I
n the waning years of the 20th centu-
ry, Hispanic Americans were one of
the country’s fastest growing minori-
ties. By the year 2000 they represented
about 12 percent of the population and
were projected to continue growing rapid-
ly. Though natural increase played a role,
much of the growth in the Hispanic-
American population during this period
resulted from continuing heavy immigra-
tion from Hispanic nations. Many of the
newcomers arrived from Mexico, Puerto
Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic,
places that had been active sources of
migration in the period from 1945 to
1975 as well. But Central America and
South America, which had previously sent
smaller numbers of immigrants, opened
their own floodgates during this period.MEXICAN AMERICANS
The Mexican-American community of
the late 20th century had many faces.
There were the Mexican Americans who
had migrated from their traditional heart-
land in the Southwest to other parts of
the country. There were those who stayed
in the border region, creating a culture
with strong ties to northern Mexico.
There were the second- and third-gener-
ation Mexican Americans, likely to assim-
ilate as other immigrant groups before
them had. But there were also millions of
newcomers from Mexico, many coming
with the required immigration docu-
ments, many without them.A Changing Population
Since World War I, Mexican Americans
had been migrating in considerable num-
bers north from the Southwest to other
parts of the United States. The pace of
this internal migration increased in the
late 20th century. The majority of the
country’s 13.5 million Mexican Americans
(as counted in the 1990 census) still lived
in the Southwest—California, Texas, NewMexico, and Arizona. But other states had
also become home to large Mexican-
American populations.
By 1990 Illinois had between 500,000
and 1 million Mexican-American resi-
dents—the same range as Arizona.
Washington, Nevada, Colorado, Michi-
gan, and Florida each had between
100,000 and 500,000 Mexican Ameri-
cans—the same range as New Mexico. In
numerous states the number of Mexican
Americans was between 20,000 and
100,000; these were as far-flung as Oregon
and Idaho in the Northwest, Iowa and
Missouri in the Midwest, New York and
Pennsylvania in the Northeast, and North
Carolina and Georgia in the Southeast.
While most Mexican Americans of
the early 20th century were migrant
farmworkers, those of the late 20th centu-
ry worked in varied occupations. A dis-
proportionate number labored in
low-skill, low-paid positions, but an
increasing number were in skilled or
white-collar jobs, including college pro-
fessors, teachers, journalists, lawyers, doc-
tors, and bankers. Industries in which
Mexican Americans developed a growing
presence included construction, truck-
ing, oil, garment manufacturing, assem-
bly-line manufacturing, hotel and
restaurant operations, retail sales, gar-
dening, and domestic work.
By the 1970s a growing number of
Mexican Americans were merchants and
entrepreneurs, members of a small but
expanding Mexican-American middle
class. Many of these businesses were
small, barrio-based service operations,
such as restaurants, groceries, and con-
tracting firms. Mexican-American busi-
nesses made up the lion’s share of
Hispanic-American businesses, which
grew by 200 percent in the 1970s and
continued to increase in the 1980s. By the
early 1990s there were more than
800,000 Hispanic-owned businesses.
As Mexican Americans spread
throughout the country, they continued
their tradition of forming community
organizations to provide mutual aid and
political organizations to advocate forA Changing Community
8