Boyle Heights: How a Los Angeles Neighborhood Became the Future of American Democracy (Volume 59) (American Crossroads)

The radical history of a dynamic, multiracial American neighborhood. "When I think of the future of the United States, and the history that matters in this country, I often think of Boyle Heights."—George J. Sánchez The vision for America's cross-cultural future lies beyond the multicultural myth of the "great melting pot." That idea of diversity often imagined ethnically distinct urban districts—the Little Italys, Koreatowns, and Jewish quarters of American cities—built up over generations and occupying spaces that excluded one another. But the neighborhood of Boyle Heights shows us something altogether different: a dynamic, multiracial community that has forged solidarity through a history of social and political upheaval. Boyle Heights is an in-depth history of the Los Angeles neighborhood, showcasing the potent experiences of its residents, from early contact between Spanish colonizers and native Californians to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, the hunt for hidden Communists among the Jewish population, negotiating citizenship and belonging among Latino migrants and Mexican American residents, and beyond. Through each period and every struggle, the residents of Boyle Heights have maintained remarkable solidarity across racial and ethnic lines, acting as a unified polyglot community even as their tribulations have become more explicitly racial in nature. Boyle Heights is immigrant America embodied, and it can serve as the true beacon on a hill toward which the country can strive in a time when racial solidarity and civic resistance have never been in greater need. The radical history of a dynamic, multiracial American neighborhood.

“When I think of the future of the United States, and the history that matters in this country, I often think of Boyle Heights.”—George J. Sánchez

The vision for America’s cross-cultural future lies beyond the multicultural myth of the "great melting pot." That idea of diversity often imagined ethnically distinct urban districts—the Little Italys, Koreatowns, and Jewish quarters of American cities—built up over generations and occupying spaces that excluded one another. But the neighborhood of Boyle Heights shows us something altogether different: a dynamic, multiracial community that has forged solidarity through a history of social and political upheaval.

Boyle Heights is an in-depth history of the Los Angeles neighborhood, showcasing the potent experiences of its residents, from early contact between Spanish colonizers and native Californians to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, the hunt for hidden Communists among the Jewish population, negotiating citizenship and belonging among Latino migrants and Mexican American residents, and beyond. Through each period and every struggle, the residents of Boyle Heights have maintained remarkable solidarity across racial and ethnic lines, acting as a unified polyglot community even as their tribulations have become more explicitly racial in nature. Boyle Heights is immigrant America embodied, and it can serve as the true beacon on a hill toward which the country can strive in a time when racial solidarity and civic resistance have never been in greater need. "This is a history of a Los Angeles community that represents cross-cultural possibility in America's future. The history of Boyle Heights tells an important story of neighborhood strength because of its diversity and a constant stream of newcomers to Los Angeles, who become absorbed into the life of the city in ways that were both accommodating and complicated. It is clear that the residents of the neighborhood developed a unique identity that set them apart from the rest of the city, even while intense racialization was occurring among the various groups that made up the local population. Migrants to the United States learned what it meant to be American in Boyle Heights, as newcomers to Los Angeles learned what it meant to be Angelino. Even as the neighborhood changed dramatically over time because of larger racial and economic forces that fostered concentrated poverty and other unstable life conditions, a communal and progressive spirit prevailed in Boyle Heights that continued to define the promise of the American dream for all who lived there. This book is organized chronologically, with each chapter focusing on the interaction between different groups that made up the Boyle Heights population"-- Provided by publisher Frontmatter Contents Maps and Illustrations Preface 1. A Multiracial Map for America 2. Making Los Angeles 3. From Global Movements to Urban Apartheid 4. Disposable People, Expandable Neighborhoods 5. Witness to Internment 6. Exodus from the Eastside 7. Edward R. Roybal and the Politics of Multiracialism 8. Black and Brown Power in the Barrio 9. Creating Sanctuary 10. Remembering Boyle Heights Time Line Mayor and City Council Lists Notes Bibliography Index Backmatter