Hispanic American History

The United States and Panama signed two agreements that ended U.S. control over the Panama Canal. The first treaty, the Panama Canal Treaty, established a schedule for Panama to take over canal operations. Full control was set for the end of 1999. The second, called the Neutrality Treaty, ensured…

In the court case Arizona v. United States, the issue of state authority in immigration enforcement was addressed. The case scrutinized Arizona's S.B. 1070, a state law that introduced controversial provisions. These measures included criminalizing undocumented immigrants for failing to carry…

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is an immigration policy that provides temporary protection from deportation and work authorization to certain undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children. Known as Dreamers, eligible individuals must have entered the U.S.…

The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act is a legislative proposal that seeks to provide a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as children. To qualify, individuals must meet specific requirements such as arriving in the U.S.…

The Vieques Island protests arose between 1999 and 2003 on the small Puerto Rican island of Vieques. These protests occurred against the United States Navy’s use of the island for live‑bombing exercises dating back to World War II. They ignited after an errant 500‑pound bomb dropped on April 19, …

California’s Proposition 187 aimed to deny undocumented immigrants access to public education, non-emergency health care, and other social services. It also sought to create a state-run system to verify immigration status. Backed by Governor Pete Wilson and fueled by concerns over immigration and…

American Baptist Churches v. Thornburgh was a landmark class-action lawsuit filed by a coalition of religious refugee-assistance organizations and Salvadoran and Guatemalan asylum seekers against the government. The plaintiffs alleged that the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)…

The Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program emerged in response to humanitarian crises abroad. Congress created TPS in the Immigration Act of 1990 to shield eligible noncitizens from deportation. It also authorized work permits for them if their home countries faced armed conflict, environmental…

Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Cardoza-Fonseca clarified the burden of proof for asylum applicants under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The Supreme Court held that to qualify for asylum under § 208(a) of the INA, an alien need only demonstrate a well‑founded fear of…

The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), signed into law by President Ronald Reagan, aimed to overhaul U.S. immigration policy. It offered legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants who had lived in the country since before January 1, 1982. It did this through two legalization…

In Plyler v. Doe, the U.S. Supreme Court held that Texas statutes and school‐district policies denying free public education to children not legally admitted into the United States violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court applied a rational‐basis standard and…

In this case, ten Mexican American women filed a lawsuit against physicians and administrators at the Los Angeles County‑USC Medical Center. They alleged that they underwent tubal ligations without fully informed or voluntary consent while in labor or under duress. Judge Jesse W. Curtis Jr.…

United States v. Brignoni-Ponce was a landmark Supreme Court case in which the Court unanimously held that Border Patrol agents cannot stop a vehicle near the U.S.-Mexico border based solely on the occupants’ apparent Mexican ancestry. They argued that doing so violates the Fourth Amendment’s…

Serna v. Portales Municipal Schools arose when a group of Mexican‑American families sued the Portales, New Mexico, school district. They sued them for denying Spanish‑surnamed children an equal educational opportunity, such as adequate bilingual and bicultural resources. The U.S. District Court for…

The Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization established by William C. Velasquez to mobilize Latino and other minority communities to vote. SVREP has registered over 2.6 million voters and trained more than 150,000 community leaders through…

In a 5–4 vote, the Court held that the Constitution does not confer a fundamental right to education. They determined that a state system funding public schools primarily through local property taxes does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This remains true even if…

The National Chicano Moratorium was an anti–Vietnam War movement organized by Mexican American activist groups under the National Chicano Moratorium Committee Against the Vietnam War. Its largest demonstration took place on August 29, 1970, when an estimated 20,000–30,000 Chicano/a protesters…

The Young Lords Organization (YLO) emerged from a Puerto Rican street gang in Chicago. It became a revolutionary civil and human rights group active through the early 1970s. Under the leadership of José “Cha Cha” Jiménez, the YLO adopted a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary nationalism platform and…

The East Los Angeles Walkouts, the “Chicano Blowouts,” were a landmark series of student-led protests in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Thousands of Mexican American high school students walked out of classes to demand an end to discriminatory policies, an inclusive curriculum, and equal…

The Tierra Amarilla Land Grant, a 524,215‑acre tract granted by Mexico in 1832, became the focus of a mid‑20th‑century Chicano land‑rights movement. On June 5, 1967, 20 followers of the Alianza Federal de Mercedes occupied the Río Arriba County Courthouse in Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico. They did…

In 1966, Congress enacted the Cuban Adjustment Act (CAA). This granted Cuban citizens permanent resident status when entering the United States. It exempted them from immigrant quotas and certain inadmissibility grounds.

In Miranda v. Arizona, the U.S. Supreme Court held that statements obtained during a police interrogation are inadmissible at trial unless the suspect first receives procedural warnings. This became known as the “Miranda warnings.” The Court based its ruling on the Fifth Amendment’s protection…

School Begins is a 1899 political cartoon created by Louis Dalrymple. It was published in Puck magazine. The cartoon satirizes American imperialism following the Spanish–American War.

In the case of Katzenbach v. Morgan, the Supreme Court significantly affirmed Congress's power under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. This ruling established Congress's authority to expand individual rights beyond judicial recognition. Specifically, the Court upheld Section 4(e) of…

The National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) was formed under the leadership of César Chávez and Dolores Huerta to organize Mexican American and Filipino farmworkers in California. It aimed to improve wages, working conditions, and access to social services through nonviolent actions. In 1966,…

The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Hernandez v. Texas held that Mexican Americans and other nationality groups are entitled to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. It struck down the systematic exclusion of them from jury service. The ruling marked the first time the Court…

Mendez v. Westminster was a landmark decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. It held that the segregation of Mexican American students into separate Mexican schools in Orange County, California, was unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth…

The Bracero Program operated from 1942 to 1964 as a bilateral guest‑worker initiative between the United States and Mexico. It aimed to fill labor shortages in U.S. agriculture and railroads during World War II and beyond. It brought over 4.6 million Mexican workers under short‑term contracts.…

The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of racially charged clashes in Los Angeles. U.S. servicemen, off‑duty police officers, and civilians attacked Mexican American youths. Known as pachucos, they wore distinctive zoot suits characterized by broad‑shouldered jackets and baggy, tapered trousers.

The case People v. Zamora arose from the Sleepy Lagoon murder in which José Gallardo Díaz was found fatally injured near a Los Angeles-area reservoir. Mexican‑American youths, including Gus Zamora, were arrested en masse and tried by a judge who barred many defense requests and seated an all‑white…

El Congreso de Pueblos de Habla Española (the Spanish Speaking People's Congress) was formed in California as a coalition of Latino labor and civil rights activists seeking to unite Spanish‑speaking communities. Luisa Moreno spearheaded the inauguration of the Congress, drawing delegates from…

The Pecan Shellers Strike was one of San Antonio’s largest labor actions. It involved approximately 12,000 pecan shellers who walked off the job to protest wage cuts and unsafe, unventilated workrooms in the city’s shelling industry. On January 31, 1938, Mexican American women shellers demanded…

El Primer Congreso Mexicanista, known in English as the First Mexicanist Congress, convened to address social, labor, educational, and economic inequalities facing Mexicans and Mexican Americans. It marked the emergence of a coordinated Mexican American civil rights movement on the Gulf Coast.

The Foraker Act of 1900 replaced military rule in Puerto Rico with a civilian government, establishing executive, legislative, and judicial branches. It defined Puerto Rican citizenship and extended U.S. citizenship to the island’s residents. It also saw the adoption of tariffs, the U.S. dollar,…

The Treaty of Paris of 1898 ended the Spanish‑American War. Under its terms, Spain relinquished sovereignty over Cuba (which became independent) and ceded Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands to the United States (the latter in exchange for $20 million). The treaty took effect on April 11…

The Gadsden Purchase was a treaty between the United States and Mexico. Under the treaty, the U.S. paid Mexico $10 million for approximately 29,670 square miles of territory that now forms southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. The acquisition enabled the construction of more…

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo concluded the Mexican-American War. Under its terms, Mexico ceded a vast expanse of its northern territory to the United States. These included the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, most of Arizona and New Mexico, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. In…

The Adams–Onis Treaty, negotiated by U.S. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and Spanish Minister Luis de Onis, settled border disputes between the United States and Spain. It ceded East and West Florida to the United States in exchange for a payment of $5 million. It established a clear western…