The Transnational Defence of Mexican American Children’s Rights in Depression-era California

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article is a comparative event study of a series of children’s rights disputes concerning the Mexican American community in California during the Great Depression. To stand up against abuses in reformatory schools, eugenic sterilisation and school segregation, Mexican Americans pursued a variety of strategies which reflected the dualities of Mexican American identities. These events demonstrate that Mexican origin struggles and advocacy for their children's rights were not just reactionary or localised but part of a historical tradition. Furthermore, the article underlines the vitality of the study of children and childhood to the study of Civil Rights in Chicanx/Latinx Studies.