The University of Arizona Press
In Defense of La Raza
The Los Angeles Mexican Consulate and the Mexican Community, 1929 to 1936
Ebooks (Open Access)
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Mexican communities in the United States faced more than unemployment during the Great Depression. Discrimination against Mexican nationals and similar prejudices against Mexican Americans led the communities to seek help from Mexican consulates, which in most cases rose to their defense.
Los Angeles’s consulate was confronted with the country’s largest concentration of Mexican Americans, for whom the consuls often assumed a position of community leadership. Whether helping the unemployed secure repatriation and relief or intervening in labor disputes, consuls uniquely adapted their roles in international diplomacy to the demands of local affairs.
Los Angeles’s consulate was confronted with the country’s largest concentration of Mexican Americans, for whom the consuls often assumed a position of community leadership. Whether helping the unemployed secure repatriation and relief or intervening in labor disputes, consuls uniquely adapted their roles in international diplomacy to the demands of local affairs.
“An excellent piece of scholarship which adds materially to our understanding of a critical era in Chicano history. . . . For the scholar as well as for the general reader, In Defense of La Raza provides valuable historical insights.”—Arizona and the West
“Will no doubt become an important reference work as a result of being the first study of its kind. More importantly, its rigorous research and clear exposition call for high standards in the work that will follow.”—Pacific Historical Review
“The first [work] to focus directly on consular behavior as a central historical theme. The book is recommended to serious students of Mexican American history as well as to individuals interested in the history of binational and international relations.”—Journal of American History
“Balderrama’s treatment of the deportation and repatriation campaigns is perhaps the most important contribution of this work. . . . The information gathered from these interviews gives this book a fullness and symmetry rarely seen in institutional histories.”—Oral History Review
“Provides fascinating details about Mexican life in Southern California. The richness of [Balderrama’s] narrative arises not only from the breadth of his written evidence . . . but also from thirty-six oral history interviews, mainly with participants of the described events.”—The Americas
“Through extensive interviews with consuls and long-time Mexican [American] residents and archival and newspaper research, the author demonstrates how the colonia mexicana of Los Angeles indeed had an activist institutional life.”—Western Historical Quarterly
“Will no doubt become an important reference work as a result of being the first study of its kind. More importantly, its rigorous research and clear exposition call for high standards in the work that will follow.”—Pacific Historical Review
“The first [work] to focus directly on consular behavior as a central historical theme. The book is recommended to serious students of Mexican American history as well as to individuals interested in the history of binational and international relations.”—Journal of American History
“Balderrama’s treatment of the deportation and repatriation campaigns is perhaps the most important contribution of this work. . . . The information gathered from these interviews gives this book a fullness and symmetry rarely seen in institutional histories.”—Oral History Review
“Provides fascinating details about Mexican life in Southern California. The richness of [Balderrama’s] narrative arises not only from the breadth of his written evidence . . . but also from thirty-six oral history interviews, mainly with participants of the described events.”—The Americas
“Through extensive interviews with consuls and long-time Mexican [American] residents and archival and newspaper research, the author demonstrates how the colonia mexicana of Los Angeles indeed had an activist institutional life.”—Western Historical Quarterly
150 Pages
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Published: December 2018Ebooks (OA) ISBN: 9780816537846