Hispanic Americans: demographics, culture, and society

¶ … Hispanic-Americans during World War II, and looks at the educational profile, in terms of learning styles, preferred fields of study, and outcomes.

Hispanic-Americans have fought in every war that the U.S. has fought, in the 20th and 21st centuries, including the two great wars, and the two Gulf wars (Bean and Tienda, 1988). During these tours of duty, Hispanic-Americans have received 38 Congressional Medals of Honor: this is a high number, according to the percentage of Hispanic citizens in the U.S. population, and makes Hispanic-Americans, proportionately, the largest single ethnic group to receive this honor (Stone, 2000; Sanchez-Korroll, 1983). During World War II, 400,000 Americans of Hispanic descent fought, including citizens of Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Spanish, and South and Central American descent. Indeed, relative to their representation in the U.S. population as a whole, Hispanic-Americans contribute a disproportionately high number of military enlistees.

Yet, despite the fact that these American citizens have given their all defending their adopted country, upon their return to the U.S., these soldiers, and their families, have encountered inequality, and racism, and discrimination: indeed, the Mexican soldiers returning home after World War I found that they were still blocked from attending school, and as a result the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) was formed in 1929 in Texas, to demand equal opportunities in education for Hispanic-Americans (Stone, 2000; Suchlicki, 1986).

By the time of World War II, the Hispanic soldiers who went to war were far more aware that they wanted to stay in the U.S., and to make a life there, for them and their families, and so were far more aggressive about their wish to stay than were their predecessors who had formed the LULAC (Stone, 2000). The Pachuco subculture, of zoot suits, originated around this time, and gave the Mexican-Americans a new, branded, identity (Stone, 2000). This identity gave these citizens pride in themselves, and this, coupled with the equal treatment of young male Mexican-American soldiers during World War II, allowed them to gain the confidence to ask for their rights, in terms of access to education (Stone, 2000).

What did this mean in practical terms? Patriotism amongst Hispanic-Americans was high following World War II, as these young soldiers had seen that they could be treated equally, and therefore wanted to stay in this country, where they could find a better life, and be treated as equals to those U.S. citizens of non-Hispanic descent (Stone, 2000).

This growing patriotism, and confidence, amongst the Hispanic-American community led to the formation of new civil rights organizations, which campaigned for equal rights for Hispanic-Americans: one such organization was the American GI forum, which was formed by Dr. Garcia, in 1948, and which campaigned for equal access to, and share of, veterans benefits for Hispanic-American soldiers (Stone, 2000). The mandate of the American GI Forum was eventually widened, to include campaigning for equal access to education, and equal access to employment opportunities for Hispanic-Americans (Stone, 2000).

This civil rights campaigning by such organizations led, during the 1940's and 1950's, to a gradual increase in the levels of acceptance of Hispanic-Americans into the U.S. community as a whole, especially in larger urban areas, such that Hispanic-Americans began to gain rights equal to those of all U.S. citizens, for example, access to educational facilities, and a more equal access to employment opportunities (Stone, 2000). This was in line with wider post-World War II U.S. policy towards education, which aimed to increase the number of people in education, to produce a well-qualified workforce, to be able to take the country out of the Depression (Watras, 2003).

During this time, Hispanic-Americans took every opportunity they could, to learn and to 'better themselves', with any educational opportunity being seized upon. Preferred subjects, and preferred learning styles, for the majority of Hispanic-Americans returning from World War II, and during this time, were subjects with practical application, for example, vocational subjects, such as electrical engineering, carpentry, plumbing etc., that could be learnt part-time, allowing paid employment to be continued: subjects, and styles of learning, that would guarantee employment at the end of the course, and allow wages to be earned during the course, in order to be able to provide an income for their families (Stone, 2000). Following these vocations allowed the Hispanic-American communities across the U.S. To be successful and to maintain and to live decent lives.