![]() ![]() By focusing on how Mexicans created their neighborhoods and, as a result, remade the city as a whole, Amezcua offers not only a tale of residential segregation but a look at how that segregation was opposed through coalition building, increased political influence, and barrio capitalism. Where white Chicagoans saw postwar deindustrialization, capital flight, and dwindling property values, Mexican Americans saw an opportunity to turn housing vacancies and unstable neighborhoods into stable Mexican colonias during the 1960s and ’70s. But it was also driven by individuals like Anita Villarreal, a real estate agent and political broker who makes an appearance in nearly every chapter of the book, as well as groups like the Mexican American Democratic Organization and the Pilsen Neighbors Community Council. As he shows, the Mexicanization of neighborhoods like the Near West Side and Little Village was not the result of natural processes it was the product of residential segregation, postwar immigration, and urban renewal. First, he wants to retell the story of how Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans helped transform communities throughout Chicago. In Making Mexican Chicago, Amezcua sets out to accomplish two things. Ultimately, he provides critical insights into how Mexicans and Mexican Americans fought for inclusion-residentially, politically, economically, and culturally-in the Windy City. ![]() Ramos-Zayas’s Latino Crossings and Lilia Fernández’s Brown in the Windy City, examine Mexicans and Puerto Ricans alongside one another, Amezcua is interested in situating the “Mexican experience” and “its everyday contests over neighborhoods, segregation, and the white defense of property rights” in a broader multiracial and multiethnic narrative. Whereas other important works on Latinx Chicago, such as Nicholas De Genova and Ana Y. Taking his readers on a walking tour of Pilsen, as well as Little Village, the Near West Side, and Back of the Yards, Amezcua chronicles how these neighborhoods, in the aftermath of World War II, became the nucleus of Chicago’s emergence as a Mexican metropolis. The story of how a place like 1831 South Racine went from being the Howell House to Casa Aztlán to Pilsen Coliving is the focus of Making Mexican Chicago: From Postwar Settlement to the Age of Gentrification, a new book by Georgetown University historian Mike Amezcua. ![]() For the 40-plus years of its existence, Casa Aztlán was arguably the cultural and political capital of Mexican Chicago. Incorporating a dazzling array of colors and concepts, the murals that covered the outside walls were influenced by Aztec symbolism, revolutionary figures, and the militant spirit that was alive throughout the city and country. Casa Aztlán’s exterior became a canvas for muralists who created radiant pieces of art. In 1970, community activists replaced and renamed it Casa Aztlán, and it was soon a space for activists to build coalitions, rally against police brutality, organize against the criminalization of immigrants, and provide essential services to the Pilsen community. ![]() It was christened the Howell Neighborhood House and provided services to recent European immigrants. The structure at 1831 South Racine was built in 1905 by the Women’s Presbyterian Society for Home Missions. Making Mexican Chicago: From Postwar Settlement to the Age of Gentrification ![]()
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