LatinX Voices

Hispanics in Media in the U.S

Katie Coronado, Erica Kight

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781315284118
• Subtopic: Communication Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

LatinX Voices is the first undergraduate textbook that includes an overview of Hispanic/LatinX Media in the U.S. and gives readers an understanding of how media in the United States has transformed around this audience. Based on the authors' professional and research experience, and teaching broadcast media courses in the classroom, this text covers the evolving industry and offers perspective on topics related to Latin-American areas of interest. With professional testimonials from those who have left their mark in print, radio, television, film and new media, this collection of chapters brings together expert voices in Hispanic/LatinX media from across the U.S., and explains the impact of this population on the media industry today.

Unit 1
Immigration and the Emergence of Hispanic Periodicals in the U.S.

1
Waves of Migration

A Brief History of the Hispanic/ LatinX Presence in the U.S.

Fernando I. Rivera, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Sociology,
University of Central Florida

Immigration to the U.S. is one of the fundamental features of the history of this country. Waves of migration from different regions of the world, including Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and others, have transformed and shaped the social fabric of the U.S. These waves of migration were the result of wars, labor shortage, political revolutions, social, and economic upheaval, among other things. The decision to migrate is a combination of what immigration scholars call push-pull factors. Push factors refer to social and economic conditions that push groups of people to migrate in response to events such as wars, economic downfalls, and degrading environmental conditions. Pull factors refer to those conditions that incentivize people to migrate to places where there is a need for labor, or a better quality of life, among other favorable social and economic conditions.

The immigration of Hispanics and Latinos to the U.S. is vital to the rapid growth of this sector of the population. A recent report by the U.S Census Bureau indicates that Hispanics represented 17.6% or 56.6 million of the U.S. population as of July 1, 2015. Mexicans represented 63.4% of the Hispanic population, followed by Puerto Ricans (9.5%), Salvadorans (3.8%), Cubans (3.7%), Dominicans (3.3%), and Guatemalans (2.4%). The rest were from other Central and South American countries or were of another Hispanic origin. As a group, Hispanics are the largest minority group in the U.S.¹ Around 65% of all Hispanics live in California (15 million), Texas (10.4 million), Florida (4.8 million), New York (3.7 million), and Illinois (2.2 million).² Over the years, key historical and public policy events have impacted the immigration of Latinos from their homelands to the U.S.

Migration Over the Years

Mexicans

An important event in the history of the U.S.–Mexican relations was the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican–American war that lasted from 1846 to 1848. The treaty gave the U.S. Mexican territories of what are now Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. It also established the Río Grande as the border between Mexico and the U.S.³ The phrase “no cruzamos la frontera, la frontera nos cruzó,” or “we did not cross the border, the border crossed us,” refers to the outcome of this treaty and the sometimes-thorny issue of immigration between the U.S. and Mexican borders.

There were other important historical events that impacted several push-pull factors in the decision of Mexicans to migrate to the U.S. In the late 1800s and early 1900s there was a push to build railroads and expand agricultural markers from the southwest to regions in the Midwest and East of the U.S. This expansion work was done primarily by Asian immigrants. During that time period, a nativist and exclusionary vision of immigrants in the U.S. led to legislation such as the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited labor from Chinese immigrants and reduced migration from southern and eastern Europe. Employers in the southwest looked to Mexico to satisfy their labor needs. Along with the 1910 Mexican Revolution, which created dire economic and social conditions in Mexico, the influx of Mexican immigrants flourished.

Figure 1.1 Mexican-American migrant woman, harvesting tomatoes in the Santa Clara Valley, California, November 1938.

Everett Historica/Shutterstock

Throughout the 1900s, there were other federal government restrictions to curb immigration, particularly from Europe and Asia. In 1917, the Immigration Act restricted entry to the U.S. for those deemed undesirable, including persons dependent on public services, radicals, and Asians. Consequently, the 1924 National Origins Acts established immigration quotas from Europe and Asia and the creation of the Border Patrol. As before, these restrictions created a labor shortage that was filled primarily by Mexican immigrants.⁴

Conditions changed during the Great Depression of the late 1920s and early 1930s. The dire economic conditions in the U.S. revived past anti-immigrant sentiments, and there was a call for a mass deportation of Mexican immigrants from U.S. soil. Migration halted as a result of these conditions but resumed again as World War II created yet another need for labor. From 1948 to 1964, the Bracero program allowed Mexicans to come to the U.S. as temporary guest workers to do farm work. Approximately 4.5 million Mexican citizens participated in the program, primarily in Texas and California. The need for labor was so high that those who were not able to participate in the program decided to enter the U.S. illegally. There were also incentives for employers to hire undocumented, non-Bracero workers as they could be paid less and their undocumented legal status left them with no rights.⁵ This is a pattern still seen today. The program established a working class that the farming industry continues to rely upon for their agricultural needs that is subject to much debate in the ongoing immigration reform talks.

The Immigration Act of 1965, also known as the Hart-Celler Act, eliminated some of the per-country quotas established in previous years. This allowed immigrants from Europe, Asia, and Africa to come to the U.S. but also put restrictions on the number of visas granted to people from Western Hemisphere countries, including Mexico. This restriction on legal immigration, combined with the dire economic conditions in Mexico and the end of the Bracero program, pushed the flow of Mexican migration, often illegal, to the U.S. Other pieces of legislation included the 1978 Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy (SCRIP), Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, and the 2012 Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.⁶ These were aimed at curbing illegal migration, regulating the status of undocumented immigrants, and establishing economic ties.

Although recent analyses of U.S. Census population data showed that the number of Latino immigrants stalled around 2010, there was a resurgence of anti-immigrant sentiment aimed primarily at Mexican undocumented im migrants.⁷ This sentiment was exhibited in the campaign of U.S. President Donald J. Trump, who promised to build a wall on the U.S.–Mexico border. The promise of building a wall became a campaign slogan and a top priority for the Trump administration.⁸ This is, yet again, another cycle of push-pull factors that affect migration to the U.S.

Puerto Ricans

The formal relation between Puerto Rico and the U.S. began as a result of the Spanish–American war. Puerto Rico, a colony of Spain, became a U.S. territory as part of the conditions set by the Treaty of Paris in 1898. Certain events during the period from 1898 to 1930 gave Puerto Ricans different pull/push factors to migrate to the mainland U.S. During World War I, there was active recruitment of Puerto Ricans to the U.S. military. In 1917, as part of the Jones-Shafroth Act, Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship, allowing free movement between Puerto Rico and the mainland U.S. During this period, there were high levels of migration to Hawaii to fill the labor demand for sugar workers, and to New York to fill employment opportunities in manufacturing and services due to the decline of immigration from Europe in the 1920s.⁹ The period between the Great Depression in the 1930s and World War II in the 1940s marked another time of economic and political uncertainty for Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans were again recruited to join the armed forces fighting in World War II.

Figure 1.2 Puerto Rican and American flags serve as a reminder of the Jones-Shafroth Act.

Oculo/Shutterstock

The end of the war marked the beginning of the “Great Migration” period from 1945 to 1964. Migration to the U.S. mainland peaked as a result of the economic strategy put forth by the federal and Puerto Rican governments after the island became a commonwealth of the U.S. in 1952. There was a push to transform Puerto Rico’s economy from rural to industrial. Operation Bootstrap was put in place to industrialize Puerto Rico. The operation displaced thousands of rural workers to urban areas. In addition, the Puerto Rican Farm Labor Program was established in 1947 t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• About the Editors
• Foreword
• UNIT 1 Immigration and the Emergence of Hispanic Periodicals in the U.S.
• UNIT 2 Hispanic and LatinX Artists in Media
• UNIT 3 The LatinX Impact on Electronic and Digital Media
• UNIT 4 Reaching Hispanic/LatinX Audiences
• UNIT 5 Management, Diversity, and Language
• Glossary
• Index