Racial Frontiers: Africans, Chinese, and Mexicans in Western America, 1848-1890 (Histories of the American Frontier) - Hardcover

De Le�n, Arnoldo

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9780826322715: Racial Frontiers: Africans, Chinese, and Mexicans in Western America, 1848-1890 (Histories of the American Frontier)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0826322719 ISBN 13: 9780826322715

Publisher: University of New Mexico Press, 2002

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Once neglected, racial minorities are now the focus of intense interest among historians of the American West, who have come to recognize the roles of African American, Chinese, and Mexican people in shaping the frontier. Racial Frontiers is both a highly original work, particularly in its emphasis on racial minority women, and a masterful synthesis of the literature in this young field.De Le�n depicts a U.S. West populated by settlers anticipating opportunities for upward mobility, jockeying for position as they adapted to new surroundings, and adjusting to new political and economic systems. Minority groups discarded unworkable political traditions that had followed them from their homelands and sought to participate in a democracy that they trusted would see to their well-being. Many embraced capitalism in preference to the economic systems they had left behind but refused to give up their cultural traditions. The result was a U.S. West of many colors.

Known as a skilled writer, De Le�n tells countless stories of the lives of men and women to guide the readers through his narrative. Personal histories and revealing quotations illustrate the struggles and victories of the newcomers, enriching our understanding of the settlement of the trans-Mississippi West since the middle of the nineteenth century.

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From the Publisher:

Both a synthesis of the recent literature and an explanation of what happened when distinctly identifiable races interacted on the frontier.

About the Author:

Arnoldo De Le�n is the C. J. "Red" Davidson Professor of History at Angelo State University and the author of several groundbreaking studies of Mexican American history.

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