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The Mexican Family

Although Mexicans and Mexican Americans were classified as white for census purposes, they received as much discrimination in housing and service as African Americans. Having to live in specific neighborhoods and entering restaurants in the back and having to sit in the balcony in the movie theaters such as the Nomar. Yet all the immigrants had a strong sense of wanting to be Americans and would endure this treatment. They would sit in the balcony of a theatre to be able to watch an American movies. The immigrants learned limited English, and the 1st generation childern all learned English, most by choice. By the second generation, many were only speaking English and had lost their Spanish language. The loss of the Spanish language was partially the result of the schools forbidding the children to speak Spanish away from the home. At Our Lady's school the Nuns forced the childern to speak English and punished anyone who spoke Spanish at school. In the home the families often spoke English to improve there English speaking ability and hence young members of families often did not get a chance to speak Spanish and the language in second and third generations was lost.