User:Celsiusdog/History of Mexican Americans in Dallas–Fort Worth

There is an established and continuously growing Mexican-American population in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as generations of Mexican-American continue their lineages within the area. As of 2022, people of Mexican origin make up 85.5% of the Hispanics and Latinos living within the limits of the DFW area. Currently, Hispanic people make up 42% of the population in Dallas.

The recognition of the in-depth history of Mexicans living in the Dallas city has expanded greatly within the past decade, with more local events and festivals openly celebrating and sharing the history.

History

Sol Villasana, the author of Dallas's Little Mexico, wrote that "Mexicans have been part of Dallas since its beginning." In the 1870s the first significant groups of Mexicans came to Dallas as railroad lines were constructed. Additional Mexicans settled in Dallas as a result of the Mexican Revolution, which began in 1910.

According to the 1920 U.S. Census, 3,378 Mexicans lived in Dallas. In the early 20th century, wealthier Mexicans lived in Little Mexico and in the historical red-light area of Dallas north of Downtown, while less wealthy immigrants lived along railroad yards. Caroline B. Brettell, author of '"Big D" Incorporating New Immigrants in a Sunbelt Suburban Metropolis,' wrote that as of 1920 the majority of Dallas's Mexicans "were living in atrocious conditions."

As the Industrial Revolution continued, the need for cheap labor rose, and many Mexican-Americans who immigrated over into the area were likely familiar with and scared of the Mexican hacienda style of work, which prevented workers from having much say in the distribution of land amongst residents and general poitical activity for the area. Soon, Mexican-American immgirants living in the United States began working for low wages, and the worker's coming from a hacienda system that stifled the ability for immigrant Mexican-American labor working citizens to advocate for their rights. This culture perpetuated the cycle of workers surrendering their time and efforts for a struggling amount of compensation. As immigration into the United States became restricted due to a high number of immigrated Mexican people who came to the country expecting a newfound economic opportunity. Given the lack of security or systematic processes in place for handling the large incoming amounts of people, such as a border patrol, there became a highly unregulated amount of Mexican immigrants crossing the Rio Grande and entering the United States. At this time, he Mexican-American population in 1900 including the 237 document immigrants that legally crossed into the country, there was a total population of 42,638 Mexicans living in Dallas. This was a sizeable chunk of the overall total of 103,393 Mexicans living in the United States, which equaled 1% of the country's population.

After World War II Little Mexico began to disintegrate.

The Murder of Santos Rodriguez occurred in 1973.

In 2009 the City of Dallas began pursuing an EB-5 investment program, attracting wealthier Mexicans. By 2012 there was a wave of wealthy Mexican immigration, due to the program, the proximity and access of Mexico to North Texas, and the violence of the Mexican drug war.

Demographics

As of the 2020 U.S. Census, there are 35 million Mexicans living in the United States. Within the Dallas originated population, there are an average of about 1.3 million residents, with 42% being of Hispanic origin, Mexico, as were 64% of the foreign-born residents of McKinney, and 22% of the foreign-born residents of Plano. As well as making up 25% of foreign born residents of Carrollton. Working Mexican immigrants make up about 218,000 out of 326,000 of the immigrant population, with a median income of $30,526.

Education

Rapid growth of the Hispanic community in the last decade has now made them the majority in a fair share of school districts in the DFW area. These school districts include: Dallas ISD, Fort Worth ISD, Arlington ISD, Irving ISD, Richardson ISD, Mesquite ISD, Garland ISD, Grand Prairie ISD, and Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD. According to data from Dallas ISD, 72% of its student are of Hispanic origin, with this number steadily increasing through the years.

Santamaria vs. Dallas Independent School District

On November 16, 2006, Lucresia Mayorga Santamaria filed a court case as the Plaintiff to represent her three children which alleged that they, as well as other Mexican-American and African-American children were being segregated from the Anglo-American students into separate classrooms and facilities at their school, Preston Hollow Elementary School. Dallas ISD Superintendent Dr. Michael Hinojosa, and Teresa Parker, Preston Hollow Elementary School principal, were two individuals named in the case. The court ruled that Hinojosa and Parker were not liable for violating the Fourteenth Amendment. The burden of proof to qualify for this liability includes having solid evidence to directly prove the party liable, and Santamaria did not provide much that could work under this requirement.

However, the acknowledgment of the court still maintained that Hinojosa and Parker were still responsible for not directly ensuring that proper standards were met within the school’s campus which contributed to the "private, public school experience" that was curated in favor of the Anglo-American students and catered towards the idea of White flight.

Ultimately, the judge presiding over the case, Sam A. Lindsay, ruled that although Parker was not directly liable for violating the Fourteenth amendment, she perpetuated illegal segregation practices within the school that were unconstitutional, contributing factors to the lack of cohesion amongsts students that she must undo and repair before she exited her role.

Dallas ISD

In 2020, Dallas ISD added a Mexican course to its curriculum that centered around teaching students Mexican history that was initially offered at Garza Early College High School. The course encompassed political topics, historical themes, cultural origins and the basics of the Spanish language. The course was project based and provided the students an in-depth understanding of Mexican history that had been previously unavailable or poor quality within the standard district curriculum.

Along with classroom or virtual instruction, the students were also able to go on field trips to experience certain parts of the Mexican culture, such as ballet folklorico. Following the course’s creation within Dallas ISD, districts nearby, including Garland ISD. According to Dallas ISD, after they successfully began offering Mexican history courses, the number of high participating high schools jumped from 23 to 33 within a year of the courses' introduction to district curriculum.

Dallas ISD began adding more options for history courses, marking a shift in the general acknowledgement of the Mexican and Hispanic diversity present within the student populations in these districts.

Higher education

Recent years have also seen an increase in the number of Mexican-Americans living in Dallas that posses a bachelor’s degree or degree of higher prestige.As of data collected in 2019, there were about 185,000 people from Mexico living in the US that have a college degree. The number of Mexican-Americans living in Dallas during this time who held a college degree was about 33,000.

Geography

As of the 2000 U.S. Census, 63% of the ethnic Mexicans in Dallas County resided in the Dallas city limits. Many Mexicans in Dallas live in lower income housing, especially in South Dallas. As of 2002 the Mexican population lived in various parts of the DFW area, with concentrations in West Dallas, Oak Cliff, and Arlington.

As of 2000 there was a large group of ethnic Mexicans living north of Arlington in an area south of Interstate 30, and a smaller group in the cities between Dallas and Fort Worth south of U.S. Highway 183.

Economy

As of 2023, there are about 50 daily flights between Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, and Mexico.

Mexicans living in DFW have become a large factor in the economy, with 2019 research finding that Hispanics living in Dallas earned $41.2 billion and were left with $31.3 billion in spending power, creating a dynamic of economic power for the residents.

In 2026, the AT&T stadium in Arlington, Texas, will host portions of the World Cup, representing the diversified interests of the residents of the Dallas area and the United States as a whole, considering Dallas is one of eleven stops in the US tour to host matches for the event.

El Fenix, a Tex-Mex restaurant chain, was established by Mike Martinez, a Mexican American. It was established on September 15, 1918. Christina Rosales of The Dallas Morning News wrote that it "has been credited with starting the Tex-Mex craze in the U.S."

Pizza Patrón, headquartered in Dallas, markets itself to Mexican American families. It was established by Antonio Swad, a person not of Mexican origins.

Notable residents

• Selena Gomez (actress & singer) - Raised in Grand Prairie, lived in Fort Worth
• Demi Lovato (singer & actress) - Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico; raised in Dallas
• Omar Gonzalez (soccer player)
• Roberto Marroquin (boxer)
• Fernando Rodríguez (boxer)
• Santos Rodriguez (murder victim)

See also

• Latino Cultural Center
• Demographics of Dallas-Fort Worth

References

• Brettell, Caroline B. '"Big D" Incorporating New Immigrants in a Sunbelt Suburban Metropolis' (Chapter 3). In: Singer, Audrey, Susan Wiley Hardwick, and Caroline Brettell. Twenty-First Century Gateways: Immigrant Incorporation in Suburban America (James A. Johnson metro series). Brookings Institution Press, 2009. ISBN 9780815779285. Start p. 53.
• Villasana, Sol. Dallas's Little Mexico (Images of America). Arcadia Publishing, 2011. ISBN 9780738579795.

Further reading

• Adler, Rachel H. Yucatecans in Dallas, Texas: Breaching the Border, Bridging the Distance. Routledge (Second edition: July 10, 2007 - ISBN 978-0205521029)
• Cordell, Dennis D. (Southern Methodist University) and Manuel Garcia y Griego (University of Texas at Arlington). "THE INTEGRATION OF NIGERIAN AND MEXICAN IMMIGRANTS IN DALLAS/FORT WORTH, TEXAS" (Archive) - International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) XXV International Population Conference, 2005. Working paper.
• Watson, Walter T. "Mexicans in Dallas." Southwest Review 22 (1937): p. 406.
• Cloer, Katherine. Advisor: Roberto R. Calderon. "A champion for the Chicano community: Anita N. Martínez and her contributions to the city of Dallas, 1969–1973 (master's degree thesis)." ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 2011. Information page

• Cuellar, Carlos Eliseo. "Stories from the barrios: A history of Mexican Fort Worth" (PhD dissertation, Texas Christian University; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  1998. 9832809).

• "Mexican Migration: Families Fuel Population Boom." The Dallas Morning News.
• "The Mexican Invasion". D Magazine. February 2007.
• Hardwik, Reginald (2012-09-20). "DFW Ranks Sixth For U.S. Hispanic Population". NBC DFW.
• "'Mexicans Are Everywhere!'". 29 August 2011.

External links

• Dallas Mexican American Historical League (DMAHL)
• Dallas Hispanic Bar Association (DHBA)