1848
|
The
Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty is signed, marking the end of the Mexican War.
For $15,000, the Republic of Mexico agrees to give the United States 525,000
square miles of land. Included in the purchase are most of Arizona, Texas,
New Mexico, California, Colorado, Utah and Nevada. Through this treaty,
approximately 78,000 residents of the purchased land become U.S. citizens.
|
1853
|
The
United States and Mexico reach an agreement known as the Gadsden
Purchase. Desperate for land that would help the government build a
transcontinental railroad, the U.S. persuades Mexico to sell approximately
30,000 square miles for a price of $10 million. Included in the deal is
Arizona and New Mexico south of the Gila River. The Gadsden Purchase would
become very unpopular in Mexico, whose citizens were not eager to give up
this land.
|
1872
|
Phoenix
forms a "Safety Committee" for the purpose of protecting citizens
against the "Sonorians." As part of the committee's philosophy, all
suspicious Mexicans deemed not to have legitimate business in the Valley
were to be run out of town.
|
1872
|
Tempe
residents select J. Andrade, a Mexican-American, as the town's first
constable. Andrade is selected informally by residents since the community
has not yet been incorporated.
|
1875
|
Estevan Ochoa becomes the first Mexican-American mayor of Tucson. A
wealthy businessman and politician, Ochoa's prosperous freighting company
supplied Tucson with goods from as far away as Philadelphia. During his
political career, Ochoa also served as a member of the territorial house of
representatives, a Tucson city councilman and a justice of the peace.
|
1877
|
Tucson
businessman Mariano Guadalupe Samaniego is first elected to the
territorial house of representatives, marking the beginning of a long
political career. In all, Samaniego would serve in four territorial
legislatures. He was also a city councilman, a county supervisor and an
original member of Arizona's Board of Regents.
|
1881
|
Henry
Garfias becomes the highest elected Mexican American official in the
Valley during the 19th century when he is elected Town Marshal of Phoenix.
Garfias would also serve in a number of other city offices: constable, town
assessor, tax collector and street superintendent. Garfias also published
the Spanish newspaperEl Progreso, which helped him reach out to
Mexican voters.
|
1891
|
Arizona's Territorial Legislature abolishes El Día de San Juan fiestas.
Regarded as a saint of water and rain, San Juan was honored in Phoenix each
year with festivities that lasted from June 24 to July 4. Although both
Mexican-Americans and Anglos participated in the fiestas, the Legislature
bans the celebrations, considering them a public nuisance.
|
1894
|
Carlos
Velasco organizes the Alianza Hispano-Americana in Tucson, a mutual
aid and benefit society for Hispanics. The Alianza spreads throughout the
Southwest and Mexico and is one of the first groups to unite Hispanics in
the fight for civil rights.
|
1898
|
Samuel Brown is elected to the Tempe City Council. Born to an Anglo
father and a Mexican mother, Brown wins by a large margin. During his term,
the council appoints G.G. González as constable who, in turn, hires Marcos
Pacho as his deputy. Brown would later be elected as national president of
the
Alianza Hispano-Americana in the 1920s.
|
1903
|
A
workers' strike closes down operations in the Clifton-Morenic mining
district. The protesters, thousands of them Mexican-Americans, oppose the
higher wages paid to native white Americans and northern Europeans. Their
efforts would prove to be unsuccessful as the National Guard and the Arizona
Rangers are called in to arrest and imprison the strikers.
|
1904
|
White
vigilantes in Clifton break into the homes of Mexican-Americans to
remove orphaned Anglo children brought from New York for the families to
adopt. The incident marks a new height in racial tensions.
|
1910
|
The
Revolution begins in Mexico and years of unrest follow. As a result,
thousands of Mexicans flee across the border into Arizona. The Mexican-born
population of Arizona more than doubles between the years 1910 and 1920.
|
1915
|
Approximately 5,000 Mexican-Americans in Clifton-Morenci and Metcalf
participate in a miners' strike against low wages and unfair
practices against their race. The strike lasts almost five months, but once
again, the National Guard is called in and hundreds of miners are arrested.
|
1915
|
La
Liga Protectora Latina is formed in Phoenix, and lodges are later
incorporated throughout the state. A fraternal mutual aid society, La Liga
would later become active in the civil rights movement.
|
1915
|
The
Tempe Grammar School is built. Segregation orders are given by Tempe
Public School Board to separate Mexican children in the Eighth Street School
after the new one is complete. The Eighth Street School now becomes a
training school for student teachers.
|
1915
|
In
Phoenix, priests at St. Mary's Cathedral decide that Mexicans are to
celebrate mass in the basement of a church away from non-Mexicans.
|
1925
|
A court
case prompts the Tempe school district to allow Mexican-American students in
Tempe Grammar School. Though it does not end segregation completely,
parents who fight for their children to attend the school are accommodated.
|
1928
|
In what
is perhaps a response to the discrimination encountered at St. Mary's, the
Hispanic community builds the Immaculate Heart Catholic Church in
Phoenix with money raised from fiestas and bake sales.
|
1942
|
Hispanic
women contribute to the World War II effort with the founding of the
Asociacion Hispano-Americana de Madres Y Esposas, or the
Mexican-American Mothers and Wives Association. Through the organization,
the women publish a community newspaper and raise over $1 million in war
bond sales.
|
1945
|
Tempe's Chamber of Commerce, which owns the town's public swimming pool,
decides to discontinue segregation after a threatened court case.
Mexican-Americans are now allowed to swim with Anglos.
|
1954
|
Residents of Tempe's largest Hispanic barrios are told by state
officials they must leave their homes. The houses are condemned and
destroyed, as Arizona State University uses the land to build dormitories
and Sun Devil Stadium.
|
1955
|
Winslow agrees to discontinue the segregation of the city's swimming
pool. Previously, Hispanics were only allowed to swim on the day before the
pool was emptied and cleaned. After a lawsuit is filed in court by the
Alianza Hispano-Americana, Winslow decides to change its policy.
|
1962
|
César
Estrada Chávez organizes the Farm Workers Association, later to be known
as United Farm Workers. The union would grow to provide tens of thousands of
farm workers with health benefits and pensions.
|
1968
|
The
Mexican American Student Organization is founded at Arizona State
University. Within a month the group organizes student protests against a
linen service used by ASU that discriminated against Mexicans and resisted
unionization.
|
1969
|
Chicano
leaders in Arizona form Chicanos Por La Causa. CPLC is a non-profit
organization with a mission to provide impoverished communities with
housing, education, job training, health care and financial assistance. The
organization speaks out against discrimination in the legal system as well
as housing and educational inequalities.
|
1970
|
Chicano leaders from CPLC organize a boycott of Phoenix Union High
School to protest the school's failure to cope with the high drop-out rate
of Mexican-American students. Chicano parents and students were also
protesting the frequent harassment of Mexican-Americans by African-American
students, and the school's inability to smooth over the conflicts. The
boycott lasted one month, until the school promised to introduce new
personnel and programs to help the problems.
|
1971
|
Romana Acosta Banuelos, a native of Miami, Arizona, is appointed
Treasurer of the United States by Richard Nixon.
|
1974
|
Raul
H. Castro is elected the first Hispanic governor of Arizona. Born in
Mexico, Castro worked his way through school to become a lawyer and
ambassador before starting a bid for Arizona's highest office.
|
1974
|
Margarita Alcantar Reese becomes the first Mexican-American woman to be
mayor of El Mirage, Arizona.
|
1977
|
The
National Coalition on the Hanigan Case is formed to protect the civil
rights of three Mexican nationals who were robbed, beaten, and tortured on a
ranch in Douglas while looking for agricultural work. Three members of the
Hanigan family, prominent ranchers in Douglas, are arrested for the attack.
To the anger and dismay of many in the Hispanic community, the three are
later acquitted of the crime.
|
1987
|
Mexican-American leaders in Phoenix organize a march against a proposal
to make English the official language of Arizona. They carry signs that read
"Yes to English Excellence, No to English Only."
|
1991
|
Ed
Pastor becomes the first minority congressman from Arizona. A
Mexican-American from Phoenix, Pastor wins a special election to replace
Morris K. Udall.
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