Title: 
Headings: Mexican Americans and World War II
Mexican
 
Americans
 
and
 
World
 
War
 
II
 

Reading
 
Questions:
 


Content: Mexican Americans and World War II
Mexican
 
Americans
 
and
 
World
 
War
 
II
 
World
 
War
 
II
 
had
 
an
 
enormous
 
impact
 
on
 
Latinos
 
in
 
the
 
United
 
States,
 
including
 
Mexican
 
Americans. Mexican
 
Americans
 
were
 
drafted
 
into
 
or
 
volunteered
 
for
 
the
 
U.S.
 
armed
 
services,
 
where
 
they
 
had
 
the
 
highest
 
percentage
 
of
 
Congressional
 
Medal
 
of
 
Honor
 
winners
 
of
 
any
 
minority
 
in
 
the
 
United
 
States. The
 
war
 
also
 
fueled
 
Latino
 
migration
 
to
 
the
 
United
 
States. As
 
defense
 
industries
 
grew
 
and
 
many
 
workers
 
went
 
off
 
to
 
war,
 
industries
 
experienced
 
acute
 
labor
 
shortages. Women
 
and
 
African
 
Americans
 
entered
 
industry
 
in
 
large
 
numbers
 
to
 
help
 
address
 
these
 
shortages,
 
and
 
temporary
 
workers
 
from
 
Puerto
 
Rico
 
and
 
Mexico,
 
or
 
braceros,
 
were
 
through
 
the
 
Bracero
 
Program,
 
a
 
1942
 
labor
 
agreement
 
between
 
the
 
United
 
States
 
and
 
Mexico. Although
 
the
 
Bracero
 
Program
 
brought
 
Mexicans
 
to
 
the
 
United
 
States
 
to
 
work
 
primarily
 
in
 
agriculture,
 
some
 
workers
 
were
 
also
 
employed
 
in
 
various
 
industries. Over
 
100,000
 
contracts
 
were
 
signed
 
between
 
1943
 
and
 
1945
 
to
 
recruit
 
and
 
transport
 
Mexican
 
workers
 
to
 
the
 
United
 
States
 
for
 
employment
 
on
 
the
 
railroads. By
 
early
 
1945,
 
the
 
bracero
 
population
 
in
 
the
 
Philadelphia
 
area
 
numbered
 
approximately
 
1,000,
 
most
 
of
 
whom
 
worked
 
on
 
the
 
Pennsylvania
 
Railroad. Living
 
in
 
substandard
 
conditions
 
in
 
“box
 
car
 
camps,”
 
the
 
laborers
 
had
 
little
 
contact
 
with
 
the
 
general
 
population
 
and
 
limited
 
access
 
to
 
healthcare,
 
recreation,
 
translators,
 
or
 
legal
 
aid. In
 
September
 
1945,
 
Philadelphia’s
 
International
 
Institute
 
(an
 
immigrant
 
aid
 
organization
 
now
 
known
 
as
 
the
 
Nationalities
 
Services
 
Center)
 
formed
 
the
  
Philadelphia
 
Regional
 
Committee
 
of
 
Mexican
 
War
 
Workers
 
to
 
support
 
these
 
railroad
 
workers
 
and
 
address
 
some
 
of
 
the
 
difficulties
 
they
 
faced.