Fighting Their Own Battles

Mexican Americans, African Americans, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Texas

Bibliographic Data

ID19929919
AuthorsBrian D Behnken (corresponding author)
Year2011
Pages367
Publication date2011-05-02
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueFighting Their Own Battles: Mexican Americans, African Americans, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Texas (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherUniversity of North Carolina Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.5149/9780807877876_behnken
OpenAlexW4250212550
Open LibraryOL24914770M
ISBN9780807877876
LanguageEN
Citations received12

Between 1940 and 1975, Mexican Americans and African Americans in Texas fought a number of battles in court, at the ballot box, in schools, and on the streets to eliminate segregation and state-imposed racism. Although both groups engaged in civil rights struggles as victims of similar forms of racism and discrimination, they were rarely unified. This book explores the cultural dissimilarities, geographical distance, class tensions, and organizational differences that all worked to separate Mexican Americans and blacks. It further demonstrates that prejudices on both sides undermined the potential for a united civil rights campaign. Coalition building and cooperative civil rights efforts foundered on the rocks of perceived difference, competition, distrust, and, oftentimes, outright racism. The author's in-depth study reveals the major issues of contention for the two groups, their different strategies to win rights, and significant thematic developments within the two civil rights struggles. By comparing the histories of these movements in one of the few states in the nation to witness two civil rights movements, the author bridges the fields of Mexican American and African American history, revealing the myriad causes that ultimately led these groups to “fight their own battles.”

Ballot · Civil rights · Distrust · Political science · Politics · Racism · Sociology · State (computer science) · Voting · Witness · Gender Studies · Law · Race, History, and American Society · 20th century · African Americans · African Americans_Civil Rights · Civil rights movements · ethnic relations · History · Mexican Americans · Race relations · Relations with Mexican Americans · School integration · Texas · united states

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