A World of Its Own

by Garcia, Matt

• ISBN13: 9780807826584
• ISBN10: 0807826588
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-01-01
• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr

Summary

Tracing the history of intercultural struggle and cooperation in the citrus belt of Greater Los Angeles, Matt Garcia explores the social and cultural forces that helped make the city the expansive and diverse metropolis that it is today. As the citrus-growing regions of the San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys in eastern Los Angeles County expanded during the early twentieth century, the agricultural industry there developed along segregated lines, primarily between white landowners and Mexican and Asian laborers. Initially, these communities were sharply divided. But Los Angeles, unlike other agricultural regions, saw important opportunities for intercultural exchange develop around the arts and within multiethnic community groups. Whether fostered in such informal settings as dance halls and theaters or in such formal organizations as the Intercultural Council of Claremont or the Southern California Unity Leagues, these interethnic encounters formed the basis for political cooperation to address labor discrimination and solve problems of residential and educational segregation. Though intercultural collaborations were not always successful, Garcia argues that they constitute an important chapter not only in Southern California's social and cultural development but also in the larger history of American race relations.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xiii
Abbreviations	xix
Introduction	1	(16)
Part One
The Ideal Country Life
The Development of Citrus Suburbs in Southern Calfornia	17	(30)
The ``Colonia Complex'' Revisited
Racial Hierarchies and Border Spaces in the Citrus Belt, 1917-1926	47	(40)
Friends of the Mexicans?
Mexican Immigration and the Politics of Social Reform	87	(34)
Just Put on that Padua Hills Smile
The Mexican Players and the Padua Hills Theatre, 1931-1974	121	(36)
Part Two
Citrus in the War Years
Gender, Citizenship, and Labor, 1940-1964	157	(32)
Memories of El Monte
Dance Halls and Youth Culture in Greater Los Angeles, 1950-1974	189	(34)
Soly Y Sombra
The Limits of Intercultural Activism in Post-Citrus Greate Los Angeles	223	(34)
Epilogue	257	(6)
Appendix	263	(4)
Notes	267	(38)
Bibliography	305	(18)
Index	323