Junta Democrática: Californios’ Rejection of Reconstruction in California
Camille Suárez, California State-Los Angeles
During the Reconstruction Era, the California State Democratic Party rejected the federal government’s experiment in racial equality. Enacting white supremacist policies, the party limited the rights of non-white residents. Elite Californios– Mexicans of mixed-race descent nationalized by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo – acted against their best interest, by supporting legislation and political platforms limiting the rights of all non-white people in California, including themselves. This paper examines elite Californio’s dual role as a colonized group and state makers, through their collaboration with U.S. settler citizens. I argue that Californio participation was crucial to California’s implementation of racially-exclusive immigration and legal discrimination during Reconstruction.
Respondent: Benjamin H. Johnson, Loyola University Chicago
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The Newberry Borderlands and Latino/a Studies Seminar provides a forum for works-in-progress from scholars and graduate students that explore a variety of topics in the field. Seminars are conversational and free and open to faculty, graduate students, and members of the public, who register in advance to request papers.