ABOUT THIS BOOK

The first book-length study of Latina/o experiences in World War II over a wide spectrum of identities and ancestries—from Cuban American, Spanish American, and Mexican American segments to the under-studied Afro-Latino experience—Latina/os and World War II probes the controversial aspects of Latina/o soldiering and citizenship in the war, the repercussions of which defined the West during the twentieth century. The editors also offer a revised, more accurate tabulation of the number of Latina/os who served in the war.

Spanning imaginative productions, such as vaudeville and the masculinity of the soldado razo theatrical performances; military segregation and the postwar lives of veterans; Tejanas on the homefront; journalism and youth activism; and other underreported aspects of the wartime experience, the essays collected in this volume showcase rarely seen recollections. Whether living in Florida in a transformed community or deployed far from home (including Mexican Americans who were forced to endure the Bataan Death March), the men and women depicted in this collection yield a multidisciplinary, metacritical inquiry. The result is a study that challenges celebratory accounts and deepens the level of scholarly inquiry into the realm of ideological mobility for a unique cultural crossroads. Taking this complex history beyond the realm of war narratives, Latina/os and World War II situates these chapters within the broader themes of identity and social change that continue to reverberate in postcolonial lives.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez is Associate Professor of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and the founder and director of the U.S. Latino & Latina World War II Oral History Project (now Voces Oral History Project). Her previous books include, most recently, Beyond the Latino WWII Hero: The Social and Political Legacy of a Generation.

B. V. Olguín is Associate Professor of English at the University of Texas at San Antonio. A poet, translator, and literary critic, he is the author of La Pinta: Chicana/o Prisoner Literature, Culture, and Politics.

REVIEWS

"Superb . . . the wide-ranging and substantive history that we have been lacking."

— Mario T. Garcia, Professor of Chicano Studies and History, University of California at Santa Barbara

"Offers a perspective on the Latino experience that goes beyond the usual southwestern or Texas narratives of Mexican Americans, [and] it raises important questions about race from the Afro Cuban and Afro Puerto Rican perspectives."

— Richard Griswold del Castillo, Professor Emeritus of History, San Diego State University

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface: Navigating Bureaucratic Imprecision in the Search for an Accurate Count of Latino/a Military Service in World War II

Karl Eschbach and Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Mapping Latina/o Mobility, Agency, and Ideology in the World War II Era

Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez and B. V. Olguín

Part I. Ideological Mobility

Chapter 1. Ybor City Goes to War: The Evolution and Transformation of a “Latin” Community in Florida, 1886–1950

Gary R. Mormino

Chapter 2. Pvt. Evelio Grillo and Sgt. Norberto González: Afro-Latino Experiences of War and Segregation

Frank André Guridy

Chapter 3. Higher Education, the GI Bill, and the Postwar Lives of Latino Veterans and Their Families

Angélica Aguilar Rodríguez, Julian Vasquez Heilig, and Allison Prochnow

Chapter 4. Transnational Latino Soldiering: Military Service and Ethnic Politics during World War II

Luís Alvarez

Chapter 5. “Intellectually He Was Courageous; in Public Action He Was Cautious and Prudent”: A Reassessment of Carlos E. Castañeda’s Wartime Service

Marianne M. Bueno

Part II. Cultural Agency

Chapter 6. The Mexican Voice Goes to War: Identities, Issues, and Ideas in World War II–Era Mexican American Journalism and Youth Activism

Félix F. Gutiérrez

Chapter 7. “Capitán, ¿a qué huele la sangre?”: Mexicana/o Vaudeville and Militarized Citizenship during World War II

Peter C. Haney

Chapter 8. “Con dolor de corazón”: Militarization and Transracial Recognition among Mexican Americans and Filipinos in the Bataan Death March

Jordan Beltrán Gonzales

Chapter 9. Tejanas on the Home Front: Women, Bombs, and the (Re)Gendering of War in Mexican American World War II Literature

Patricia Portales

Chapter 10. Interrogating the Soldado Razo: Masculinity, Soldiering, and Ideology in Mexican American World War II Memoir and Theater

B. V. Olguín

Chapter 11. Seeking “America”: A Cuban Journey through the United States and beyond during the World War II Era

Gerald E. Poyo

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Author Biographies

Index