Becoming Mexican American

Mexican working-class women experienced a major shift in their role within the family between 1900 and 1945. How did their responsibilities begin to change in Mexico, and how did this change influence the development of Mexican women’s roles in the immigrant community of Los Angeles?

What role did religion play in Americanization programs? Compare and contrast Protestant and Catholic approaches. Which would you argue was more effective?

Sánchez describes the process of crossing the border from Mexico to the United States as one that was once casual but by the 1920s had transformed into a “tense and formal ritual full of suspicion” (50). How did this transformation take place, and what were some of the motivations behind it? How did it affect patterns of Mexican migration?