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Latino Americans in WWII
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War Effort
• Pressure to volunteer• Puerto Ricans escape Depression• Selective Training and Service Act of 1940– ½ million Latinos– Hazardous duties
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War Effort
• Units drawn from geographical locations–Few Latino units–Fought alongside Whites
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War Effort
• 88th Infantry Division– The Blue Devils
• Company E of the 141st Regiment from El Paso
• 65th Infantry Regiment– The Boriqueneers
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War Effort
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War Effort
• Puerto Ricans– More jobs to Puerto Rico– Joined to win respect in hopes of independence– Fought in North Africa, France, Germany– Defend a country they knew nothing about– Related to displaced European farmers
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War Effort
• Segregation – Eugene Calderon• Trained with
Tuskegee Airmen• Moved around a lot
during training • No white or black
barracks
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Home Front
• Spring 1942– Harvest time and no
workers– Women flock to jobs– Heavy immigrant
recruitment– Forced immigrant
interactions
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Home Front
• August 1942 Bracero Program– US and Mexico sign
agreement to export temporary workers
– 1 million initially in 21 states
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Home Front: Bracero Program
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Home Front: Bracero Program
• Picked beets, plums, tomatoes, peaches, cotton• Went on strike
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Home Front: Bracero Program
• 1943 76,000 • 1944 118,000• 1945 300,000• 1946 26,000
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Home Front: Bracero Program
• Some wanted to end the program– Children not in school– Illiterate adults– Poor wages– Substandard living– Tuberculosis
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Home Front: Bracero Program
• Complaints of illegal immigrants
• Attorney General Herbert Brownell, INS Commissioner Joseph Swing Operation Wetback in 1954
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Home Front
• 1st and 2nd generation Mexican-Americans (Pachucos)– Too young to enlist
but work – Get extra $ for leisure– Zoot Suit and marcel-
style hair
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Home Front
• New Barrio Language– Vato– Guerro– Me Comprendes, Mendez?– Al rato, vato– Nada Nada, Limonada– Dale gas!– Homes/Homebody/Holmes
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Home Front
• Pachucos wanted to be different– Seen as un-
American– Unwilling to
assimilate– Thought of as gangs
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Home Front
• Zoot Suit Riots– Los Angeles June 3, 1943– Sailor starts fight with
pachuco– June 4, 1943 Sailors start
attacking anyone in a Zoot suit
– Police did not step in– Sailors were at fault but
no one arrested or charged
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Veterans Coming Home
• Refused services at home
• The Fearless Mexican Macario Garcia– Medal of Honor
8/23/1945– Heroes welcome in
Sugarland Texas– Refused service at
Oasis Cafe
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Veterans Coming Home
• Veterans still stuck in barrios• No access to sanitation or healthcare• G.I. Bill of Rights– Guaranteed mortgages for new homes– No new homes or kept out of neighborhoods– Pushed into trade schools
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Veterans Returning Home
• Funeral Refusals– Felix Z. Longoria Jr.–Wife Beatrice is
denied services–Garcia contacts
LBJ for help
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Veterans Returning Home
• Veterans become human rights activists
• Dr. Hector Garcia and the American G.I. Forum– Denied status and
slowly promoted– Thought Bracero
Program was doing harm
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Veterans Returning Home
• Dr. Hector Garcia and American G.I. Forum– Thought Bracero
Program was bad– Supported Operation
Wetback until protests– Chapters and
influence spread