Traqueros: Mexican Railroad Workers in the United States, 1870-1930 (Al Filo: Mexican American Studies Series)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.74 (720 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1574416278 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 246 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-03-21 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Wayne D. Gome said This book gives a detailed account of the Mexican Railroad. This book gives a detailed account of the Mexican Railroad Worker in the United States post the Mexican War. The field worker experience is well documented. The rail worker not so much. A description of the living and employment conditions is quite vivid. The demographic breakdown of the Mexican Railroad Workers lends insight into the developing Mexican American Communities in the U.S. at this time its history.. Felix Alvarado said disappointing that not much on Texas was included. Does. disappointing that not much on Texas was included. Does reveal the contribution of Mexicans to American capitalism. Reminds me of a Day without a Mexican. Started back then.. I. E. Quastler said Four Stars. An unusual topic, lots of new stuff for me
He reconstructs the workers’ daily lives and explores not only what the workers did on the job but also what they did at home and how they accommodated and/or resisted Americanization. Boxcar communities, strike organizations, and “traquero culture” finally receive historical acknowledgment. Extensive Mexican American settlements appeared throughout the lower and upper Midwest as the result of the railroad. The substantial Mexican American populations in these regions today are largely attributable to 19th- and 20th-century railroad work. Only agricultural work surpassed railroad work in terms of employment of Mexicans.The full history of Mexican American railroad labor and settlement in the United States had not been told, however, until Jeffrey Marcos Garcílazo’s groundbreaking research in Traqueros. Construction crews soon became railroad workers proper, along with maintenance crews later. Integral to his study is the importance of family settlement in shaping working class communities and consciousness throughout the Midwest.. Tens of thousands of Mexicans worked for the railroads in the United States, especially in the Southwest and Midwest. Garcílazo mined numerous archives and other sources to provide the first and only comprehensive history of Mexican railroad workers across the United States, with particular
“Traqueros is a significant contribution to the scholarly literature of United States labor history, Chicano social history, and ethnic labor history.”—Juan Gómez-Quiñones, author of Chicano Politics