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Dissertation Information for Maria Eva Flores

NAME:
- Maria Eva Flores

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- Arizona State University (USA) (2000)

ADVISORS:
- Vicki L. Ruiz

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Noel J. Stowe
- Asuncion Lavrin

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: The good life the hard way: The Mexican American community of Fort Stockton, Texas, 1930--1945

Abstract: Oral history interviews, documentary sources from city, county, and state repositories, minutes of school board meetings, church records, and civic organizations provide the historical evidence for The Good Life the Hard Way : The Mexican American Community in Fort Stockton, Texas, 1930-1945 . The local newspaper provides a EuroAmerican perspective on the Mexican American community, both through inclusion and exclusion of that community's activities in its pages. Records from Mexican American private collections contributed a view of the ethnic and racial divisions and dynamics of the small, isolated community. Political and economic domination placed the Mexican American community in a dependent relationship from the 1880s to the mid 1950s. A segregated school system predetermined low paying jobs and continued dependency. The Depression found the Mexican residents, accustomed to hard times, seeking yet more creative ways to survive. Civic leaders of the community brought in Works Project Administration money to improve streets, drainage, and sewage systems, and recreational facilities; Mexicanos found jobs on the projects, but their neighborhoods did not receive the benefits of the New Deal. Through the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) organization, Mexican Americans confronted discriminatory behavior and cultural codes to gain access to public spaces and an equitable school system. World War II intruded into their lives; young men and women left West Texas and saw the world. In North Africa, Sicily, Normandy, France, Germany, and the Pacific they experienced themselves as Americans. Upon their return home, they sought the good life, and by joining efforts with each other and a few EuroAmericans they managed to change their destiny.

Throughout the difficulties, Mexican Americans built a community through marriage and fictive kinship networks. Employing religious beliefs and practices, they forged an identity which bound them together and enabled them to gain the good life, albeit the hard way.


MPACT Scores for Maria Eva Flores

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-05-04 19:52:06

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Students under Maria Eva Flores

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None