La Raza: Forgotten Americans

by Julian Samora

Book Overview

Today in five Southwestern states there are more than four million Spanish-speaking Americans. It is the largest ethnic group in the five-state area of California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado and among the largest minorities in the United States. The action potential of this group is so great that area politicians refer to it as the "sleeping giant."The purpose of this book is to bring together a summary of material about this group...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0268003343
• ISBN13: 9780268003340
• Release Date: October 1973
• Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
• Length: 236 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

some accurate projections

It has been 40 years since Samora published this work. At that time, there were only some 4 million Spanish speaking people in the American Southwest. Now, conservatively, there are over 15 million. But much of the work is still germane. Though some sections are thankfully obsolete. Like the striving for equal opportunity. Remember that the book was written when Jim Crow still ruled the South. There was similar discrimination against Latinos, though perhaps not to the same institutionalised extent. The chapters on migrant farm workers resonate. The working conditions are still often deplorable, with little oversight by the government. The chapter on the emerging middle class was accurate in its projections. This middle class has now largely merged with the "Anglo" middle class.