Mexican Life In Gary
Mexicans began to migrate to Gary in 1919. Their reasons for doing so were largely the same as African-American migrants from the South. When it was all said and done, five-million Blacks migrated from the South to the Midwest and east/west coasts. By the end of the 1920s, some 10,000 Mexicans lived in the Calumet region.
Mexicans worked in the steel mills of Gary and East Chicago just the same as blacks. The mills imported thousands of Mexicans to offset the loss of productivity due to militant labor forces and strikers. Like blacks, Mexicans were also hired as strikebreakers. As a result, they shared the brunt of hostilities from angry blue-collar whites. Though blacks experienced similar discrimination, Mexicans were somehow treated worse. It was twice as hard for Mexicans to overcome the scourges of poverty in Gary. Mexicans, being deemed ethnically undesirable, were regulated to ‘The Patch’ with blacks, poor whites, poor Europeans and other miscellaneous classes. As discussed before, ‘The Patch’ was a slum filled with tarpaper shacks, barrack-like buildings, cheaply framed dwellings and the like.
In the earliest days of migration, some unlucky Mexican groups were placed in group homes near the mill. They soon found themselves being subject to mill rules and supervision even while off the clock. They found themselves paying twice as much for more suitable housing and groceries. The double-rates they paid were suitable enough to rent better accommodations within the ‘civilized’ section of Gary. Yet, though they could afford the lowest rents in white neighborhoods — of course they were restricted (unless they provided a large bribe to the agent to say they were from Spain instead of Mexico). Mexicans were harassed by Gary’s police force while walking downtown. They found life in the slums better than living amongst white high society. In the slums they were free, there was no company men spying on them — no harassment from the police.
Life in the slums was hard. There were no municipal services. The lack of housing and zoning ordinances had residents of ‘The Patch’ at the mercy of land speculators, construction companies and the like. The population was packed together tight. Crime was infamously rampant and health problems plagued the area. Mexicans and blacks paid more in rent than poor whites residing with them in the exact same conditions. These were preferred conditions for the first Mexican immigrants to reside in Gary.
Humanist groups from Chicago frequently visited Gary’s slums. They constantly harped on the wretched conditions that blacks and Mexicans had to endure. Their efforts got the Indiana Board of Health to condemn some structures, but even more sound dwellings were filthy, dank, and without plumbing. More often than not, Mexican families had no furniture in their homes — save for boxes that served as dinner tables.
There’s probably a reason why there aren’t many photographs of ‘The Patch’ during the 1920s and 1930s. It’s hard to imagine today living in conditions as poor as the situation in ‘The Patch’ during the 1920s. It’s even harder to imagine those conditions deteriorating even more during the Depression. At least, most folks held some sort of employment in the mills prior to the Depression…albeit — it didn’t mean too much economically. Imagine — during the Great Depression — when these people who depended on checks from the mills having to now scrape and struggle because their jobs were frozen.
Mexicans and blacks in ‘The Patch’ were woefully poor. Not only did they have the misfortune of missing out on capitalizing on Gary’s initial construction — they also came to Gary with no salable skills. On top of that — the few jobs that were hiring during the Depression discriminated against them time and time again. On top of THAT, disease outbreaks in ‘The Patch’ were frequent and hit harder than in other cleaner parts of town. Of course, it was worse for Mexicans — again. Mexican children were severely malnourished. They looked like the starving African children we see on infomercials. It was beyond hard living — it was pure agony and despair. The papers of the time blamed cold weather for the reason why Mexicans were susceptible to getting sick.
White society cared less. They frequently antagonized Mexicans and used government to further subjugate and oppress Mexicans (and blacks). This oppression led to open racial hostilities — that to this day — have barely begun to recover. Hard to believe though both Mexicans and blacks were economically stomped on in the exact same manor by white society — somehow racial hostilities existed between them as well. These are unconfirmed quotes but I’m going to write them anyway because they probably were said.
“The Mexican girl is rather lonely in Gary. The white girl looks upon her as colored — while she in turn regards the colored girl in the same manor she regards the white girl.”
“Americans seem to consider all Mexicans like the famous Villa who was so much talked about of a few years ago…Newspapers are partly to blame…Then, too, because of the very dark color of most Mexicans, Americans have the same racial feelings as they have for the colored.”
Blacks and Mexicans were largely banned from every privately owned entertainment venue in Gary. This began both races bypassing Gary for fun. They would travel to Chicago to see movies or to attend sporting events. Mexicans couldn’t even afford to go to church. Of course they were banned from attending services in white Catholic facilities. However, Mexican churches — who were led by white priests — charged an entry fee and force worshipers to leave money in the plate in order to remain a member. If these fees weren’t paid, baptisms wouldn’t be performed, along with other services like last rites.
There are a plethora of other issues — such as bribing foremen for jobs that allowed upward promotions, foremen picking only light-skinned Mexicans for work and ignoring dark-skinned Mexicans because they “are like niggers”, being laid off first only because one is an immigrant, amongst others. Speaking of immigrants, today’s speak about immigrants was virtually the same during the Great Depression. Gary’s society largely got rid of most Mexicans inside its borders during the 1930s. Mexicans were used as scapegoats for the lack of jobs. Tens of dozens of patriot groups advocated for the forced deportation of Mexican immigrants as the quickest way to end the Great Depression. Mexican immigrants made up 4% of all immigrants in Indiana. Yet it was good ol’ Gary, Indiana that provided 10% of all Mexican deportations.
The relocations were almost akin to the ‘Trail of Tears’ — but modernized. In 1931, Gary politicians basically lied to Mexicans — telling them that Mexico wanted them back and would provide land for them to farm for free and all sorts of other goodies. They also lied to regular Garyites — claiming ridding the city of Mexicans would increase their property values, lower their taxes, cut township costs for poor relief, and other nonsense. The caravans of cars, trucks and bikes — full of Mexicans — were described in the local papers as festive. It was far from festive. Many Gary Mexican repatriates died before ever reaching the Mexican border. The problem got so bad, the Gary International Institute paid for train passes and provided them free for Mexicans who volunteered to leave the city.
Calumet Township trustee Mary Grace Wells provided a plan to rid Gary of all unemployed Mexicans and send them back to Mexico. Calumet Township was near bankruptcy under her watch. So she urged local businesses to provide the township with money to relocate Mexicans. The reward would be basically an IOU that could be used to pay local taxes. The Lake County commissioners authorized the removal of every Mexican family that received public assistance. Then the affected Mexicans were provided free train passes. Several trainloads of Mexicans voluntarily left Gary in this manor…totaling 3,000 roughly. Mexicans couldn’t wait to leave — there was no other way out for them.
The Gary International Institute later withdrew its support for Mexican repatriation a year later, in 1932. It suddenly demanded proof that repatriation was purely voluntary — which it was not. They also wanted proof that the repatriated would be better off in Mexico, that jobs awaited them in Mexico and the new policy — which was quite progressive for the time — of families living in Gary for years not being forced to leave. The Institute was instead provided proof that they were implicated in 111 forced relocations.
“This is my country but after the way we have been treated I hope never to see it again…as long as my father was working and spending his money in Gary stores, paying Gary taxes and supporting us, it was alright, but now we have found we can’t get justice here.” — Unnamed female Mexican immigrant teenager
I could go on and on about the corruption, fraud and just flat out blatant racism spewing forth from Gary’s politicians at the time. It can be damn maddening reading all of these terrible stories. The sad part about it is most people don’t know about them. They walk around here totally clueless to the fact that Northwest Indiana was literally built upon racism as its backbone and the lives we live today largely stem from the consequences of actions performed from this period of time. How many came seeking a better life — only to end up in one that was worse?