Jack Shams
AP Human Geography
11/15/15
The Big Heart
Chapter 5: Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Sexuality
Thoughts and Ruminations
Essay Question- How do the terms Race, Ehtnicity, Racism, and Succession used in Chapter 5 relate to The Big Heart and how can they be used in terms of talking about neighborhoods in the U.S.?
In New York an interesting aspect of how humans can move to a certain area and take it over can be seen. In the mid 19th century a mass amount of Puerto Ricans began moving to East Harlem. With the the influx of the Puerto Ricans a different race was kicked out. This is called succession. Succession is a process by which immigrants move to a new area and dominate take over the areas perviously occupied by an older group of immigrants. This caused the area of East Harlem to completely change. The Puerto Ricans brought their unique ethnicity along with their culture which left a noticeable imprint on the land around them. They made spanish the primary language in that area and also brought spanish stores and restaurants to Easy Harlem which completely altered the culture there.
While this process of succession can be seen in New York, it is not the only place it happens. In 1980, the population of Houston, Texas was 63% White. In 2013 the population was much more diverse with 41% being Hispanic, 18.4% being Black, and 7.8% being Asian. In The Big Heart, by Tony Perrottet, the huge influx of different races, and ethnicities is a product of the oil drought and a major loss of jobs. Perrottet writes, "Houston was then an overwhelmingly Anglo city...But then the eight decade long Texas oil boom fizzled and the city lost 100,000 jobs mostly among Anglo oil workers." This major loss of jobs allowed caused the economy to crash which completely changed the population patterns in Houston. With this being said, the stereotype of everyone from Texas is a racist rich cowboy shifted to a town that is known for its diversity in race and ethnicity. This is another example of how multiple different races succeeded the White Anglo population that preciously made up Houston.
As time goes on, more and more races and ethnicities will be succeeded. This is a natural process that happens throughout time. With so much in our world changing everyday in so many different places succession can and will happen very quickly and very soon.
Erica Pinto wanted to show how some races have been held back and discriminated against but it is a complex topic that can be hard to explain so she simplified it and used an actual relay race as a wa to depict how some races were treated unfairly then the video went viral and now has over 140,000 views on YouTube.
This map depicts Mexicali which is an area in which two different races and ethnicities have collided. Rather than pushing one of the others out, the two cultures blinded and created a town where a mix of two different races and cultures can be seen.
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