Barrios Norteños: St. Paul and Midwestern Mexican Communities in the Twentieth Century

Mexican communities in the Midwestern United States have a history that extends back to the turn of the twentieth century, when a demand for workers in several mass industries brought Mexican agricultural laborers to jobs and homes in the cities. This book offers a comprehensive social, labor, and cultural history of these workers and their descendants, using the Mexican barrio of San Pablo (St. Paul), Minnesota, as a window on the region. Through extensive archival research and numerous interviews, Dionicio Valdés explores how Mexicans created ethnic spaces in Midwestern cities and how their lives and communities have changed over the course of the twentieth century. He examines the process of community building before World War II, the assimilation of Mexicans into the industrial working class after the war, the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and more recent changes resulting from industrial restructuring and unprecedented migration and population growth. Throughout, Valdés pays particular attention to Midwestern Mexicans' experiences of inequality and struggles against domination and compares them to Mexicans' experiences in other regions of the U.S.

Author: Dionicio Nodín Valdés
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 05/01/2000
Pages: 406
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.10w x 1.01d
ISBN: 9780292787445

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 07/01/2000 pg. 123

About the Author
Dionicio Nodín Valdés is Professor of History at Michigan State University.