Volume 3, No. 2 (Fall 1999) -- Mexican American Heritage Issue

Vol. 3, no. 2 (Fall 1999): | Mexican American Immigration in Kansas | A Latino Perspective: The Impact of Brown v. Board of Education | Mexican American Immigration in Topeka | Bibliography of Latino Books | Researcher seeks descendants of Dunlap Academy students / Exhibits & Resources from KSHS | Book Nook | Teacher Talk |

Water was very important in life of early Mexican communities in southwestern Kansas. The area’s harsh climate exacted its toll resulting in periods of in-and out-migration of people. Wet years brought boom times, irrigation, immigration and agricultural expansion, while dry years lead to crop failure, bankruptcy and emigration. Yet, a vibrant Mexican community emerged in Garden City and rural Finney County.

“Push factors” impel people to leave their home countries. “Pull factors” attract them to receiving countries. Push factors include demographic growth, low living standards, lack of economic opportunities and political repression, while pull factors include a demand for labor, availability of land, good economic opportunities and political freedoms.

The principal factor that drove Mexican workers to the United States was grinding poverty, attributable to regressive wages and reinforced by high rates of illiteracy. Before the Mexican Revolution in the early 1900s, the average daily wage of Mexican farm laborers was 90 centavos or an American equivalent of about 49 cents. Mexican workers were forced to borrow from the hacendados, plantation owners who usurped most of the land during the rule of Porfidio Diaz from 1876-1911. The hacienda system trapped poor Mexican workers and their heirs into a life of debt. One Mexican historian reported that some families labored more than 100 years to repay a debt of $50!

The failure of their government to provide resources to educate poor rural citizens proved equally devastating. In 1907 primary student expenditures ranged from 56 cents in Coahila to about six cents in Michoacan. Michoacan, the place of origin of many Mexicans in Garden City, had only 14 percent of its children enrolled in primary school. Most schools lacked books, pencils and the most basic supplies. In 1910 literacy rates ranged from 38.9 percent in the state of Colima to 8.3 percent in Guerrero.

Life was a vastly different north of the border. Both prices and wages in the United States rose steadily. Mexican economist Francisco Bulnes estimated the purchasing power of the Mexican worker in the late 1800s was 1,400 percent less than that of the American farm laborer. Little wonder that Mexican workers began migrating north in search of a better life. In the United States Mexican workers could earn a daily wage of $1.40 for railroad labor and at least 15 cents an hour for sugar beet labor.

In Kansas, the Mexican population increased from 71 in 1900 to 8,429 in 1910. Mexican anthropologist Manuel Gamio attributed this growth to immigrants stopping over in Kansas City on their way to other states. Initially, railroads hired Mexicans on a short-term basis to repair and lay new track. Workers then returned to their homeland to await rehiring the following spring.

Anglos began to abandon common track labor and by 1913 Mexican workers had largely replaced them. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Co. even published a Spanish dictionary of track-laying terms to be used by Anglo foremen with Mexican workers. Most came for railroad jobs but turned to farm labor once they learned crop growers would employ women and children. In 1901 the state legislature supported a floundering sugar beet industry with a bounty of one dollar per ton. This created a demand for workers to thin, hoe, and harvest sugar beets. All family members, including children, were to work during the thinning and weeding season.

The first immigrants were young male “roomers” or “lodgers,” employed by the railroads, living near the tracks or on the outskirts of the city. The 1915 census listed several Mexican families as residents of Finney County, many with children born in Kansas. Of 134 Mexicans, 84 resided in Garden City.

Single young men generally preceded families to Finney County. A number were engaged in bootlegging activities at Sabastian Carrillo's gambling establishment. In 1911 the court ordered it closed; however, two Anglo women kept it open. Years later Maria Rodriguez said it was responsible for the negative perceptions of the Mexican community.

Soon, the railroads encouraged families to come. Without permanent living quarters, the families employed by the Santa Fe railroad lived in dugouts or tie houses. Some relied on tents for shelter. The Rodriguez family lived for two years in a tent they moved between Dodge City and Garden City. Two Rodriguez infants died from exposure to the harsh winters.

During sugar beet season, Mexican families moved into houses furnished by local farmers. These structures consisted of two small rooms, hardly enough space for large families. One farmer used the houses during the off-season to house chickens or store grain, requiring a thorough cleaning before they could be made livable.

World War I brought record prices for Kansas farm products. Garden City's sugar factory was the city’s largest employer. In 1920 the factory paid Mexican workers 35 cents an hour with a bonus of five cents an hour if they worked until Christmas. The Telegram reported that this seemed just, considering that Mexicans workers “had been accustomed to working for next for nothing” and “seemed very well satisfied with the proposition.”

Because Kansas had no law to protect minorities, Anglos were free to engage in institutional discrimination without fear of legal reprisals. In Garden City discrimination against Mexicans was not readily apparent. No signs with bold letters were displayed by public establishments warning Mexicans they were not welcome.

The municipal swimming pool ordinance did not expressly prohibit Mexican or African Americans. Most Mexicans, however, came to understand through humiliating encounters that such facilities were not open to them. As Holly Hope notes: “you could swim any time of the day or night—as long as you were not Mexican.”

Many Mexicans yearned to return to their homeland. In 1920 about 100 Mexican workers departed for Mexico. After the Mexican Revolution in 1919, the government promised land redistribution. The dream of owning land was an inducement to return to Mexico, and in 1921 two Avila brothers and their families returned to Michoacan. Problems with the redistribution program left them disillusioned and in 1924, they returned to Kansas.

Discrimination often compels immigrants to turn to cultural traditions as a way of organizing against their isolation. In Garden City, Mexicans sponsored cultural festivities to bring their community together. In 1922, more than 400 gathered to celebrate the birth of Benito Juarez, national hero of Mexico. Three years later they organized a Mexican Fiesta. The Garden City Herald reported concerts, addresses, plays, recitations, a parade, orchestra music, dances and 44 program numbers. The event attracted Mexicans from Oklahoma and Colorado.

Mexican American children were assimilating through the schools and Mexican mission established in 1919. Children were well received there and provided with positive learning experiences. Mexican Americans also benefited from church missionaries and teachers whose efforts spared Mexican Americans the illiteracy problems that had plagued past generations.

However, the problem of poverty remained. When sugar beet season began, families moved to rural areas to work the fields, resulting in the prolonged absence of children from school. Because of these disruptions, most Mexican American children never progressed beyond middle school.

In 1918 a Mexican American girl, Mercedes Ramirez, was hired at a local dry goods store. Her younger sister landed jobs in three department stores. Both earned certificates of promotion to attend high school, a rare accomplishment in the Mexican American community.

In 1926 the Avila brothers formed Orquesta Mutualista Jazz. They received invitations to provide music at various Anglo social functions in the Garden City area. They later added an African American banjo player and took requests to play popular Anglo tunes such as Ain’t She Sweet, Four Leaf Clover, Baby Face and June Night.

Mexican farm workers who managed to keep their jobs worked in endless dust storms. Some supplemented their incomes by breaking lime at the sugar factory, a backbreaking job few wanted. At J.E Lucey's request, the governor wrote a letter in 1930 urging six railroads to discontinue hiring Mexican labor. The Topeka Federation of Labor supported the action. The president of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Co. politely refused to replace Mexican workers, noting that the workers had been with the company for some years and performed work Anglos would not do.

This did not calm the fears of many Mexicans who left the country. Mexican population figures for 1930-1940 show a decrease in Finney County of 71 percent. Remaining families coped with limited resources. Movies, dances, and the Sociedad Mutualista Benito Juarez baseball team helped people momentarily forget their problems.

The military was the first place many young Mexican American men experienced equal treatment. Their participation in the war effort was visible as proud parents displayed photographs of sons in uniform. Mexican Americans worked at the Garden City Army Air Field established in 1943. This exposed Mexican Americans, especially young women, to non-agricultural and non-domestic work opportunities.

Mexican American contributions to the war effort, however, did not alter the Anglo community’s discriminatory practices. Keenly aware that their compatriots were risking their lives for freedoms most had never known, Mexican Americans became highly resentful. Tensions led to a confrontation between young Mexican American men and the old Garden City order. When a young Mexican American man was refused service at a bowling alley, the situation escalated. The angry young man drew a knife and assaulted and injured the owner. This incident reminded Mexican Americans that for all of their patriotism, the Anglo community still did not perceive them as Americans.

When the war ended, Mexican Americans shared in the excitement of welcoming home their veterans. Sgt Ignacio “Buck” Avila, Ezequiel Ledesma and Manuel Robles were highly decorated. Nick Ortiz earned five Bronze Stars. But they were reminded of their second-class status whenever they attempted to be served at local establishments. A rumor circulated that Mexican veterans were not welcome at the V-J Day parade. Denials quickly appeared in the Telegram: “Surely every single Mexican in this area realizes that the folks here at home...knew they did a grand job as fighting soldiers because their brilliant performances were reported.”

Young Mexican American veterans wanted more than to participate in a ten-minute parade; they wanted basic civil rights. They formed the Latin Youth Club to right some long-standing wrongs. Members approached the city fathers and demanded that the municipal swimming pool be opened to Mexican Americans. City commissioners instead offered club members individual passes which they rejected.

“We said that we were veterans and taxpayers, and all should be entitled to use not only the pool but all public facilities,” remembers Mike Guadian. Eventually the pool opened to Mexican Americans. For many like Felicia Guadian this came too late. Because of past discrimination, many children had never learned how to swim.

Prior to the war most Mexican Americans were employed as sugar beet field laborers. After the war Garden City merchants hired many in a broad range of occupations. The 1948 Garden City directory lists them as clerks, secretaries, elevator operators, student nurses, photo finishers, and musicians.

But educational advancement of Mexican American men continued to lag. Past experiences with discrimination convinced many that a formal education did not result in better job opportunities. Gregory Mujica Jr., a high school graduate in the 1950s, remembers applying for a job only to learn later that his application had been promptly discarded. Not until 1950 did Frank Rodriguez become the first Mexican American man to graduate from high school in Garden City.

For most Mexican Americans the postwar years would be a period of adjustment. Many would marry, start families and begin training for, or working in, jobs previously inaccessible to them. The lack of a high school education precluded Mexican American veterans from taking advantage of the GI Bill to attend college. Progress was also hampered by lingering racial attitudes in some sectors of the Anglo community. Discrimination persisted in barbershops, some food service establishments and in one movie theater well into the 1950s. Still, Mexican Americans could proudly assert that they had transformed, largely on their own terms, the community that many of them had come to regard as home.

Cheryl Brown Henderson Executive Director

Linda Brown Thompson Book Reviews

Grace L. Wilson Editor gracewilsoneditor [at] cox.net