From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America

by Vicki L. Ruiz

From Out of the Shadows was the first full study of Mexican-American women in the twentieth century. Beginning with the first wave of Mexican women crossing the border early in the century, historian Vicki L. Ruiz reveals the struggles they have faced and the communities they have built. In a narrative enhanced by interviews and personal stories, she shows how from labor camps, boxcar settlements, and urban barrios, Mexican women nurtured families, worked for wages, built extended networks, and participated in community associations--efforts that helped Mexican Americans find their own place in America. She also narrates the tensions that arose between generations, as the parents tried to rein in young daughters eager to adopt American ways. Finally, the book highlights the various forms of political protest initiated by Mexican-American women, including civil rights activity and protests against the war in Vietnam.For this new edition of From Out of the Shadows, Ruiz has written an afterword that continues the story of the Mexicana experience in the United States, as well as outlines new additions to the growing field of Latina history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Feminism, Race, Latinx, Womens Studies, Womens

306 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Vicki L. Ruiz is Distinguished Professor of History and Chicano/Latino Studies at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America.

Reviews

[Katie katiek-is-booked · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruiz’s From Out of the Shadows (1998) explores multigeneration cultures, experiences, and contributions of Mexicana, Mexican American, and Chicana women primarily of the southwest United States. The author works to address issues in interpreting voice and power of individuals and communities, while claiming both personal and public spaces across generations. In doing so, Ruiz provides a unique history of, and the experiences of Mexican women in 20th-century America. This history gives readers a new look at 20th-century immigration practices of women from Mexico, while supplying readers with both the manifest and latent functions of immigration policy and enforcement on the southern border. Ruiz surveys women’s border journeys, introducing readers new to the topic to El Paso, Texas as “the Ellis Island for Mexican immigrants” (p. 35) and a brief history of families from Latin America being treated as second class citizens. The author also successfully challenges the common myth that Mexican women were housewives and homemakers only limited to the domestic due to controlling Mexican men. Ruiz presents these experiences, contributions, and lives using oral histories, interviews, newspaper articles, letters and correspondences, as well as archival sources, and later in the book chicana/o studies.
From Out of the Shadows begins with the border crossings and settlement of Mexican families, and the creation of fictive kinship networks and communities that prove central throughout the story. Border agents similar to the East and West coasts stopped solas and other women from crossing the border that they believed to become a likely charge of the state. However women often found methods of crossing the border and indentured servitude was not uncommon on the colonial frontier. Mexican women used settlement houses and resources, some religious in nature though the women often did not convert, utilizing services as needed and making their own decisions. Strict divisions of labor according to gender eventually would become blurred as women were needed to support the family financially as well, and contrary to popular femme coveture practices of Euro-Americans, many Mexican wifes helped manage and ran small farms and often retained half upon marriage.
It is here that Ruiz defines mexicana/o as first generation immigrants, Mexican American as second generation, and chicana/or as third generation. Many settlement houses and communities recognized early that Mexican women were often curators of culture in the home and determined what traditions to pass on, and what new customs to adopt and practice. As such, churches and places like Houchen Settlement House would center their focus on women (sometimes using their children), targeting them for Americanization as the primary producers of culture in their homes. While some communities like that of El Segundo Barrio in El Paso were to develop multiculturally with even many Euro Americans learning Spanish and Mexican customs, Mexicans were still routinely gathered and deported and segregation of cities remained.
While Ruiz proves that Mexican women often contradicted Euro American trends, often having more independence and resources than their white counterparts, though Mexican American girls born to Mexican immigrants still bore the brunt of family honor. Mexican American families often practiced a family wage economy which could limit access to education or material items as resources were pooled. While Mexican mothers would work as a breadwinner or equal wage earner, they still outperformed the second shift at home. Mexican American girls also worked outside of the home, but as they aged they rebelled for their freedom from parental supervision and ability to date - with their chastity often the source of family honor and pride. Ruiz presents readers how through rebellion and open resistance young Mexican American women worked to break free from the social constraints imposed by their parents and communities and towards sexual liberation.
From Out of the Shadows also presents an activist, organizing, and labor history of Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans. Ruiz shows us that Mexican women have a rich labor organizing history that dates as far back as 1903. Through their kinship networks and communities created, many Mexican and Mexican American women also found they had extensive work or labor families. World War II, similarly to much of American history pertaining to other ethnic groups, presented new and greater opportunities for Mexican American women for work and independence. Perhaps though an unexpected consequence of their factory labor during World War II was the unionization of Mexican Americans and the recognition of unions as central to the American work experience, stability, and ability to provide for one’s family. Not only were Mexican American women union members, but also in situations where husband’s unions were on strike but unable to picket, the wives held the line. Throughout unionizing and striking, Mexican and Mexican American women also developed and grew mutual aid societies. Both in unions and mutualistas though women often experienced gendered labor segregation, and where women were not given positions of leadership, they would take them.
In the final chapters the book seems to transition from a historical analysis to a sociological study of current perspectives and events. We read more in depth about the fight for a distinct identity, including through and in popular culture. Readers discover the origins of, and fight for, academic Chicana/o Studies programs and research centers, and the use of student activism and groups to change perceptions, policies, and law. Ruiz uses contemporary Chicana poetry in a feminist analysis and interpretations providing readers the opportunity to experience and feel what the authors are feeling regarding their Mexican and Chicana heritage. Throughout the book, perseverance, determination, networking, and organizing are central themes. Ruiz uses quotes and interviews of immigrant women, and historical texts to outline her story and the women she highlights. Overall, the book provides readers with an opportunity to learn more about Mexican, Mexican American, and Chicana history and contemporary issues, while recognizing the need for more books and studies like this.

[Lizzy Rideout · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It's pretty dense, but not in an off-putting way so much as an economical way. It's short- less than 200 pages- but really teaches a lot about the women coming from Mexico or of Mexican heritage and what they did to not only support their families and make life possible for their families and their communities. It was very well researched and had a little bit of a personal touch by the author, which I felt gave it that much more meaning and passion. The footnotes are extensive, so you can really follow where she got her information and add more books to your reading list if you want to follow the subject further. I borrowed this book from a friend who had marked it all up and wrote little notes in the margins, and I loved reading it that way. I think my favorite part about it was that it really showed how all these women made something better out of their lives of poverty, misogyny, and racism, and I'm definitely taking notes on how to move forward in the world today.

[Lilya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notes:
- 500,000 US citizens deported and expatriated to Mexico
- Mexican daughters reconciling their fight for autonomy with their desire for parental approval ? What a shocker !
- LULAC only proved that it doesn’t matter how well you speak English or if you’re legally “white”, assimilation doesn’t work when people (white) are actively trying to shut you out
- use of the term “female” to dehumanize women (esp woc)
- intersectionality of a Mexican familial culture and feminism
- it’s not just white men who fetishize Mexican women, liberal white feminists loved the idea of Mexican feminists but only when they stayed in their place (working for them not with them)
- calling off your engagement because your fiancé was a scab ? Elsa Chávez what a woman you are !

[Stephanie Bolivar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite the dry read but it contained a lot of interesting information about the Latina experience. I thought the part about the activism was interesting but was sad that many of the women activists were not seen as equals by their male counterparts even though they played a big role in fighting for better wages and more rights
Also, it was interesting that women were required to have chaperones when dating just as they did in their countries of origin. Sad that dating was so restrictive for Latinas it led them to get married early as it still does today for some.

[Valeria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cool. Also, pretty cool that I’ve met 3 of the people in this book. Did not know there were that few Mex-American women with PhDs in history

[Chloe Levy · Rating 2 out of 5]

i want to give it a 2.75 cause its not bad at all i just think there’s more recent literature :)

[Sandra Oldfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great overview--wish she has spent more time on Delores Huerta, but I really appreciated that the author spent much more space in the time before WWII

[Phoebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

thesis

[LA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for Hawes Thematic Studies: Fall 2005; Sherman: US Since 1945- Fall 2005
Discusses movement of Mexican women to US. Also some court cases, but is not complete. Strikes, oppression by white employers, but too often puts these women in the role of the victim. (11-6-2005)


My 2nd time reading and I enjoyed it even more this time than the first time around. It's incredibly useful as it has an extensive literature review in about chapter 2, as well as a number of charts in the appendix for easy reference of relevant data. This is a quality book that is a wonderful example of how history is "done." It also has a number of really nice photos. Will use if I get to teach Lat Am Women's History.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit pretentious at times but still useful if you're interested in the subject area.

The "pretentious" tendency that I noted is only a bother when you see Ruiz allude to some "bigger picture" cause without fully explaining either the cause or why she chooses to include it when discussing a seemingly unrelated issue... This kind of just leaves you feeling like you're holding loose ends as you read through the book - like perhaps there is something bigger out there that Ruiz would like to get to, but that she doesn't quite know what that something is yet.

[Anel Bravo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a concise account of Mexican-American women forging their own way in different arenas of their lives. From societal to labor relations, Ruiz does an excellent job of articulating Mexican-American women's lives in the 20th Century.

My favorite sections are the depictions of young girls quietly rebelling against expectations and of course the visceral and poignant labor struggles.