Project

The Origins of Mexican Migration

Program

Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowships

Department

History

Abstract

This dissertation examines the emergence of large-scale migration between Mexico and the United States between 1905 and 1945 using qualitative and quantitative sources produced in Mexico and the United States. In addition to describing the experience of migrants, effects of the movement on migrant-sending/receiving communities, and the extent to which government intervention altered the migratory current, it demonstrates how a regional movement evolved into a national phenomenon. As the first historical study to examine Mexican migration simultaneously from the perspective of the home and host country, this dissertation contributes to the historiographies of Mexico, the United States, and migration by situating Mexican migration in a broader demographic, geographic, and historical context.