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Title: Before Chicana Civil Rights: Three Generations of Mexican American Women in Higher Education in the Southwest, 1920–1965
Citation Type: Book, Section
Publication Year: 2018
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Abstract: The history of Latina girls and women in education has been woefully neglected. Standing at the intersection of the historiographical strands of women’s, educational, and Latina/o (chiefly Mexican and Puerto Rican) history, it has been hidden away for decades, surfacing briefly in studies on Chicana rights and contemporary analyses. This chapter examines the higher educational experiences of Mexican American women in the Southwest during the transformative decades between World War I and the Civil Rights Movement. Drawing from U.S. census bureau samples, primary textual sources, digitized oral histories and secondary sources, a thematic and chronological approach is utilized. The first section outlines four broad Mexican cultural and U.S. societal factors impacting higher educational access and completion, particularly gendered aspects. The second section introduces historical vignettes from three generations – Interwar Pioneras (1920–1937); Rosita’s Sisters in the World War II and Cold War Eras (1938–1959); and Incipient Chicanas (1960–1965). The third section discusses methodological challenges to researching Mexican educational history narrowly, and Latina/o history broadly. We further suggest ways in which this history can set the stage for future agendas towards a more inclusive mosaic of American higher education.
Url: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-137-59084-8_11
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Authors: Macdonald, Victoria-Maria; Cook, Alice
Editors: Nash, Margaret, A
Pages: 22
Volume Title: Women's Higher Education in the United States: New Historical Perspectives
Publisher: Springer
Publisher Location: New York, NY
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Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Gender, Race and Ethnicity
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