View the Table of Contents
Read the Introduction

We Know We're Not White: Author Interview on San Diego Weekly Reader

aGomez sets out to write aan antidote to historical amnesia about the key nineteenth-century events that produced the first Mexican Americans.a A law professor at the University of New Mexico, Gomez takes a three-pronged approach: she looks at Chicano history via sociology, history, and law, using New Mexico as a case study. At the heart of the book is the idea that Manifest Destiny was not, according to Gomez, a neutral political theory. Rather, it was a potent ideology that endowed white Americans with a sense of entitlement to the land and racial superiority over its inhabitants.a
--"La Bloga"

aShows the impacts (then, as now) of the dominant white racist frame coming in from outside what was once northern Mexico.a--"Racism Review"

"[A]n interesting and comprehensive look at what New Mexicans really lost after being conquered by the United States."
--"The Albuquerque Journal"

aGomezas insights into the struggles at play in the nineteenth-century Southwest are extremely relevant for today--a time in which identity politics are still predominant in discussions about culture. . . . With Chicanos making up the youngest racial group in America (34 percent are under the age of 18), the complicated relationship between the U.S. and its Mexican citizens is clearly something that is going to be on the table for a long time to come. Manifest Destinies presents a portrait of the forces that were present when this group was still in its infancy.a
--"Pop Matters"

aAre Mexican Americans a racial or ethnic group? This is the important question ManifestDestinies asks and answers. . . . Marvelous, dense, and richly researched.a
--Ramon A. Gutierrez, University of Chicago

aHighlights the largely neglected history of multiracial populations that, throughout our nationas history, have come together along the frontier. With her analysis of racial ideologies . . . Gomez promises to make a valuable contribution to this literature.a
--Rachel Moran, author of "Interracial Intimacy: The Regulation of Race and Romance"

aAnyone interested in understanding the historical experience of the largest ethnic group in the country will find Manifest Destinies both timely and of great interest. . . . Simply put, her work is first rate in every way.a
--Tomas Almaguer, author of "Racial Fault Lines: The Historical Origins of White Supremacy in California"

In both the historic record and the popular imagination, the story of nineteenth-century westward expansion in America has been characterized by notions of annexation rather than colonialism, of opening rather than conquering, and of settling unpopulated lands rather than displacing existing populations.

Using the territory that is now New Mexico as a case study, Manifest Destinies traces the origins of Mexican Americans as a racial group in the United States, paying particular attention to shifting meanings of race and law in the nineteenth century.

Laura E. Gomez explores the central paradox of Mexican American racial status as entailing the law's designation of Mexican Americans as "white" and their simultaneous social position as non-white in American society. She tells a neglected story of conflict, conquest, cooperation, and competition among Mexicans, Indians, andEuro-Americans, the regionas three main populations who were the key architects and victims of the laws that dictated what oneas race was and how people would be treated by the law according to oneas race.

Gomezas pathbreaking work--spanning the disciplines of law, history, and sociology--reveals how the construction of Mexicans as an American racial group proved central to the larger process of restructuring the American racial order from the Mexican War (1846-48) to the early twentieth century. The emphasis on white-over-black relations during this period has obscured the significant role played by the doctrine of Manifest Destiny and the colonization of northern Mexico in the racial subordination of black Americans.

Researchers commonly ask subjects to self-identify their race from a menu of preestablished options. Yet if race is a multidimensional, multilevel social construction, this has profound methodological implications for the sciences and social sciences. Race must inform how we design large-scale data collection and how scientists utilize race in the context of specific research questions. This landmark collection argues for the recognition of those implications for research and suggests ways in which they may be integrated into future scientific endeavors. It concludes on a prescriptive note, providing an arsenal of multidisciplinary, conceptual, and methodological tools for studying race specifically within the context of health inequalities.
Contributors: John A. Garcia, Arline T. Geronimus, Laura E. Gomez, Joseph L. Graves Jr., Janet E. Helms, Derek Kenji Iwamoto, Jonathan Kahn, Jay S. Kaufman, Mai M. Kindaichi, Simon J. Craddock Lee, Nancy Lopez, Ethan H. Mereish, Matthew Miller, Gabriel R. Sanchez, Aliya Saperstein, R. Burciaga Valdez, Vicki D. Ybarra

An NPR Best Book of the Year, exploring the impact of Latinos' new collective racial identity on the way Americans understand race, with a new afterword by the author Who are Latinos and where do they fit in America's racial order? In this "timely and important examination of Latinx identity" (Ms.), Laura E. Gomez, a leading critical race scholar, argues that it is only recently that Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, Central Americans, and others are seeing themselves (and being seen by others) under the banner of a cohesive racial identity. And the catalyst for this emergent identity, she argues, has been the ferocity of anti-Latino racism. In what Booklist calls "an incisive study of history, complex interrogation of racial construction, and sophisticated legal argument," Gomez "packs a knockout punch" (Publishers Weekly), illuminating for readers the fascinating race-making, unmaking, and re-making processes that Latinos have undergone over time, indelibly changing the way race functions in this country. Building on the "insightful and well-researched" (Kirkus Reviews) material of the original, the paperback features a new afterword in which the author analyzes results of the 2020 Census, providing brilliant, timely insight about how Latinos have come to self-identify.

In an unprecedented demographic shift, Latinos will comprise a third of the American population in just a matter of decades. While their influence shapes everything from electoral politics to popular culture, many Americans still struggle with two basic questions: Who are Latinos, and where do they fit in America's racial order? Laura E. Gomez, a leading expert on race in America, argues that it is only recently that Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, Central Americans, and others are seeing themselves (and being seen by others) under the banner of a cohesive racial identity.

An essential resource for understanding the complex history of Mexican Americans and racial classification in the United States Manifest Destinies tells the story of the original Mexican Americans-the people living in northern Mexico in 1846 during the onset of the Mexican American War. The war abruptly came to an end two years later, and 115,000 Mexicans became American citizens overnight. Yet their status as full-fledged Americans was tenuous at best. Due to a variety of legal and political maneuvers, Mexican Americans were largely confined to a second class status. How did this categorization occur, and what are the implications for modern Mexican Americans? Manifest Destinies fills a gap in American racial history by linking westward expansion to slavery and the Civil War. In so doing, Laura E Gomez demonstrates how white supremacy structured a racial hierarchy in which Mexican Americans were situated relative to Native Americans and African Americans alike. Steeped in conversations and debates surrounding the social construction of race, this book reveals how certain groups become racialized, and how racial categories can not only change instantly, but also the ways in which they change over time. This new edition is updated to reflect the most recent evidence regarding the ways in which Mexican Americans and other Latinos were racialized in both the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The book ultimately concludes that it is problematic to continue to speak in terms Hispanic "ethnicity" rather than consider Latinos qua Latinos alongside the United States' other major racial groupings. A must read for anyone concerned with racial injustice and classification today. Listen to Laura Gomez's interviews on The Brian Lehrer Show, Wisconsin Public Radio, Texas Public Radio, and KRWG.

Researchers commonly ask subjects to self-identify their race from a menu of preestablished options. Yet if race is a multidimensional, multilevel social construction, this has profound methodological implications for the sciences and social sciences. Race must inform how we design large-scale data collection and how scientists utilize race in the context of specific research questions. This landmark collection argues for the recognition of those implications for research and suggests ways in which they may be integrated into future scientific endeavors. It concludes on a prescriptive note, providing an arsenal of multidisciplinary, conceptual, and methodological tools for studying race specifically within the context of health inequalities. Contributors: John A. Garcia, Arline T. Geronimus, Laura E. Gomez, Joseph L. Graves Jr., Janet E. Helms, Derek Kenji Iwamoto, Jonathan Kahn, Jay S. Kaufman, Mai M. Kindaichi, Simon J. Craddock Lee, Nancy Lopez, Ethan H. Mereish, Matthew Miller, Gabriel R. Sanchez, Aliya Saperstein, R. Burciaga Valdez, Vicki D. Ybarra.

View the Table of Contents
Read the Introduction

We Know We're Not White: Author Interview on San Diego Weekly Reader

aGomez sets out to write aan antidote to historical amnesia about the key nineteenth-century events that produced the first Mexican Americans.a A law professor at the University of New Mexico, Gomez takes a three-pronged approach: she looks at Chicano history via sociology, history, and law, using New Mexico as a case study. At the heart of the book is the idea that Manifest Destiny was not, according to Gomez, a neutral political theory. Rather, it was a potent ideology that endowed white Americans with a sense of entitlement to the land and racial superiority over its inhabitants.a
--"La Bloga"

aShows the impacts (then, as now) of the dominant white racist frame coming in from outside what was once northern Mexico.a--"Racism Review"

"[A]n interesting and comprehensive look at what New Mexicans really lost after being conquered by the United States."
--"The Albuquerque Journal"

aGomezas insights into the struggles at play in the nineteenth-century Southwest are extremely relevant for today--a time in which identity politics are still predominant in discussions about culture. . . . With Chicanos making up the youngest racial group in America (34 percent are under the age of 18), the complicated relationship between the U.S. and its Mexican citizens is clearly something that is going to be on the table for a long time to come. Manifest Destinies presents a portrait of the forces that were present when this group was still in its infancy.a
--"Pop Matters"

aAre Mexican Americans a racial or ethnic group? This is the important question ManifestDestinies asks and answers. . . . Marvelous, dense, and richly researched.a
--Ramon A. Gutierrez, University of Chicago

aHighlights the largely neglected history of multiracial populations that, throughout our nationas history, have come together along the frontier. With her analysis of racial ideologies . . . Gomez promises to make a valuable contribution to this literature.a
--Rachel Moran, author of "Interracial Intimacy: The Regulation of Race and Romance"

aAnyone interested in understanding the historical experience of the largest ethnic group in the country will find Manifest Destinies both timely and of great interest. . . . Simply put, her work is first rate in every way.a
--Tomas Almaguer, author of "Racial Fault Lines: The Historical Origins of White Supremacy in California"

In both the historic record and the popular imagination, the story of nineteenth-century westward expansion in America has been characterized by notions of annexation rather than colonialism, of opening rather than conquering, and of settling unpopulated lands rather than displacing existing populations.

Using the territory that is now New Mexico as a case study, Manifest Destinies traces the origins of Mexican Americans as a racial group in the United States, paying particular attention to shifting meanings of race and law in the nineteenth century.

Laura E. Gomez explores the central paradox of Mexican American racial status as entailing the law's designation of Mexican Americans as "white" and their simultaneous social position as non-white in American society. She tells a neglected story of conflict, conquest, cooperation, and competition among Mexicans, Indians, andEuro-Americans, the regionas three main populations who were the key architects and victims of the laws that dictated what oneas race was and how people would be treated by the law according to oneas race.

Gomezas pathbreaking work--spanning the disciplines of law, history, and sociology--reveals how the construction of Mexicans as an American racial group proved central to the larger process of restructuring the American racial order from the Mexican War (1846-48) to the early twentieth century. The emphasis on white-over-black relations during this period has obscured the significant role played by the doctrine of Manifest Destiny and the colonization of northern Mexico in the racial subordination of black Americans.

An essential resource for understanding the complex history of Mexican Americans and racial classification in the United States Manifest Destinies tells the story of the original Mexican Americans-the people living in northern Mexico in 1846 during the onset of the Mexican American War. The war abruptly came to an end two years later, and 115,000 Mexicans became American citizens overnight. Yet their status as full-fledged Americans was tenuous at best. Due to a variety of legal and political maneuvers, Mexican Americans were largely confined to a second class status. How did this categorization occur, and what are the implications for modern Mexican Americans? Manifest Destinies fills a gap in American racial history by linking westward expansion to slavery and the Civil War. In so doing, Laura E Gomez demonstrates how white supremacy structured a racial hierarchy in which Mexican Americans were situated relative to Native Americans and African Americans alike. Steeped in conversations and debates surrounding the social construction of race, this book reveals how certain groups become racialized, and how racial categories can not only change instantly, but also the ways in which they change over time. This new edition is updated to reflect the most recent evidence regarding the ways in which Mexican Americans and other Latinos were racialized in both the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The book ultimately concludes that it is problematic to continue to speak in terms Hispanic "ethnicity" rather than consider Latinos qua Latinos alongside the United States' other major racial groupings. A must read for anyone concerned with racial injustice and classification today. Listen to Laura Gomez's interviews on The Brian Lehrer Show, Wisconsin Public Radio, Texas Public Radio, and KRWG.