This multimedia research project considers the South's historical black-white racial binary and uses anthropological methods to document the place-specific experiences of 23 Latinos living in Oxford, Mississippi. By knowing the history of race in the South and understanding the black-white racial binary, the presence of Latinos creates space for a "separate" or "third" racial or ethnic category in a region so invested in the construction of black or white. . From census data and other case studies of Latino migration and settlement in the South, the conclusion can be drawn that race is slowly becoming less stagnant and more of a spectrum for measuring one's identity; However, these interviews reveal how Latinos are racialized in social, academic, and personal settings by people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds.
I spent most of my life and upbringing in Mississippi, and I am proud to be from the South, in part because of the resilience of communities of color and the welcoming, hospitable nature of the culture; However, growing up in the South is part of it. Through this research, I explore how our simple existence and presence influences views of race in the South and ultimately the United States. Through interdisciplinary methods, this study explores and seeks to understand how the Latino community conforms to or challenges the steadfast view of race and identity in the US.
Initially, this research was to examine how an increased Latino population affects the idea and institution of race in the United States. This is to better understand how Latinos affect the South's historical black-white racial binary.
METHODS
The research questions below guided semistructured interviews and explored the identities and experiences of students living in the South and attending the University of Mississippi. In the questions, I decided to stick to the term "Latino" because it is in the title of the thesis; however, I asked the students which term they would prefer to use to define themselves and also styled it as "Latino". What was your experience at the University of Mississippi and living in Oxford?
How do you think this will affect the way race or race relations are viewed in this country. What challenges do you face at university and at Oxford as a Latino/a/x student? How do you perceive the Latino/a/x population as influencing the idea of race in the South.
NEW DESTINATIONS
Although there has been dramatic population growth of Latinos in the South recently, this wave of Latino migration to the South is not unusual. Beginning in the twentieth century, the South's Latino population began to grow at different times along different trends. In the 1900s and 1920s, Latinos migrated to Mississippi due to the availability of agricultural jobs, such as cotton planters in the Mississippi Delta;
To put all these statistics into perspective, in 2003 Latinos became the largest minority group in the United States, surpassing the African American population, and the Latino population is expected to be nearly 30 percent of the US population. That is why Gloster was our first start in the United States and my father took the opportunity to work with his cousin.”15. Both her parents are from Mexico, and she was born and raised in the United States and spent most of her life and education in Mississippi.
She was born in Texas and migrated with her parents to Gloster, Mississippi, a small town in the southwestern part of the state. Not only did one interviewee have the personal experience of migrating to Mississippi because of family ties, but her family also opened a Mexican restaurant in the small community.
THE CREATION OF “LATINO” IN THE U.S
The volatile history and nature of Latino identity categories reveals the complex history behind ethnic identifiers for Latinos in the United States. This furthered the confusion surrounding the difference between race and ethnicity, and Latinos were unsure of the difference between the two. Latinos were once identified as white in America, but today there is greater recognition of Latino as a separate, homogenous identity.30 The creation of the label, Latino, evolved over time through the systematic internalization and racialization of Spanish-speaking people, from the language which is used in the USA
An example of the systematic racialization faced by Latinos in the black and white South is exemplified in the legislation of the state of Georgia. As a result of legislation passed in Georgia, the Security and Immigration Compliance Act of 2006 (SB-529) and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011 (HB-87), Dominican and Guatemalan immigrants in the Atlanta-Metro area faced greater challenges and legalized discrimination simply based on their Latino identities in the South.36. Because race is so deeply rooted in the South, there is still a need today to racially define groups of people based on appearance and other characteristics of a population's identity.
Despite the construct and role of race in the South, Latinos do not have one specific phenotype, language, or culture; for example, there are people from Latin. to the Americas or of Latin heritage who speak pre-Columbian, indigenous languages; and there are Latinos and Latinos with light hair and blue eyes who would be racialized as white, and other Latinos and Latinos with brown skin and curly hair who would be racialized as black in the American South.
INTERVIEW ANALYSES
When we'd go out to eat and everything, [my parents] would kind of look at each other and they'd look at me and they'd say, 'this is the 1950s. I think that's one of the biggest drawbacks for me is that I think if you're [Latino], you have to at least know some kind of Spanish. Usually I just say I'm Puerto Rican and that kind of sums it up... I don't have that strong stories in Mississippi or in the US, so I guess that's why I don't identify as white.
I don't know what you want me to do.' She made me speak Spanish and I said, 'Okay, but no, because I don't have to prove to you that I am who I am.' That was kind of awkward, but I also knew that she didn't do it out of malice. She had never met anyone who was ever from Puerto Rico... I think it's kind of hard to explain because a lot of people think of race and ethnicity as the same thing. Whenever people saw my mother, they kind of assumed I was white my whole life, especially in Mississippi with a lack of [Latinos].
I kind of started identifying as white—not because I didn't believe I was [Latina]—but I kind of believed that because I didn't look [Latina], I wasn't. I guess [race] wasn't really important when I was in Venezuela because everyone there is kind of the same.
CONCLUSION
But you know, that time when they all came to Ellis Island. Um, so in the neighborhood we moved to, I also had friends and liked the neighborhood, like next door to my home. Sometimes they're like, you know, it's like you look, you look Hispanic, but you can't really see, you know.
On my mother's side, they're mostly white ethnicity, you know, from, from the main region of Ireland. Um, one of the things I've been trying to do is, you know, get the Rosetta Stone, like trying to learn Spanish. And they'll be like, oh, you know, you must have some dark skin, you're you from so and so.
Well, it's just like any culture, you know, I think it's, again, it's a, it's an inclusion kind of thing. I think, you know, yeah, you have to be like, if it falls on, who leads us on. Literally the white population didn't think this was happening here in America until, you know, we had to.
And then the white women would be, oh, but she has an accident, you know, so. Um, and I've asked some of the questions that you know, having Spanish speakers.
