Race and Gender in Modesta Gómez, Plan of San Diego, and The Long Journey from Despair to Hope
Overview
This paper analyzes three historical documents to examine how racial and gender injustices in Mexico and the Mexico-US border region shaped resistance movements and social upheaval. The author argues that discrimination based on both race and gender pushed marginalized populations to resist, resulting in revolutions, bloodshed, and demands for equality.
What this essay covers
- Introduction establishing racial and gender discrimination in Mexico and consequences of oppression
- Analysis of racial oppression at Mexico-US border and resistance movements including the Plan of San Diego
- Examination of gender injustices through Castellanos and Marcos texts, showing how women resisted oppression through various means
Preview
Yihe Shen
Prof. Sal
History 3968
Oct 22nd, 2020
Paper 3
Race and gender in "Modesta Gómez" by Rosario Castellanos, "Plan of San Diego" by Anonymous, and "The Long Journey from Despair to Hope" by Subcomandante Marcos
Racial and gender injustices were part of the daily living in Mexico. An unknown person wrote “Plan of San Diego,” but the document outlines the strategies to end racial oppression at the Mexico – US border. The whites discriminated against the Native Americans, Mexican Americans, African Americans, and Asian Americans. Rosario Castellanos’ “Modesta Gomez” describes how gender injustices turned the protagonist into a desperate woman who turns into preying on the lower classes. Modesta, the protagonist, is angry because the wealthy class and her working-class husband snatched her beautiful future because of her gender. In Subcomandante Marcos’ “The long Journey From Despair to Hope,” we see how gender injustices lead to resistance and subsequent revolutions from the affected gender. For a long, women had been forced to submit to men. Three documents outline gender and racial discrimination and the effects the two abuse cases had on people's lives. Any form of discrimination pushes people to a limit where they will resist[1]. Hence, the two forms of injustices resulted in resistance in many cases, including bloodshed and deaths due to resistance. Many instances of racial oppression at the Mexico – US border existed in the colonial period. The whites discriminated against the Native Americans, Mexican Americans, African Americans, and Asian Americans.