Hispanics in Kansas

Kansas shares a long history with Mexico and its people. Until the 1500s, the land we now call Kansas was home to many American Indians who farmed and built grass lodges or hunted and moved across the prairie with the seasons. When Spanish explorers arrived in North America, they settled in the southern territory of Mexico, ruling over the American Indians who lived there. In 1539 the governor of Mexico, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, journeyed north with an army to search for treasure. The small group of men and horses came to "Kansas" in 1541.

French explorers claimed the land west of Mississippi River in the late 1600s but relinquished its claim in 1762 to Spain. "Kansas" was then considered a Spanish territory, as was Mexico. France reclaimed the land in 1800, which it sold to the United States government in 1803 in a transaction known as the Louisiana Purchase, making "Kansas" part of United States territory. A border drawn in 1819 between Spanish and U.S. lands left the southwestern corner of "Kansas" under Spanish rule.

Though Hispanic traders came to the area centuries ago, the first large influx of Mexicans was from 1900-1910 when the railroads needed inexpensive laborers to build and maintain their tracks. Immigration from China and Japan had been restricted, but there were no limits on Mexican immigrants. They brought with them a culture that is a blend of their Spanish and American Indian heritages.

At the same time workers in Mexico were losing their jobs because of the depressed economy there. Representatives from U.S. employment agencies met the Mexican workers in El Paso and transported them to jobs in the middle and southwestern states. The largest employer of these immigrants in Kansas was the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, although the growing sugar beet industry in Finney County; the meatpacking industry in Kansas City; and the salt mines in Hutchinson, Lyons, and Kanopolis also hired the transplanted workers.

These early immigrants tended to be rural, uneducated, and unskilled men who could perform hard manual labor. Often they left their families in Mexico to work in Kansas from spring to October, returning home during the winter months. In Shawnee County in 1910, men outnumbered women 12 to 1 in the Hispanic population. The Mexican workers were not allowed to live away from the Santa Fe shops in Topeka and they formed a camp by the railroad tracks. In 1909 they were moved to an area in the Santa Fe yards on Sixth Street by Shunganunga Creek that came to be known as "Little Mexico." The housing was a crowded mix of boxcars and flimsy shacks. "Little Mexico" was razed in 1939 but little was done to provide improved housing for the workers.

Additional emigration was spurred by the political instability in Mexico from 1910-1920 and the workers who were already here were less inclined to return home. This, coupled with the labor shortage created by World War I and the restrictions on European immigration that were in effect, swelled the number of Mexicans in Kansas to 13,770 by 1920. By this time, the workers' families were beginning to join them and real communities started to form. Where they were not welcomed in the existing churches, they established their own parishes and organized fiestas and other events that centered around the church. Chanute's Mexican American community began to hold its fiesta in 1917. Topeka's fiesta, which dates back to 1932, was attended by 20,000 people over a two-day period in 1938.

These communities functioned as support networks. Workers already living here opened their homes to newly arriving relatives and friends until they could save enough money to live on their own. In Topeka in 1920, a large group of young Mexican men formed a support group called the El Diamante Club. They sponsored a baseball team and a football team, and held dances at the Metropolitan Hall. The club offered classes in English, Spanish, and arithmetic.

By 1930 the number of Mexican immigrants in Kansas was second only to the Germans.The largest communities formed in Kansas City, Topeka, Emporia, Wichita, and Garden City. In response to the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Kansas government encouraged the railroads to fire Mexican workers and deport them, even if they had lived here all their lives.The Santa Fe railroad recognized their value to the company and fought to keep its work crews. Still, during the 1930s in Kansas City, the Hispanic population of 10,000 shrank to 2,500, with most of the unemployed returning to Mexico.

Upward mobility came slowly for the Mexican American population in Kansas.Their communities remained separated from mainstream society because of the discrimination against them in housing, jobs, and education, plus their desire to preserve their own culture. In 1925 only 6 percent of Topeka's Hispanics owned their own housing, compared to 95 percent by the 1960s. Most of the early workers lacked the training and language skills to advance beyond low paying positions requiring manual labor. The young men often had to leave school to help support their families. In a break with tradition, women often found work outside the home to supplement their incomes.

At the end of the depression, war once again created a labor shortage and Mexican American workers made new gains. Starting in 1941-1942, the Santa Fe workers were allowed to enter the American Federation of Labor union and more of them advanced into skilled positions. An increasing number of the immigrants applied for U.S. citizenship and a large proportion of the Hispanic population fought in World War II. More than 300 Mexican Americans from Topeka enlisted. Fifty-two men from the Mexican American community in Florence, Kansas, a town of 800 people, joined the service.This raised their status in the communities and gave them access to veteran's benefits like the G.I. Bill, although they still faced discrimination when they returned home.

The flood of 1951 devastated the Mexican American communities in Topeka and Kansas City because of their close proximity to the Kansas River. The homes, businesses, and churches they had worked for years to accumulate had to be rebuilt and repaired. In spite of this setback, the social and economic conditions of Kansas' Mexican American population have steadily improved since World War II. With more education and training, they were able to advance to better positions with the railroads and into other occupations.

Hispanics are the fastest growing ethnic group in Kansas. One of the most recent growth areas has been in the meatpacking businesses that starting moving to southwest Kansas in the 1960s. From 1970-1980 the Hispanic population in the state increased by 35 percent. The latest arrivals are employing the same strategies that the earlier immigrants used to nurture their new communities.