History of Mexican Americans in Tucson

Tucson, Arizona has a Mexican American community. Tucson was majority Mexican even by the early 20th century; it had originated as a community in New Spain.

According to Rodolfo F. Acuña, author of Corridors of Migration: The Odyssey of Mexican Laborers, 1600-1933, as of the mid-19th century wealthier Mexicans in Tucson had a negative attitude towards poorer Mexicans, and Acuña stated that the class division facilitated exploitation of lower class-Mexicans by non-Mexicans. At the time some members of the community criticized those who made attempts to assimilate into the U.S. by calling them "agringados" and "americanizados". The ethnic European population increased by the 1870s, and members of that community had conflicts with the Mexicans.

Education

The Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) offers the Mexican American Student Services (MASS).

In 1879 La Sonora, according to Acuña, "promoted, indirectly at least, the teaching of Spanish in town's public schools".

See also

• History of Tucson, Arizona

References

• Sheridan, Thomas E. Los Tucsonenses: The Mexican Community in Tucson, 1854-1941 (Culture, History, & the Contemporary). University of Arizona Press, February 1, 1992. ISBN 0816512981, 9780816512980.

External links

• Mexican American Student Services - Tucson Unified School District
• (Spanish) Consulate of Mexico in Tucson