A Historical and Regional Overview of Latinas in the United ... - CUNY

Introduction: A Historical and Regional Overview
Carmen Cornejo Gallegos standing third from
left to right. “Los Tomboys,” Orange County
softball champions of 1947. Courtesy of Lori
Gallegos-Hupka.
Morales declares in her poem Child of the Americas, “I
am new. History made me. My first language was
Spanglish. I was born at the crossroads and I am
whole.” In this spirit Latina history in the Northeast
shares common ground.
SOURCES: Acosta-Belén, Edna, Margarita Benítez,
José E. Cruz, Yvonne González-Rodríguez, Clara E. Rodríguez,
Carlos E. Santiago, Azara Santiago-Rivera,
and Barbara Sjostrom. 2000. “Adíos Borinquen querida”:
The Puerto Rican Diaspora, Its History and Contributions.
Albany, NY: Center for Latino, Latin American, and
Caribbean Studies, SUNY; Glasser, Ruth. 1997. “Aquí
me quedo”: Puerto Ricans in Connecticut. Middletown,
CT: Connecticut Humanities Council; Pérez, Louis A.
1999. On Becoming Cuban: Identity, Nationality, and
Culture. New York: Harper Collins; Sánchez Korrol, Virginia.
1994 2nd ed. From Colonia to Community: The
History of Puerto Ricans in New York Berkeley: University
of California Press; Ruiz Vicki L. and Virginia
Sánchez-Korrol, eds. 2005. Latina Legacies: Identity, Biography,
and Community. New York: Oxford University
Press.
LATINAS IN THE MIDWEST
Virginia Sánchez Korrol
Latina migrants began arriving in the Midwest in significant
numbers during the early twentieth century as
part of larger Latino migrant flows. The Mexican community
was the largest Latina/o population in the region
throughout the twentieth century, followed by
Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Central and South Americans.
Latina/o communities have historically emerged
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in both urban and rural areas, and the group represents
a diverse range of countries of origin, as well as
class backgrounds. Many of the earliest residents,
however, were working-class migrants in search of
economic security.
The pre–World War II era saw largely Mexican immigrants,
with smaller numbers of Central and South
American and Caribbean immigrants. The first
Latina/o immigrants to Chicago, for example, were
workers contracted by the railroads in 1916. In that
year 206 Mexicans were working on the railroads; by
1926, 5,255 Mexican men worked on the rail lines.
Some wives, children, and other female relatives and
single women also traveled to the Midwest. Women,
however, made up a relatively small proportion of
these communities. For example, of 17,000 Mexicans
living in Chicago in 1927, only 1,650 were women and
3,350 were children. In the Indiana Harbor colony during
this time, women numbered 500 and children 1,000
in a total population of 4,500 Mexican immigrants.
Similarly, in Gary, Indiana, the population of 2,500
Mexicans included only 200 women and 350 children.
In urban areas like Chicago, Latina/o immigrants,
predominantly males, were drawn by work in railroads,
steel mills, and meatpacking houses. The railroads
also drew workers to cities like Milwaukee and
Kansas City, while cities like Gary and Indiana Harbor
employed workers in steel mills. Detroit drew workers
to the auto and other related industries. Overall, midwestern
cities provided the opportunity for higher industrial
wages compared with agricultural labor in the
Southwest.
Many Latina immigrants worked outside the home,