History of Hispanics with The United States

My source for this weeks post is http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3761/is_199710/ai_n8769255/ a website with an article on the "Generations of diversity: Latinos in the United States." It also has other articles on subjects such as "How the United States racializes Latinos; white hegemony and its consequences" and "Latinos/ a rights and justice in the United States; perspectives and approaches."

It begins by explaining how Latinos are now the largest minority group in the United States and that "population is projected to swell from 28 million in 1996 to about 100 million in 2050, and is projected to outnumber African Americans by 2005.1."
It then goes on to explain what it is meant by 'Latino' and that "Hispanics are an ethnic group, not a racial group, according to U.S. government guidelines, but this distinction escapes most Americans. Hispanics can be of any race. Most classify themselves as white, a minority classify themselves as black, and an increasing share identify their race as "other," which underscores the ambiguity of race and ethnic-group definitions in the United States."

This site primarily focuses on the history of the Latinos, starting with the Spanish setting up St. Augustine, (Florida, 1565) Sante Fe and New Mexico. (1609) The Spanish then lost some of their territory to the Mexicans after Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821. In 1836, Texas won its independence from Mexico and went on to join the United States in 1845. The rest of the Mexican territory was gained by the United States in 1848, after the war with Mexico.
"The treaty brought the United States land that later became the states of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming."
The people who were living in these areas then became U.S citizens and that is where the Hispanic population arose from.

The Latino population continues to grow because of high numbers of immigration from Latin America and the Caribbean. The different generations of Latinos living in America have different ways when it comes to their heritage and background.

• First Generation often speak little English and keep all ties to their "home" countries and generally live with other immigrants.
  
• Second Generation are split between the heritage of their parents and that of American society. They still speak Spanish, but from schooling learn English.
  

The article raises the following, rather interesting questions: "Many look to the second generation as the key to Latino ethnic identity in the future. Will Latinos blend in with the larger society, as did the European immigrants who arrived at the turn of the century? Does maintaining a Latino identity mean remaining economically and socially marginalized and disadvantaged?"

It talks of the differences between the different Hispanic groups and that because they are so varied in education, class and immigration status, it would not be "wrong to assume that Hispanics are making gradual progress towards parity with Anglos." (Jorge Chapa)

Other facts raised within the article:

• Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens no matter if they are born in Puerto Rico or the United States and they can move from one to the other as they please.
• They are only counted as part of the Hispanic population if they live in the District of Columbia and they are the largest Hispanic group after Mexicans.
  
• Many Cubans have entered the U.S since 1980 and in 1996 they made up 4% of the Hispanic population within the U.S.
• "Dominicans are the largest single group within the Other Hispanics category."
• "Hispanics live in every state, but historically their population is concentrated in nine states: California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado."

Mexicans moved to the Midwest in the 1800's for agricultural work and then factory work. Mexicans made up around 80% of the entire Latino population within Los Angeles in 1996 and have a very strong presence there, to this day because Los Angeles was a part of Mexico in the 1800's and because it is so close to the Mexican border. (Approx. 200 miles.)

"In the past decade or so, immigrants and refugees have increasingly contributed to the labor force in rural and suburban areas throughout the United States.16 Traditionally, foreign-- born Hispanics, particularly Mexicans, have worked in agriculture in Texas, California, and other southwestern states."

One final point that the article makes is about immigration again, and how it has changed throughout history.

"During the l9th and early 20th centuries, the U.S. Hispanic population expanded little beyond the scattered settlements in the American Southwest. Only 178 immigrants from Latin America were recorded in 1820, the first year immigration statistics were kept. More than 8,000 people entered from other countries that year, primarily from Europe. Land arrivals were not completely enumerated until 1908 and official records underestimate the total flow across the largely unregulated U.S.-Mexico border in that period-or into U.S. states along the Caribbean. The statistics show only 750,000 immigrants from Mexico, the Caribbean, and other parts of Latin America between 1820 and 1920. These early Hispanics-about half of whom were from the Caribbean-- contributed only about 2 percent of the 34 million immigrants who settled in the United States in that period."

This website would be highly useful for anyone looking at the growth of Latinos within America and the obvious problems that go hand in hand with immigration, as well as touching on the issues of American identity and if an identity can ever be achieved with the population of Hispanics increasing so much.