To Robert K. Carr, President's Committee on Fair Employment Practice, From [Carlos E. Castañeda], Professor of History, May 9, 1947.
Item
Dublin Core
Title
To Robert K. Carr, President's Committee on Fair Employment Practice, From [Carlos E. Castañeda], Professor of History, May 9, 1947.
Subject
LETTERS
PERALES, Alonso S., 1898-1960
CARR, Robert Kenneth, 1908-1976
DISCRIMINATION against Mexican Americans
CASTAÑEDA, Carlos Eduardo, 1896-1958
DISCRIMINATION in employment
ETHNIC discrimination
Description
Letter to Robert K. Carr regarding the employment discrimination suffered by Mexican Americans.
Creator
[Castañeda, Carlos E. ]
Source
Date
1947-05-09
Relation
Format
JPEG
Language
English
Type
Text
Identifier
pera0035
Scripto
Transcription
Copy
[marginalia: 2]
May 9, 1947
Mr. Robert K. Carr,
President's Committee on Civil Rights,
1712 G. Street NW,
Room 208
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. Carr:
It affords me pleasure to send you herewith attached a br[handwritten:i]ef [brief] statement on the problem of discrimination in employment as it affects the Latin American or Mexican throughout the Southwest from Texas to California.
More than twenty years of work in behalf of the Latin American in the Southwest has convinced me that at the base of the various forms of discrimination suffered by them in the political, social, economic and educational fields, lies the economic. This is, in my humble opinion, the real root of the evil.
Refusal to give the Latin American citizen equal opportunities for employment and adva[n]ement [advancement], and the denial of the same wage for the same type of work to members of this group have condemned this segment of our population to a substandard level of living that forms the basis for all other forms of discrimination by which the economic exploitation itself is justified.
Briefly, the Mexican, be he an American citizen or not, is generally refused employment except in [strikeout] certain types of undesirable, unskilled jobs. Furthermore, once employed, he is refused advancement, generally speaking, regardless of his ability. Thus his income is restricted and held below that of the average citizen. The result, he and his family are forced to live in homes that lack every comfort and sanitary device, they are ill dressed, ill cared for,a nd ill fed. They are unable to keep their children in school. Consequently their physical appearance and their education are sub-standard. The commun[i]ty [community] concludes that in a country of equal opportunities a group that remains in his condition is inferior, consequently an inferior wage and an inferior field of advancement are justified.
S[i]ncerely [Sincerely] yours,
Professor of History
[marginalia: 2]
May 9, 1947
Mr. Robert K. Carr,
President's Committee on Civil Rights,
1712 G. Street NW,
Room 208
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. Carr:
It affords me pleasure to send you herewith attached a br[handwritten:i]ef [brief] statement on the problem of discrimination in employment as it affects the Latin American or Mexican throughout the Southwest from Texas to California.
More than twenty years of work in behalf of the Latin American in the Southwest has convinced me that at the base of the various forms of discrimination suffered by them in the political, social, economic and educational fields, lies the economic. This is, in my humble opinion, the real root of the evil.
Refusal to give the Latin American citizen equal opportunities for employment and adva[n]ement [advancement], and the denial of the same wage for the same type of work to members of this group have condemned this segment of our population to a substandard level of living that forms the basis for all other forms of discrimination by which the economic exploitation itself is justified.
Briefly, the Mexican, be he an American citizen or not, is generally refused employment except in [strikeout] certain types of undesirable, unskilled jobs. Furthermore, once employed, he is refused advancement, generally speaking, regardless of his ability. Thus his income is restricted and held below that of the average citizen. The result, he and his family are forced to live in homes that lack every comfort and sanitary device, they are ill dressed, ill cared for,a nd ill fed. They are unable to keep their children in school. Consequently their physical appearance and their education are sub-standard. The commun[i]ty [community] concludes that in a country of equal opportunities a group that remains in his condition is inferior, consequently an inferior wage and an inferior field of advancement are justified.
S[i]ncerely [Sincerely] yours,
Professor of History
Collection
Citation
[Castañeda, Carlos E. ], “To Robert K. Carr, President's Committee on Fair Employment Practice, From [Carlos E. Castañeda], Professor of History, May 9, 1947.,” Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage Digital Collections, accessed October 31, 2024, http://usldhrecovery.uh.edu/items/show/267.