Making Lemonade out of Lemons

Download or read book Making Lemonade out of Lemons written by José M. Alamillo and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2023-03-20 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Out of the “lemons” handed to Mexican American workers in Corona, California--low pay, segregated schooling, inadequate housing, and racial discrimination--Mexican men and women made “lemonade” by transforming leisure spaces such as baseball games, parades, festivals, and churches into politicized spaces where workers voiced their grievances, debated strategies for advancement, and built solidarity. Using oral history interviews, extensive citrus company records, and his own experiences in Corona, José Alamillo argues that Mexican Americans helped lay the groundwork for civil rights struggles and electoral campaigns in the post-World War II era.