The Lynching of Persons of Mexican Origin or Descent in the United States, 1848 to 1928

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The writers mention Philip Dray author of At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America, they mention flaws in the book saying that in the whole book not once were Mexicans mentioned in the book. They express their feelings that Dray of course, focused on African Americans and there is no problem their issue was that like Dray mentioned other ethnic groups he also should have mentioned Mexicans. This article constantly criticizes others for not mentioning Mexicans but equally make it seem like African Americans and Mexicans suffered the same amount of violence in the U.S when in fact, they didn’t. In the article, I found it mentioned once that the number of Mexicans compared to the number of African Americans who suffered the mob violence is significantly smaller being in the few hundreds rather that thousands.

The article is an interesting read and anyone who enjoys learning about the history of the U.S would be interested in this read. It’s important to understand that it is not a matter of which group suffered the most violence but rather acknowledging the suffering of all groups. This article does support Eric Foner’s Give me liberty both, the book and article, stating, “Mexicans were legally classified as white” (Foner 794). The book recalls some of the many struggles the Mexican Americans endured and did not leave it as a “Black/White” struggle.

The article “The Lynching of Persons of Mexican Origin or Descent in the United States, 1848 to 1928” established the importance of knowing what happened to the Mexican Americans and clearly stated it is important to know these things. Everything the article mentions is something that should be taught in the K-12 education system before moving on about World history. It is important that as we grow up in the U.S, we be taught about everything that happened not only to the black and the whites of America but every ethnic group, because every ethnic group experienced a harsh and brutal treatment when moving to the U.S for a better future or being brought against their own will.

Bibliography

Carrigan, W. D., and C. Webb. "The Lynching of Persons of Mexican Origin or Descent in the United States, 1848 to 1928." Journal of Social History 37.2 (2003): 411-38. Print.

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: An American History. New York: W.W. Norton, 2014. Print.