Essays on Zoot-suit

The source describes the Zoot Suit riots from their origin in Los Angeles and the culture they were related to. The photo “Los Angeles Zoot: Race “Riot,” the Pachuco, and Black Music Culture” found in the Journal of African American History, is written by Douglas Henry Daniels. The photo has elaborated the zoot suit riots in details presenting the readers with a detailed story from the history. According to The photo, Zoot Suit riots were associated with the black race and they reflect the present age. The photo illustrated the brutality of the Los Angeles Police Department on the ...

A Pachuco is viewed as a Mexican or a Mexican-American, who has a flamboyant lifestyle. This can be seen through how he dresses when going out to make merry and is usually accompanied by a Pachuca, who is the female version of a Pachuco. Being well connected in the streets and having a gang life is also a dominant characteristic of a Pachuco. This type of characters can be seen in plays such as the zoot suits and also in Conjunto. An example of a Pachuco in Conjunto is a character named Pichuka who clashes with Genovevo when on ...

1) Conjunto and Zoot Suit both discuss the political complications and difficulties experienced by Latinos in WWII-era California. Conjunto’s primary conflict is the tensions and injustice that arise between Mexican, Japanese and Filipino-American farm workers, demonstrating the unique struggles these underprivileged people must go through. The characters dream of better lives for themselves and their children in America, only to wonder, “Where did my dream go?” (Mayer 53). The racial dynamics of the different characters nonetheless leave them united in their status as racial minorities; even when they argue over who is ‘more American,’ Gene pointedly says, “being ...

World War II made a deep impact on the USA. Although no direct battles took place on the American soil, all phases of American life were affected by the war. The USA took extraordinary efforts to match tactics and strategy with the allies and waged war against the Axis powers consisting of Germany, Japan, and Italy. Within a matter of few years, the country turned into an "arsenal of democracy" producing and supplying the weapons used in the war. The country experienced a total overhaul of social and economic patterns that set a new trend of life in the USA (Unger and Tomes ...

Part I: Zoot Suit Riots

The scope of the Zoot Suit Riots can be traced back to the Sleepy Lagoon Murder trial, a case concerning the death of Gallardo Diaz; a young Latino man, which occurred in August, 1942. While the cause of Diaz’s death remained unknown, Police in Los Angeles arrested close to seventeen Mexican-American suspects. Despite the lack of sufficient evidence, the suspects were charged for murder and held in prison without being accorded bail. Ending at the beginning of the year 1943, the trial of these suspects was the primary factor that elicited the Zoot Suit Riots. Mexican-Americans developed resentment as a result ...

The interpretation that the pachuco resistance is tied to the “assimilation to political consciousness Chicano movement of the 1960s and 1970s [] achieved national popularity following Luis Valdez's celebrated play "Zoot-Suit"” (Mazón 118). Like a majority of Valdezs works, a Chicano family in crisis has been dramatized in this play. Although the play revolves around Henry Reyna but he is not the only central figure. Henry has a rather suave alter ego by the name of El Pachuco who embodies the stereotypical “Chicano” and “Pachuco.” Henry is a misunderstood figure in the play, and unlike his familia, El Pachuco brings another dimension to ...

The zoot suit culture was flamboyant embedded in fashion, unique patterns of speech, lindy hop dancing, jazz, swing music and jitterbug among other factors captivating the youth in the 1940’s. In this book, Luis Alvarez explains the relationship between race, region and politics of culture during the World War II in the urban America. He argued that most of the American youth from diverse communities such as African American, Mexican and American youths adopted the popular culture in opposing the commonly accepted modes of youthful behaviors. For example, the dominance of white, middle class expectations and behaviors was ...