Forgotten People: A Study of New MexicansPublished originally in 1940, Forgotten People is a classic of Depression-era social protest scholarship. Directly challenging Turnerian frontier history, Sanchez argues that conquest, marginalization, and impoverishment have dominated the history of Spanish-speaking New Mexicans since the Mexican-American War. Ninety years of social and economic marginalization defined Mexican-Americans as a distinct indigenous group. Anglo educational systems culturally discriminated against Spanish-speaking children, while federal and state land policy economically strangled New Mexican families. Focusing his study on Taos County, New Mexico, during 1938 and 1939, Sanchez holds that the federal government should recognize the unique history and place of Spanish-speaking citizens in the Southwest and create educational and economic programs to empower and acculturate them. |
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achieve acres activities adapted administration agencies agricultural American fold American Occupation Arroyo Hondo average cent centuries church civic colonial colonists condition Conquest constitute coöperative cultural economy of Spain effect environment farm farmers Father Martínez federal fields fiestas forces frontier grade grade education grazing handicap Harwood high school home demonstration worker improvement isolation Juan de Oñate lack land grants leaders leadership less limited ment Mexican Mexico Mora native needs organization Peñasco political population present problems progress public schools public service Pueblo Pueblo Revolt pupil Ranchos de Taos reforms region Rio Arriba Rio Arriba County rural schools Santa Fe school system serve settlement settlers situation social and economic society Socorro Soil Conservation Service Spanish Spanish descent Spanish-speaking spoils system status Taos County taoseño teachers territory tion traditional Treaty of Guadalupe village center village of Taos vital vocational