perspective to better understand community strengths and the issues and struggles of its residents. -
The Epic of American Civilization by José Clemente Orozco
Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco begins a two-year visit to Dartmouth University in Hanover, New Hampshire. Orozco envisioned a monumental mural to be painted on the walls of the Baker Library. In the 150 foot mural titled The Epic of American Civilization, Orozco depicted the civilizations of the Meso-American Indians and the development of the New World with the advent of European colonists. The mural was divided into two halves which represent pre-Columbiand post- Conquest America. -
Diego Rivera's murals
During the early 1930s, Diego Rivera was one of the most important Mexican-American artists. His murals have been well known. One of the most famous is the mural in San Francisco’s American Stock Exchange Luncheon Club.He had a retrospective of his work at the New York Museum of Modern Art. The mural, Man at the Crossroads, depicts a May Day celebration in which the Soviet leader, Vladimir Lenin, is featured. This causes controversy and work on the mural is halted. Rivera leaves the US in 1933. -
El Espectador by Ignacio Lozano
The newspaper reports on issues important to the Mexican community and is an outspoken defender of the rights of the Mexican community. -
Strikes led by La Confederación de Unions de Campesinos y Obreros
The Confederation of Farm Workers Unions conducts a successful strike in the berry fields of El Monte, California. More than 47,000 workers participated in the strikes. -
Year of Mexican radio hits "Mal Hombre" and "La Cucaracha"
"Mal Hombre" by Lydia Mendoza becomes a nationwide hit on Mexican radio stations. "La Cucaracha" by Pancho Villa, is adapted into a rumba and becomes a hit under various incarnations including a recording by Louis Armstrong and Lud Gluskin. -
Los Pochos by Jorge Ainslie
Jorge Ainslie’s novel Los Pochos was published in Los Angeles, California. Possibly, it is the first of the many novels about a Mexican immigrant finding a new home in the United States. Later titles covering this theme will arise with each decade: Luis Pérez’s 1947 El Coyote; José Antonio Villarreal’s 1959 Pocho; Richard Vasquez’s 1970 Chicano; and Ernesto Galarza’s 1972 Barrio Boy. -
Tortilla Flats by John Steinbeck
The novel, with its often folkloric and patronizing portrayals of Mexicans establishes literary imagery that Mexican American authors will respond to in the Chicano literary boom of the 1960s and 1970s. -
Good Neighbor Policy
President Roosevelt promoted a "good neighbor" policy that sought better relations with Mexico. In 1935 a federal judge ruled that three Mexican immigrants were ineligible for citizenship because they were not white, as required by federal law. Mexico protested, and Roosevelt decided to make sure the federal government treated Hispanics as white. The State Department, the Census Bureau, the Labor Department, and other government agencies made sure to classify people of Mexican descent as white. -
Dionisio Chávez becomes a Senator of New Mexico
A year after he was appointed for the New Mexico Senator, Democrat Dionisio “Dennis” Chávez, run for the office and was elected to the U.S. Senate where he served until his death in 1962. A life-long advocate of civil rights, his early years in Congress are noted for his defense of Mexican American and Native American rights. -
Strike for better wages organized by Emma Tenayuca
Emma Tenayuca, an outspoken labor organizer known as “La Pasionaria,”(the Passionate One) successfully organizes Mexican American women in San Antonio to strike for better wages in the pecan shelling industry. At its height, more than 10,000 women are on strike -
Old Spain in Our Southwest
Nina Otero was instrumental in renewing interest in and respect for Hispanic and Indian culture, which had for a time faced scorn and ridicule. Old Spain in Our Southwest by reflected the kinds of sociocultural perspectives held by some Mexican American writers during the 30’s. The book Old Spain in Our Southwest, recorded her memories of the family hacienda in Las Lunas. -
Federal Theater Project
The Roosevelt Administration creates the Federal Theater Project, as a part of the New Deal. Its only major outreach to the Latino community in the United States was to collaborate with the Centro Austriano of Tampa, Florida, in the staging of Spanish Zarzuelas, local revistas. Perhaps the most notable production is El Mundo en la Mano (The World In His Hand). -
The Spanish-Speaking People's Congress led by Luisa Moreno
Having traveled throughout the United States visiting Chicano communities and forming chapters in anticipation of a national Congress of Spanish Speaking people, Luisa Moreno convenes the first national meeting of El Congreso Del Pueblo de Habla Espanola (The Spanish-Speaking People’s Congress) in Los Angeles. Under the leadership of Josefina Fierro de Bright, the organization seeks to improve the civil rights of Mexican Americans and fight discrimination and poverty -
Caballero: A Historical Novel by Jovita Gonzales
Caballero: A Historical Novel, often known only as Caballero, is a historical romance coauthored by Jovita González and Margaret Eimer. It was written in the 1930s and early 1940s, but not published until 1996. This novel was recognized as an important early piece of Mexican-American literature, in particular for its awareness of the ethnic, gender and class struggles that have characterized Texas history. -
World War II
The world war is generally said to have begun with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and the United Kingdom. Hispanic Americans, also referred to as Latinos, served in all elements of the American armed forces in the war. They fought in every major American battle in the war. Between 250,000 and 500,000 Hispanic Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II -
Edward Chávez's arts
New Mexican artist Edward Chávez had a one-man show in Denver, Colorado. An easel painter, Chávez was influenced by Cubism and had a prolific career, with one-man shows during the 1950s in New York, Rome, San Francisco and Detroit.
