Latinos & Latinas in WWII

World War II was a major turning point for U.S. Latinos, changing the worldviews of an entire generation. Many Latino soldiers returned home to find the same discrimination they had left behind; they began questioning a system that held Latinos to a lower status. Many veterans used the G.I. Bill to earn a college education. Latinas who worked in military installations and in other jobs previously denied them also questioned the status quo. Some Mexican citizens were brought in to fill jobs left vacant by departing soldiers. Few lives were left untouched--even those men who were unable to join the fighting forces would never be the same. In the following years, these men and women made astounding civil rights advancements for their people--in school desegregation, in voting rights, in basic civil rights. Powerful organizations grew out of this era, including the G.I. Forum and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Sadly, the stories of these men and women have been virtually untold, either in the mass media or in scholarly writing. The main problem has been the small numbers of U.S. Latino journalists, scholars and other writers who would document the stories of this generation. This project seeks to capture the stories of these men and women. This project is being organized by the University of Texas at Austin Department of Journalism. Check their stories here.