ePub White Cargo: The Forgotten History of Britain's White Slaves in America by Don Jordan; Michael Walsh in History

Description

Outstanding Academic Title from 2011 by Choice Magazine While newly arrived immigrants are often the focus of public concern and debate; many Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans have resided in the United States for generations. Latinos are the largest and fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States; and their racial identities change with each generation. While the attainment of education and middle class occupations signals a decline in cultural attachment for some; socioeconomic mobility is not a cultural death-knell; as others are highly ethnically identified. There are a variety of ways that middle class Mexican Americans relate to their ethnic heritage; and racialization despite assimilation among a segment of the second and third generations reveals the continuing role of race even among the U.S.-born. Mexican Americans Across Generations investigates racial identity and assimilation in three-generation Mexican American families living in California. Through rich interviews with three generations of middle class Mexican American families; Vasquez focuses on the family as a key site for racial and gender identity formation; knowledge transmission; and incorporation processes; exploring how the racial identities of Mexican Americans both change and persist generationally in families. She illustrates how gender; physical appearance; parental teaching; historical era and discrimination influence Mexican Americans’ racial identity and incorporation patterns; ultimately arguing that neither racial identity nor assimilation are straightforward progressions but; instead; develop unevenly and are influenced by family; society; and historical social movements.