Chapter 20, Student Web Activities, Texas and Texans, Glencoe, 2003

Chapter 20: A New Century
"Mexican Immigration and Mutualistas"

Introduction
One of the positive traits of Americans is our ability to see a problem and try to fix it. Unfortunately, in some instances the problem is our own actions. For example, discrimination against African Americans and Mexican Americans has been commonplace throughout American history. In this activity, you will learn about the steps that Mexican Americans took in the early 1900s to fix that "problem."

Destination Title: Digital History

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Directions
Start at the Digital History Web site.

Scroll down the list of topics and click on Viva La Raza!
Read the first eight paragraphs of the article.

Use what you have learned to answer the following questions.

1. How many Mexican immigrants entered the southwestern United States between 1910 and 1930? What were the push-pull factors that led the Mexicans to immigrate?

2. What types of jobs did the Mexican immigrants perform?

3. What happened to many Mexicans during the 1930s?

4. What were mutualistas, and what did they provide to Mexican Americans?

5. In the early 1900s, many Mexican immigrants lived in segregated communities in which Mexican culture and organizations were predominant. Today many communities in Texas are highly multicultural. Imagine that a foreign-exchange student is coming to live with you for a year. Write an FAQ sheet (Frequently Asked Questions) of at least five questions that will help explain to the foreign-exchange student the aspects of Mexican culture found in Texas. For example, one FAQ could be "What is Cinco de Mayo"? Write your FAQs and their answers in the space below.