MACRI Talk: Summer Road Trip - Mexicans in Wisconsin

The MACRI Summer Road Trip continues to Wisconsin with a VIRTUAL MACRI Talk featuring Dr. Sergio M. González, who will share the history of Mexicans in the Badger State.

Our FREE virtual event will stream live on Facebook at https://bit.ly/FB-MACRI & YouTube at https://bit.ly/YT-MACRI on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, at 6 PM Central Time. Just click on your preferred site to join the presentation at 6 PM CT!

→ RSVP at https://www.somosmacri.org/event-details/macri-talk-mexicans-in-wisconsin to receive a reminder for the talk!

MACRI's programs are funded in part by the City of San Antonio Department of Arts & Culture, Bexar County, the Mellon Foundation, the John L. Santikos Charitable Foundation Fund of the San Antonio Area Foundation, Wells Fargo, and individual donors like you! To learn more about future MACRI events and how to make a donation, please visit www.somosMACRI.org. Gracias!

🦡 ABOUT THE TALK 🦡

Trace the diverse journeys of Mexicans to the Upper Midwest and learn about the trials and triumphs of the generations of Mexican immigrants in Mexicans in Wisconsin. From agricultural and factory workers to renowned writers and musicians, the Mexican immigrants who have made their homes in Wisconsin over the past century have become a significant and diverse part of this state’s cultural and economic history. Coming from various educational and professional backgrounds, the earliest Mexican immigrants traveled north for better economic opportunities and relief from the violence and financial turmoil of the Mexican Revolution. They found work in tanneries and foundries and on beet farms, where they replaced earlier European immigrant workers who had moved on to family farms.

As Mexican immigration has grown to the present day, these families have become integral members of Wisconsin communities, building businesses, support systems, and religious institutions. But their experience has also been riddled with challenges, as they have fought for adequate working conditions, access to education, and acceptance amid widespread prejudice. In this concise history, learn the fascinating stories of this vibrant and resilient immigrant population: from the Tejano migrant workers who traveled north seasonally to work in the state’s cucumber fields to the determined labor movement led by Jesus Salas to the young activists of the Chicano Movement, and beyond.

🌟 ABOUT OUR GUEST

Sergio M. González is an Assistant Professor of History at Marquette University. A historian of twentieth-century U.S. migration, labor, and religion, his scholarship focuses on the development of Latino communities in the U.S. Midwest. He is the author of MEXICANS IN WISCONSIN (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2017) and the co-editor of FAITH AND POWER: LATINO RELIGIOUS POLITICS SINCE 1945 (New York University Press, 2022) with Felipe Hinojosa and Maggie Elmore. His most recently published book, STRANGER NO LONGER: LATINO BELONGING AND FAITH IN TWENTIETH CENTURY WISCONSIN (University of Illinois Press, 2024), explores the relationship between Latino communities, religion, and social movements in the twentieth-century Midwest. His current research expands on these themes through two new initiatives. The first examines the history of sanctuary movements in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, exploring the pivotal role religious institutions and people of faith have played in developing contemporary social movements for immigrant and refugee justice. His second project analyzes the central role the Midwest has come to play in the country’s fraught immigration politics, studying the century-long record of anti-immigrant sentiment in the region and the social movements that have risen to combat it.

González extends his academic scholarship into his service commitments by serving on the executive boards of organizations such as the Labor and Working-Class History Association, the Immigration and Ethnic History Society, the Wisconsin Latinx History Collective, Wisconsin Humanities, and the State of Wisconsin Historic Preservation Review Board. As a public scholar deeply invested in questions of labor and immigration justice, he has also served as the co-president of his graduate worker union at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Teaching Assistants Association (AFT 3220); the co-founder of and lead organizer for the Dane Sanctuary Coalition; and as a board member of Voces de la Frontera Action, the political action arm of Wisconsin’s largest and most active membership-based immigrant and worker justice organization.

Views and ideas shared by presenters do not necessarily reflect those of the MACRI, its staff, or funders.