Mexican Migration to Chicago
Areas of History/Tags: Chicago History, Latino/a/x History, Immigration History, Labor History
Code(s): Accessible--plenty of available primary and secondary sources
Overview: The dire economic circumstance that Mexicans found themselves in during the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) and Cristero Rebellion (1926-1929) was “arguably the most prominent factor prompting the large exodus of Mexicans to the United States”. The chaos manifesting from these events which included violence, Catholic suppression at the hands of the Mexican Government, and an extreme shortage of labor opportunities, were the first determining factors that emboldened Mexican immigration to Chicago. The necessity for Mexicans to leave a country in economic turmoil pushed the first set of railroad workers and agricultural laborers to migrate further north into the United States, eventually making their way to Chicago where news of an industrial city that provided year-round work was available.
However, there was also a pull for Mexican immigration as the labor shortage crisis in the U.S, resulting from WWI and anti-European immigration legislation, generated industrial, agricultural, and private interests in hiring cheap and available Mexican labor through the use of enganchistas or company recruiters. Their reason for immigrating to Chicago was two-fold: they were forced to leave a country that provided no hope of a future and they were enticed by the dream of economic prosperity that the United States was offering. The smokestacks and industrial landscape of Chicago were seen as an escape and a site of success but their arrival also presented a disturbance to the fragile and changing racial framework.
Relevant Collections:
Links to preliminary sources:
Secondary
Primary
Areas of History/Tags: Chicago History, Latino/a/x History, Immigration History, Labor History
Code(s): Accessible--plenty of available primary and secondary sources
Overview: The dire economic circumstance that Mexicans found themselves in during the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) and Cristero Rebellion (1926-1929) was “arguably the most prominent factor prompting the large exodus of Mexicans to the United States”. The chaos manifesting from these events which included violence, Catholic suppression at the hands of the Mexican Government, and an extreme shortage of labor opportunities, were the first determining factors that emboldened Mexican immigration to Chicago. The necessity for Mexicans to leave a country in economic turmoil pushed the first set of railroad workers and agricultural laborers to migrate further north into the United States, eventually making their way to Chicago where news of an industrial city that provided year-round work was available.
However, there was also a pull for Mexican immigration as the labor shortage crisis in the U.S, resulting from WWI and anti-European immigration legislation, generated industrial, agricultural, and private interests in hiring cheap and available Mexican labor through the use of enganchistas or company recruiters. Their reason for immigrating to Chicago was two-fold: they were forced to leave a country that provided no hope of a future and they were enticed by the dream of economic prosperity that the United States was offering. The smokestacks and industrial landscape of Chicago were seen as an escape and a site of success but their arrival also presented a disturbance to the fragile and changing racial framework.
Relevant Collections:
- The Pullman Company Records - Employee and Labor Relations Department, The Newberry Library, Chicago. (Series 11: Mexican Labor Files, 1920-1972). (Link)
- Burgess, Ernest. Papers, [Box 134, Folder 4 and Box 188, Folder 4], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library. (Link)
Links to preliminary sources:
Secondary
- Innes-Jimenez, Michael. Steel Barrio: The Great Mexican Migration to South Chicago, 1915-1940. New York University Press, 2013. (Link for e-book)
- “Mexicans.” Encyclopedia of Chicago. (Link)
- Fernandez, Lilia. Brown in the Windy City: Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Postwar Chicago. University of Chicago Press, 2012. (Link for e-book)
- History Speaks- “Early Mexican Communities in Railroad Boxcar Housing.” Naper Settlement. YouTube (Link)
Primary
- Matthews, J.D. “The Mexican as a Track Laborer.” Railway Age Gazette 53, no.12 (September 1912): 527-528. (Link)
- Hughes, L.J. “Good Treatment Necessary for Mexicans.” Railway Age Gazette 53, no. 12 (September 1912): 528-529. (Link)
- Ganley, M. “Characteristics of the Mexican.” Railway Age Gazette 53, no.12 (September 1912): 529. (Link)