"The 'Invisible Hispanic Community' and the Politics of Counting Undocumented Immigrants in the 1980 Census," Benjamin Francis-Fallon
This paper examines the emergence of the movement to exclude undocumented immigrants from the U.S. decennial census. It explores how a pathbreaking Latino mobilization for a complete count of Hispanics in 1980 fueled this countermovement, which used the census to nationalize fear of undocumented people and stimulate anti-Latino sentiment even in places with negligible Latino populations. The paper evaluates the countermovement’s legal and legislative strategies. And it analyzes how its restrictionist claims paired eugenics-era ideas about immigrant disloyalty with civil rights rhetoric, and sought to make aliens’ “statistical separability” a first step in pursuit of their physical separability from the country.
"Chicanas and La Raza Unida Party: Political Representation in Government during the 1970s," Tiffany González
This paper examines how Chicanas of La Raza Unida Party were central for the recruitment of Chicanas to get involved in government beyond the third party. Chicanas saw themselves as an important political constituency with skills and capabilities that could change the course of activism. Therefore, Chicanas pushed for women’s political representation within the third party and participated in a national women’s organization to create greater awareness about the need for Chicanas in government.
Respondent: David Gutiérrez, UC San Diego