Introduction
As a pivot point in the history, World War II led to significant social changes and the destruction of old formations with a subsequent creation of new ones. This tendency may be traced on the example of Pachucas, Mexican American women whose fight for freedom against patriarchal stereotypes was the characteristic of this period. In her book From Coveralls To Zoot Suits: The Lives of Mexican American Women on the World War II Home Front, Elizabeth R. Escobedo, an associate professor of Latina/o history, focuses on Mexican American women that lived in Los Angeles areas. She argues that World War II gave women, or Pachucas, a lot of opportunities and with that opportunities came freedom, however, they also faced challenges at the same time within the Mexican community and the Anglo-American community characterized by racist laws. The purpose of this paper is to review the book and on the basis of evidence from it and other sources to evaluate how the phenomenon of Pachucas appeared, what social struggles were associated with it, and how these women were able to overcome the odds.
The Phenomenon of Pachucas
In the 1940s, Las Pachucas became highly controversial though noticeable part of American non-white culture. On the one hand, they were admired for their appearance and behavior that demonstrated the non-accordance with gender and racial inequities (Walaszek, 2021). On the other hand, they were condemned for their lifestyle that corresponded neither with national traditions nor with social norms of the United States. As a result, people were afraid of Pachucas, stigmatized them as highly dangerous gang members, and blamed them for crimes they did not commit (Walaszek, 2021). However, the roots of this attitude were in Pachucas’ desire to refuse gender norms that limited women’s rights and seek self-fulfillment and pleasure not accessible for women in the pre-war period as well.
The perceptions of womanhood within a framework of strict gender division that existed in the United States were changed in the 1940s with the outbreak of World War II. Entering it in 1941, the country “quickly mobilized into a total war society” in which women had to contribute to fighting by working in factories (DeLong, 2020, para. 8). In this case, Mexican American women could not agree with their inferior role in the society both as women and non-white individuals. For From Coveralls To Zoot Suits: The Lives of Mexican American Women on the World War II Home Front, Elizabeth R. Escobedo interviewed a few of the people that were once lived in that era to be able to come up to share their personal stories combining them with newspaper, archival and manuscript collections. A few of the keys points that Escobedo touches on were women having the freedom to do what they wanted to do capitalizing newfound opportunities to seek pleasure and improve their lives.
At that time, the Mexican American women, had jobs at the factory that gave them the sense to have their own money that could be spent anywhere on the basis of their own desires and intentions. As the title of the book reveals, the author pays particular attention to Mexican American zoot suits. As the Zoot Suiters, Pachucas rejected both traditional Mexican and American culture, and started to challenge those traditional ideas with the use of their fashion and style characterized by zoot suit jackets, tall hairstyles, short skirts or pants, and dramatic makeup (Escobedo, 2013). By appropriating male clothing, Pachucas introduced gender-queering fashion that argued the expediency of gender norms that limited people’s freedom.
At the same time, Pachucas experienced the pressure of both communities. Both the Mexican society and Anglo-American society blame each other for the causes of the Pachuca’s culture. Among those that were of the same ages, some of the women disliked dressing as Zoot Suiters, however, they were impacted by the society’s negative attitude to Pachucas as well (Fernández, 2014). As a mark of protest against structural racism and gender inequities, Pachucas were involved in explicitly unpatriotic activities by wearing zoot suits even when the standards of women’s dress patterns that presupposed the limited use of textiles were declared by the War Production Board in 1942 (DeLong, 2020). Since stereotyping and segregation exist at this time, to some Anglo-Americans, Pachucas were sexually “active” with the boy gangs (Escobedo, 2013, p. 29). By violating gender norms that presupposed the necessity of women’s chastity, young women were seen as dangerous and controllable. As previously mentioned, sometimes, they were blamed for crimes that they did not commit.
The most famous events associated with prejudice and the social attitude towards Pachucos’ culture were the Sleepy Lagoon murder and Zoot Suit Riots. In 1942, a Mexican American man was murdered near a swimming hole popular among Mexican Americans called the Sleepy Lagoon (Rios, 2018). Almost two dozen Mexican American men identified themselves as Pachucos were arrested for this crime they did not commit. Nevertheless, they stood trial, and the majority of them found guilty (Rios, 2018). As a result, newspapers launched a campaign against Pachucos and Pachucas publishing their random photos and blaming them for this crime, moral decay, and civil unrest. These actions led to Zoot Suit Riots in 1943 characterized by the confrontation between Anglo-Americans and Mexican Americans who dressed and looked like Pachucos.
At the same time, for those women working at the factory mentioned by the author, freedom remained limited by social rules and racist laws. Even if they felt like they finally belonged somewhere and regardless of campaigns such as “American all,” these young women faced inequities and discrimination. The Mexican American women were not treated “equally” to a white woman. However, it goes without saying that these young women inspired by the opportunity to be free and have a better life did not just give up. Joining with the United Service Organization (USO), they created and promoted their own identity through either organizing for fiestas or offering Mexican food and trying to concert their effort to present their “non-white womanhood in a manner palatable to the larger American public” (Escobedo, 2013, p. 120). However, as the time for war progressed to an end, the employment for these young declined. They were the first ones to out of a job because the job that they were working on was “male” jobs only.
Nevertheless, these young women were full of determination to continue fighting for their civil rights. Thus, they got involved with political activism to respond to the inequalities and those that played a role in the organization soon found themselves with “Communist sympathizers” (Escobedo, 2013, p. 135-136). These women not only continued to reshape what it meant to be an American on their own but they shaped their own future as women in this country as well. Since they got to know what freedom felt like, the majority of these young women were not eager to go back to the same domestic responsibilities or a less paying job. Those that could afford the houses with the help of GI Bill moved to the suburb area, however, they could not just move anywhere they wanted. There were certain real estate agents that “engaged in practices aimed at keeping certain neighborhoods ‘white’” (Escobedo, 2013, p. 133). The only way to fight all of these inequalities were to broaden more coalition.
Even at the personal level, Pachucas wanted a change to become more independent. Escobedo (2013) mentions that even if they wanted to get married to someone that they are in love with, they cannot do it. There was the anti-miscegenation law that prohibited Anglo-American to marry individuals of the Mexican origin. It is possible to conclude that after the war, the Pachucas remained discriminated, however, they had more options with time. Even though some families did not approve marriage between people of different groups, that also changed as the time progressed.
Conclusion
To conclude, this book was easy to read. The sources that the author uses to write this book help her accomplish the goal of informing people about Mexican American women. To those readers who are majoring in the history of Mexico or ethnic studies, From Coveralls To Zoot Suits: The Lives of Mexican American Women on the World War II Home Front should be on their bookshelf. The author’s use of oral histories is the substantial strength of this book. Even though I am not majoring in ethnic studies, after finishing reading this work, I felt that it had broadened my horizons. Meanwhile, there were a few things that the author did not cover – for instance, she did say that some of these young women were in school while also working, and the author did not go into detail with it. Since discrimination and segregation were going on at that time, there would also be what type of school they were going to. I was wondering if Los Angeles was divided into different types of neighborhoods. It would be great if she included that, although it is not that big of a deal, I would still like to know which part of Los Angeles Mexican people were living around this era.
References
DeLong, C. (2020). The politics of aesthetics: Las Pachucas and the zoot suit. Web.
Escobedo, E. R. (2013). From coveralls to zoot suits: The lives of Mexican American women on the World War II home front. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
Fernández, L. (2014). Recent histories of Mexican American women and men. Reviews in American History, 42(3), 478-484.
Rios, F. (2018). Zoot suit: A correction to American public memory. American Papers, 57-66.
Walaszek, M. (2021). Las Pachucas: Female Mexican American empowerment through cultural consciousness. Latinx Studies Journal, 12(1), 118-125.