xvi Chronology
Mexicans from large cities throughout the West and Midwest. Hun-
dreds of thousands of people of Mexican descent return to Mexico
during the 1930s. Those Mexicans who manage to endure the attacks
and remain in their homes and communities in the United States,
however, form a new and lasting commitment to their rights as U.S.
citizens.
1930 Mexican parents of children in Lemon Grove, California, take the
school district to court to force it to halt its practice of segregating
Mexican girls and boys from Anglo children. The parents, in alliance
with government officials from Mexico and Anglo allies, win their suit.
A lawsuit that seeks to ban the segregation of Mexican schoolchildren
from their Anglo counterparts by the Del Rio, Texas, school district is
filed by parents of Mexican students.
1932 The children’s story “Pérez and Martina” by Pura Bélpre is published.
The main characters of the story, Pérez the Mouse and Martina the
Cockroach, pursue an ill-fated romance. The tale touches on themes
that Bélpre, a New York City librarian, follows throughout her long
literary career, such as animal fables, the use of trickster figures, and
concern with poverty and unhealthy living conditions.
1933 The Revista de Artes y Letras, one of the most prominent Spanish-
language periodicals, is founded by a Puertorriqueña, Josefina Silva de
Cintrón, in New York City.
1934 Historian Jovita González publishes Dew on the Thorn, exploring the
lives of Mexicans in southern Texas at the turn of the 20th century.
Dew on the Thorn balances an appreciation of Mexican folklore and
culture along the border with a sharp critique of U.S. imperialism and
the dispossession and denigration of Mexican communities at the
hands of Anglo newcomers.
1938 Labor activist and union organizer Emma Tenayuca leads a major
strike of pecan shellers, most of them Mexican women, in San
Antonio.
1939 Labor activist Luisa Moreno helps lead the planning of El Congreso de
Pueblos de Hablan Española in Los Angeles, a major civil rights con-
ference addressing important issues such as employment, housing,
and education for Latina/os.
1940 With her characteristic headdress filled with tropical fruit (the tutti-
frutti hat), Carmen Miranda stars in a series of hit films in the early
1940s. By 1945 Miranda will have an annual income of $200,000 and
is the highest-paid woman in the United States.
1942 Mexico and the United States agree to a system to allow labor contracts
for Mexican farmworkers to come to the Southwest to work. Under the
program, hundreds of thousands of impoverished Mexican men will
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