United States History

eBook

In Search of Belonging explores the ways Latina/o audiences in general, and women in particular, make sense of and engage both mainstream and Spanish-language media. Jillian M. Báez's eye-opening ethnographic analysis draws on the experiences of a diverse group of Latinas in Chicago. In-depth interviews reveal Latinas viewing media images through a lens of citizenship. These women search for nothing less than recognition--and belonging--through representations of Latinas in films, advertising, telenovelas, and TV shows like Ugly Betty and Modern Family. Báez's personal interactions and research merge to create a fascinating portrait, one that privileges the perspectives of the women themselves as they consume media in complex, unpredictable ways. Innovative and informed by a wealth of new evidence, In Search of Belonging answers important questions about the ways Latinas perform citizenship in today's America.

eBook

Sociologist Daisy Verduzco Reyes paints a vivid picture of Latino student life at a liberal arts college, a research university, and a regional public university, outlining students' interactions with one another, with non-Latino peers, and with faculty, administrators, and the outside community. Reyes identifies the normative institutional arrangements that shape the social relationships relevant to Latino students' lives, including school size, the demographic profile of the student body, residential arrangements, the relationship between students and administrators, and how well diversity programs integrate students through cultural centers and retention centers. Together these characteristics create an environment for Latino students that influences how they interact, identify, and come to understand their place on campus. Drawing on extensive ethnographic observations, Reyes shows how college campuses shape much more than students' academic and occupational trajectories; they mold students' ideas about inequality and opportunity in America, their identities, and even how they intend to practice politics.

eBook

Dennis Chávez was born in the small farming community of Los Chávez in 1888 in what was then the Territory of New Mexico. His childhood home had dirt floors and no indoor plumbing. As a boy, he tended his father's crops and sheep. He spoke only Spanish and never went to high school or college. This bilingual "flip" book for intermediate readers recounts the inspiring story of Dennis Chávez, who in spite of having to drop out of school in the seventh grade to get a job to help his family, went on to graduate from Georgetown Law School in Washington, DC, and represent New Mexico in the US Senate for twenty-seven years.Dennis Chávez saw and experienced injustice from an early age. When he refused to deliver groceries to railroad strike breakers, he lost his first job. This first-hand involvement with labor conflicts fanned his interest in both law and government, and throughout his long career he consistently supported workers, minorities and regular people. He fought against the "whites only" practices that were rampant in the South, introducing legislation to ban discrimination in hiring, saying "Either we are all free, or we fail; democracy must belong to all of us." Holding strong to his beliefs of fairness and justice, he spoke out against McCarthyism on the Senate floor. Senate seniority gave Chávez powerful responsibility over the US budget for military defense and public works projects such as the remaking of the nation's highways.Spanning American history from 1888-1962--from the frontier where Indian raids were still common to the country's power-filled corridors in Washington, DC--this book written by his granddaughter will give young readers an eye-opening look at the difficulties faced by non-whites and the intolerance that was common as recently as the latter half of the twentieth century and is still an issue today.