Mexican Revolution Refugees

Title

Mexican Revolution Refugees

Description

WWI created a farm labor shortage in California as European immigration became restricted and Anglo American men were recruited into the military. During WWI the market for American crops expanded to meet Europe’s needs. After the war’s end in 1919, the 1924 Immigration Act ended all Asian immigration to the U.S. and created an even greater farm labor shortage in California, where many Japanese laborers were employed.

Many Mexicans, pushed out of Mexico due to the ravages of the Mexican Revolution from 1910-1920, were now pulled into the U.S. to work in Southwest agribusiness. A wave of up to one million refugees sought employment throughout California while fleeing Mexico’s political instability, social turmoil, and poverty. By the 1920s, the California agricultural labor force became “Latinized,” with 82% of the jobs filled by ethnic Mexicans.

Mexican immigrants soon filled the labor gap, traveling—and working along the way—by rail and later car. Most Mexican Revolution refugees traveled to the U.S. by train through El Paso. There was no rigid border between the U.S. and Mexico until the Labor Appropriation Act of 1924. Refugees joined Mexican traqueros or track workers, who had been working on U.S. railroads since the end of the 19th century. Not only did the Mexican Revolution refugees work on the railroads, but they also sought seasonal jobs in agriculture, working their way north to Chicago and west to New Mexico, Arizona, and California. The Mexican American path of agricultural migration throughout the U.S. had begun. According to historian Stephen Pitti, approximately 82% of all the ethnic Mexicans laboring in Santa Clara County in the 1920s and 1930s worked in unskilled and seasonal agricultural work.

Additional Online Information

Early Twentieth Century Mexican Immigration to the U.S. - SHEC: Resources for Teachers

The History of Mexican Immigration to the U.S. in the Early 20th Century | Insights

A Growing Community | Mexican | Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History | Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress

The Effect of the Mexican Revolution on Mexican Immigration to the U.S. | Unsung History

"The Storm That Swept Mexico" - PBS Documentary on Mexican Revolution

Identifier

B4SV Exhibit Topic Two: Slide 003