From Out of the Shadows: Voices of Mexican-American Women

Introduction: Centering Mexican-American Women's History

This paper reviews From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America by Dr. Vicki Ruiz, with particular attention to the ways in which Ruiz gives voice to Mexican-American women throughout the work.

From Out of the Shadows focuses on the claiming of personal and public spaces across generations. As farm workers, flappers, labor activists, barrio volunteers, civic leaders, and feminists, Mexican women have made history. Their stories, however, have remained in the shadows (Ruiz xiii).

In her book, Ruiz presents Mexican-American women from all angles — at home, at work, and in the community. She argues that all these areas blend together to make the Mexican-American woman who she is today, and that none can be told without the others. In a distinctive approach, Ruiz writes not of her own experiences, which she could certainly draw upon, but of the experiences of dozens of Mexican-American women who migrated to America over the years. Her study begins before the turn of the twentieth century and extends to the present. It is a study full of hope, hardship, and grit. As one critic observed:

"From Out of the Shadows is the first survey ever done of twentieth-century Mexican women living in the United States. In spanning several generations of women, Ruiz looks at the important roles Mexican women have played in American history as comadres, farm workers, flappers, labor activists, barrio volunteers, civic leaders, and feminists" (Grant).

Immigration, Conquest, and the Aftermath of 1848

Mexican-Americans were among the first immigrants to the United States. They populated the desert Southwest and California long before other colonists made it across the continent.

Jesusita Torres and Petra Sanchez were part of the first modern wave of Mexican immigration to the United States. The society they entered was already marked by multiple conquests, migrations, and overlapping patriarchies. As Ruiz notes, Spanish-speaking women migrated north from Mexico decades — even centuries — before their Euro-American counterparts ventured west. Most arrived as the wives or daughters of soldiers, farmers, and artisans. Over the course of three centuries, they raised families on the frontier and worked alongside their fathers or husbands, herding cattle and tending crops (Ruiz 4).

The author vividly illustrates how the lives of Mexican-Americans changed in 1848. At that time, thousands of Mexican-American settlers lived in what is now the Southwest United States. Ruiz states that life for these settlers "changed dramatically in 1848 with the conclusion of the U.S.-Mexican War, the discovery of gold in California, and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo" (Ruiz 5). This marked the beginning of a long descent into second-class citizenship. Ruiz continues: "With little opportunity for advancement, Mexicans were concentrated in lower echelon industrial, service, and agricultural jobs" (Ruiz 5), a downward spiral that persists in society today.

Each of these forces of change was significant, but perhaps the most devastating was the discovery of gold in California. Mexican-Americans had long made California their home, and some owned extensive ranchos. When the United States annexed California in 1850, the rancho way of life disappeared — especially when those ranchos belonged to women, which was not unusual in Mexican society. Unlike in the United States, Mexican women could and did own property, but their title was not recognized under American law, and they lost much if not all of their land.

Women went to work to help support their families, typically for menial wages and under the weight of damaging stereotypes. Mexicans were labeled "lazy, sneaky, and greasy," while Mexican women were caricatured as "flashy, morally deficient sirens" — stereotypes that persist to this day.

The lives of Mexican-Americans deteriorated sharply after 1848, a turning point from which they never fully recovered their former stature. By the end of this opening section of the book, the lives of Mexican-Americans in the United States are rendered clearer, more real, and more sympathetic to the reader. This is one of the key ways Ruiz gives the women in her book center stage — they feel real, and so they become credible and compelling.

One woman speaks for all those in the book who perform backbreaking labor to keep their families together: "I used to think, 'If I ever have children, I'm gonna work so hard my children will NEVER do this'" (Ruiz 16). Women worked in the fields all day, then returned home to cook and clean through the night.

Labor, Prejudice, and the Struggle for Rights

Ruiz's use of direct testimony is particularly powerful when she addresses prejudice, which recurs throughout the book. Many of the women she interviewed speak candidly about how discrimination shaped their lives. By letting them speak in their own words, Ruiz positions these women as if on a stage, addressing the reader directly. The effect amplifies the impact of the prejudice they describe. "We went through a lot of prejudice... sometimes my friends' mothers wouldn't let them play with us.... Also, there were times when my brother and I were stoned by other students... and called bad names" (Ruiz 44). The account reads almost like a scene from a film — and the knowledge that it is real only deepens its tragedy.

Using her subjects' own words, Ruiz vividly captures their frustrations and fears:

"It was rough because I didn't know English. The teacher wouldn't let us talk Spanish. How can you talk to anybody? If you can't talk Spanish and you can't talk English.... It wasn't until maybe the fourth or fifth grade that I started catching up. And all that time I just felt I was stupid" (Ruiz 53).

The book also draws on personal accounts to confront the reader with the cruelty these women endured. They worked jobs no one else would take, labored diligently to feed their families, and struggled constantly for dignity. The following passage illustrates conditions that were far from exceptional:

"A few nights ago I spoke to 1,500 women — women who work picking walnuts out of shells. It was one of the most amazing meetings I've ever attended.... The employers recently took their hammers away from them — they were making 'too much money.' For the last two months... they have been cracking walnuts with their fists. Hundreds of them held up their fists to prove it" (Ruiz 72).

Yet Ruiz never invites pity. Rather, she shows the strength, self-respect, and absolute dedication of these women. She also documents how they stood up for their rights when pushed far enough. Emma Tenayuca, for example, courageously organized demonstrations during a six-week labor dispute in which between 6,000 and 10,000 strikers faced tear gas and billy clubs "on at least six occasions." Tenayuca and over 1,000 pecan shellers were jailed. Known as "La Pasionaria," she later reflected on her activism: "I was pretty defiant. [I fought] against poverty, actually starvation, high infant death rates, disease and hunger and misery. I would do the same thing again" (Ruiz 79).

Ruiz also demonstrates that these struggles recurred across generations, with women frequently taking leading roles not only in labor strikes but in broader campaigns for Chicano equality and rights. Better wages and working conditions were not won overnight, and neither was the gradual expansion of Hispanic civil rights. As one Farah striker bluntly stated: "I don't believe in burning your bra, but I do believe in having our rights" (Ruiz 128).

References

Grant, Barby. "CLAS Scholar Sheds Light on Lives of 20th Century Mexican Women." Arizona State University. Fall 1998. 31 Oct. 2002. http://clasdean.la.asu.edu/clasnews/Spring98/PDFs/Pg12.pdf

Ruiz, Vicki L. From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.