First a review of the book, followed by two excerpts
Review of Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States: author, Felipe Fernández-Armesto
By Roberto Haro
Is it possible for a professor to write an intriguing and provocative book on American history that is entertaining and readable? For some, the answer is no. Many academic historical treatises rely on heavy documentation, and are prepared in an antiseptic writing style that may be targeted for the review of other faculty. Seldom do such books appeal to a broad audience. However, Felipe Fernández-Armesto, a professor of History at Notre Dame University, has prepared a fascinating book about the Spanish role in the development of the United States. His narrative speaks to the reader in an engaging and focused way.
The book is a stimulating challenge to studies written from an English perspective that often gloss over or ignore Spanish contributions to U.S. history. Too many scholarly treatises on U.S. history explain, with extensive documentation, the significance of British and then U.S. culture and leaders in affecting this nation’s establishment and emergence. Armesto challenges Anglophile historiography by deliberately focusing attention on the overt and subtle ways that Spanish leaders and values affected and influenced American history. His book surfaces relationships between the Spanish colonization in the Americas and lasting additions, sometimes subtle, to U.S. culture. One important example is his discussion on how the Spanish presence in Puerto Rico crossed over to the mainland. He presents intriguing examples of how Spain, its explorers and settlers, affected and changed those areas they colonized, from the Caribbean, Atlantic Seaboard, Southwest, and to the Pacific Coast.
A few words about terminology are important. Fernández-Armesto prefers the term “Hispanic.” This may not sit well with those who self-identify as Chicanos, Hispanos, Latinos, and Mexican Americans. However, he explains his preference for Hispanic because it’s the term used by the Census Bureau and other federal agencies. He puts aside Latino, the term The Los Angeles Times has tried to standardize and which many people of Mexican, Central American and Latin American origin use to identify themselves. The controversy surrounding terminology to define a heterogeneous ethnic group like Hispanics will continue to draw attention and even heated discussions. So, it’s important for the author to explain why he uses the term Hispanics.
While Fernández-Armesto’s story is revisionist history, his predilection for Spanish influences engages the reader and compels her/him to put aside Anglophile perspectives. His ideological approach is not as radical or unique as many might think. The brilliant Ronald Takaki, now deceased, wrote several seminal books, including his classic study A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America (Back Bay Books/Little, Brown & Co., 2008) about the role minorities played in American history. Takaki used primary documents to capture and present the voices of groups like Hispanics, offering a balanced account of this country’s development. While Takaki championed a wider thematic frame of reference about transcending the hegemony of Anglo-American interpretations than Armesto, the latter’s book is a refreshing, well documented and focused story.
The book is divided into three main sections. Part One starts with the colonial era, and begins the narrative with the early voyages of Columbus, and how they triggered a significant interest and exploration of the Americas. The second section focuses on the nineteenth century that includes the westward expansion of the young republic and that popular interpretive theme, Manifest Destiny, as a motivator and explicator for this expansion. In it is the story of how Anglo Americans subordinated Hispanic populations in the west, and elsewhere. The third part focuses on the twentieth century that includes discussions of the Hispanic resurgence, particularly in the West that spread to major cities like Boston, Chicago, Miami and New York. The author uses extensive documentation, and in many places, anecdotal interpretations, to justify his challenge to the dominant society’s conventional mythologies about this nation’s establishment along the Atlantic Seaboard by northern Europeans, and how they conditioned the national narrative, often excluding the important contributions of Hispanic and other ethnic/racial groups.
In many ways, the book fills an important niche in American history. It is a compelling invitation to explore and imagine the influence of Spain in America from its inception, to the radical civil rights struggles of this ethnic group during the late 1950s, 1960s and most recently their pressure for immigration reform in the early 21st century.
There are some important extras that need to be mentioned to help the reader find additional information resources and do follow-up. The author references the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley as an important source of primary and secondary information about Hispanics in the U.S. However, it is equally important to identify the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress, the Benson Latin American Collection and the Mexican American Library Programs at the University of Texas, Austin, and the University of Florida Latin American Collection, to mention but a few. These, and other resource centers on Hispanics, are extremely valuable for scholars and informed laypersons interested in identifying and exploring materials about the Spanish contributions to U.S. development. Most of these major repositories have digitalized their resources which can be accessed on-line.
The book begins to lose its legs in the third part. Several writers with significant books on the Hispanic experience in the U.S., and strong correlations to their country of origin are absent. The great Mexican poet and Nobel Laureate, Octavio Paz, in his classic book El Laberinto de la Soledad [The Labyrinth of Solitude],(Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1950) devoted an important section of his book to Pachucos in California. It provides an important literary link between the cultures of Mexico and that of its expatriates in Los Angeles. Rodolfo Acuña’s seminal work, Occupied America (New York: Harper & Row, 1972) needs to be mentioned. Also missing is Victor Villaseñor’s critically acclaimed Rain of Gold (Houston: Arte Público Press, 1991) that presents parallel stories of two Mexican families and their movement into the US. Ilan Stavans’ The Hispanic Condition: Reflections on Culture and Identity in America (Perennial: 1996) is a valuable story that should be included in Armesto’s book.
The border between Mexico and the U.S. continues to be a noteworthy issue for many writers, and a significant theme to depict differences, and more appropriately similarities between the nations. Carlos Fuentes did a masterful job of exploring the similarities along the U.S.-Mexico border in The Crystal Frontier [La Frontera de Cristal], (Harvest Books: 1998). Fuentes was but one of a few Mexican writers who understood and appreciated the transnational cultural exchanges that forged similarities that could easily apply to other Hispanic groups moving to the U.S. from the Caribbean, Central and South America. Among scholars doing research on the border, Leonard Valverde, former director of the Hispanic Border Leadership Institute at Arizona State University, deserves mention.
In the last part, the author mentions how Hispanics in the U.S. were influenced by socio-political environmental factors. Arturo Madrid’s excellent book, In the Country of Empty Crosses: the Story of a Hispano Protestant Family in New Mexico (San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 2012) is an excellent account of “the others” in New Mexico. It deserves inclusion to provide a readable narrative with graphic images of being a Protestant in a predominantly Catholic geographical area.
The above omissions reflect this writer’s belief that Felipe Fernández-Armesto’s book would be strengthened by the mentioned additions. Scholars like Armesto tease us with new and challenging stories and wait for feed-back. The best academics find ways to enhance their manuscripts by doing supplementary research, and considering the friendly suggestions of supportive critics.
Another significant factor to be considered is the role literary writings play in depicting the experience of immigrants in a new country. While Hispanics were in what is now the U.S. well before Northern Europeans settled on these shores, the continuing waves of Hispanic immigrants that wash over this nation bring new voices and stories of great value to understand how they’ve coped with a dominant culture that marginalizes them. It is, therefore, critical that mention and attention be devoted to literary works of female/male Hispanic novelists like Julia Alvarez, Sandra Cisneros, Oscar Higuelos, Arturo Islas, Pat Mora, Cherie Moraga, John Phillip Santos, and Piri Thomas, to name but a few. These writers, in significant ways, provide readers with unique voices on the distinctive experiences of different Hispanic groups in America.
One final comment about this book: its cover jacket. Most potential readers use the internet to search for new books and items of concern. The jacket design is a valuable image that should draw interest by presenting a dramatic representation of what it’s about, or at least attract his/her attention. In this case, the cover is nondescript and pedestrian. A more dramatic cover that draws the reader’s curiosity, especially in a computer search, is very much in order.
The task Felipe Fernández-Armesto has set is an important and difficult one. Anglo-American historians have proffered dominant ideological narratives and discourses on U.S. development, many times to the exclusion of the ethnic/racial groups that populated this nation and contributed to what it is. The evolution of an American narrative that addresses and includes the contributions of Asians, blacks, Native Americans, and especially Hispanics has not been popular until recently. The author has opened an important door and shares with readers new ways to consider how the Spanish influenced U.S. history. His lyrical style, attention to detail, particularly in the first two parts of the book, and thought-provoking ideas augur well for this story. It is a welcome and most worthwhile addition to American history and historiography.
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| Roberto Haro |
Roberto Haro is a retired university professor and senior administrator with career service at several major research universities in California, Maryland and New York. Since retiring, he has written at last count 10 historical novels under the penname Roberto de Haro, including a trilogy that includes three related novels of families that left Mexico to find new lives in the U.S.: The Mexican Chubasco (2007), Camino Doloroso (2008), and Alejandro’s Story (2012). He lives in Marin County, California.
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Extracts from Our America, A Hispanic History of the United States: author, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto
Introduction
I startedthisbook—inmyhead,whichiswhereIalwaysstartwriting,yearsbeforeIhitakeyboard—inColoradoSprings.IhadgonetheretogivesometalksattheU.S.AirForceacademy.Atthetime,theacademyhadareputationasanevangelical,conservativeenclave.Somestudentshadtheirbiblestohandwhentheyaskedmequestions.Theyclearlywantedtheworldtobealotsimplerthanitreallyis.Generally,however,Ithoughttheacademywasanexemplaryplaceofeducationandthatitwascomfortingtoknowthattheofficersofthearmedforcesoftheworld’ssuperpowerareencouragedincriticalintelligence,ethicalreflection,andbreadthofculture.TheteachersIwasluckyenoughtomeet,mostofwhomwereairforceofficers,withaleaveningoflayscholars,wereliberalinthebestsenseoftheword:unprejudiced,thoughtful,generous.
Ihadalongconversationaboutimmigrationwithoneofthem.Hehad—withonelimitation—whatIwouldcallaproperviewofthesubject.HerealizedthattheUnitedStatesneedsimmigrantlabor,andplentyofit.Hewantedthecountrytobewelcomingtoimmigrantsandappreciatedthatthebestwaytoturnthemquicklyintopatrioticcitizensorcommittedresidentsistomakethemfeelathome.Hehadnotraceofhostilitytoanycolororcreed.HeknewthatthefutureoftheUnitedStateswasinescapablypluralandthatnativeshadtoadaptto change,justas newcomershad to adjust tofitin.
Hisonlyscruplewasthathethoughtthat“peoplewhocomeheremustlearnthenativelanguage.”IdidnotthinkhespokeormeantUteorComanche, soIsaid,“Iquiteagree. everyoneshouldlearnSpanish.”Helookednonplussedforamoment;soIadded,“Whatisthenameofthisstate?”aswewereinColorado,heconcededmypoint.IcouldreciprocatebyagreeingthateveryoneintheUnitedStatesshouldknowEnglish,butnotattheexpenseofforgoingtheirancestors’languages.Ialsoinsistedthatbilingualismisatleasttwiceasgood for anycommunity as self-incarceration in a single language.
Theencountermademerealizethatevenwell-educated,amiable,open-mindedpeopleintheUnitedStatesdonotrealizethattheircountry has a Hispanic past,as wellas a Hispanic future—or,at least,thatifpeopledorealizethisfact,theycommonlyassignitnocontemporaryrelevanceorculturalsignificance.
The2012presidentialelection,inwhichHispanicvotersinunexpectednumbersandinsurprisingsolidarityturnedouttosupportBarackObama,alertedeventhemostmyopic politicianstoHispanics’currentandfuturestrengthinnumbers.AsIcheckoverthetextofthisbookforthelasttime,tweakingtheprose,respondingtothepublisher’ssuggestions,thinkingbetterofsomeassertionsandboostingothers,Iam surrounded bynewspapercolumnsand emanations fromairwavesandblogospherethatareabuzzwiththeimportanceoftheHispanicvote.IntheUnitedStates,a“demographic”becomes“thevote”whenevervotersinaparticularagegrouporethnicityorphratry orotherpsephologicallydefinedtribeevince,incombination,strengthofnumbersandcongruentvotinghabits.Politiciansandpowerbrokers then take notice and court them.
Inthe2012electionthewinner,accordingtopundits’consensus,hadthebackingof71percentofvoterswhoclassthemselvesasHispanic.PresidentObama’smarginofvictoryinmostswingstateswassobigthathewouldhavewonevenifHispanicvotershaddividedmuchmorenearlyequally.ButinFlorida,Nevada,Colorado,andNewMexico,whicharelikelytoremainamongthemostfiercelycontestedstatesinfutureelectionsformanyyears,heneededthesupportofthemajorityofHispanicstowin.Hegotit.InonerespectHispanicvotersdecisivelybuckedatrend:NevadaandColoradoweretheonlywesternmountain-regionstatestosupportMr.Obama.Theimportanceofthephenomenonseemsboundtogrow, partlybecauseHispanicnumbersaregrowingandpartlybecauseRepublicans’appealtoHispanicshasdeclinedyear-on-yearsince2004.RepublicanstrategistsareexpectedtorespondbyplanningHispanic-friendlypolicyturnsandframingHispanic-orientedmessages.“WehaveaLatinoproblemthatjustcostusanationalelection,”wastheresponseofGOPspokesmanMikeMurphyonelectionnight.“We’regoingtohavetohaveaveryadultconversationthatmightturnintoanintra-partyfistfightabouthowwebecomeelectableagain.”Shortlyaftertheelection,theRepublicanscrambleforHispanics’favorbegan,whengovernorofNevadaBrianSandovalannouncedafasttracktostate identity documents for someallegedly illegal immigrants.
Nevertheless,whilepoliticshaveaffectedperceptionsofHispanics’roleinthepresentandfuture,thefactsofelectorallifeseemtohavemadelittledifference,sofar,tothewaymostpeopleperceiveHispanics’placeinUShistory.
IrecallwithpleasureanamusingmomentinTheAndyGriffithShow—perhapsthemost-often-airedserialeverbroadcastintheUnitedStates.WhenIfirststumbledontheshow,flickingchannelsinanattempttoappeaseexhaustionduringaninsomniacnightinanuncomfortablehotel,Ithoughtthedialoguecaptured,withgreaterfidelitythanalmostanyotherdocumentofpopularcultureIthenknew,whatordinarypeoplethinkaboutthecountry.IntheepisodeIhaveinmind,Andyandhisfriends enrollforanadulteducationclassinUShistory.TheybeginbyaskingwhenUShistorybegan.“Assoon,”onecharactersuggests,“asthepilgrimFatherssteppedoffthatship.”Andydemurs,pointingoutthattherewereEnglishcolonistsinVirginiabeforethelandinginMassachusetts.Hisremarkprovokessomeoneto saythat maybethe story begandeep inthe history of England.SomeoneelsementionsColumbus,provokingasuggestionthatmaybepartofthestorybeganinSpain,butthesuggestiondwindlesintheetherandthecoursefollowstheconventionalnarrativeoftheunfoldingof Anglo-Americaacross thecontinent from east towest.Inanotherepisode,theschoolteacherwhobecomesAndy’ssweetheartasksherclasswheretheUnitedStatesbegan.Andy’ssonpipesupwith the instant answer,“Jamestown,ma’am.1607.”
CitizensoftheUnitedStateshavealwayslearnedthehistoryoftheir countryas if it unfolded exclusively fromeast to west.In consequence,mostofthemthinktheirpasthascreatedacommunityessentially—evennecessarily—Anglophone,withacultureheavilyindebtedtotheheritageofradicalProtestantismandEnglishlawsandvalues.Immigrantswithotheridentitieshavehadtocompromiseandconform,sacrificingtheirlanguagesandretainingonlyvestigiallydistinctivesensesoftheirpeculiaritiesas“hyphenated”Americans.Theheirsofslaves have had tosubscribetothesameprocess.Nativeswho preceded the colonistshavehad to surrender and adapt.
Ofcourse,theAndyGriffithversionofUShistoryisnotwrong.Thecountry,likethestripesintheflag,iswoven,inpart,ofahorizontalweft,stretchingacrossthecontinent.Butnofabricexistswithoutastrongwarpcrisscrossingatrightanglesfrombottomtotop.TheHispanicstoryoftheUnitedStatesconstitutesthewarp:anorth-southaxisalongwhichtheUnitedStateswasmade,intersectingwiththeeast-westaxishighlightedinconventionalperspective.MakingtheHispaniccontributionconspicuousisliketiltingthemapsidewaysand seeing the US from an unusual approach.
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Chapter One
The Fountain of Youth
The First Colonies in What Was to be the United States, c. 1505 - 1763
The first Europeans to settle in what is now the territory of the United States of America were pigs and some goats. The year was 1505. The place was Puerto Rico.
WhenIwasteachingatTuftsUniversity,inMassachusetts,notfarfromthelegendaryPlymouthRockwhere, accordingtoalong-standingmisconception,UShistoryiscommonlysupposedtohave“begun,”avacancyoccurredforaprofessorofhistoryinthecolonialperiodofwhatisnowtheUnitedStates.Thebestpostdoctoralspecialistsintheperiodapplied.Wehadthecreamofthecountrytochoosefrom.Iaskedallthecandidatesthesamequestion.Itwasratherasneakyquestion,butnotunfairinthecircumstances:“Where,inwhatisnowUSterritory,wasthefirstenduringEuropeancolony,stilloccupiedtoday,established?”SurelyitwasreasonableforaprospectiveoractualprofessorofthecolonialperiodoftheUnitedStatestoknowtheanswer.NoneoftheyoungpeoplewhopassedhopefullybeforeourpanelcommittedthefollyofpointinginthedirectionofPlymouthRock.“Jamestown,Virginia,”wastheunthinkinganswerofmostcandidates,reflecting theassumptionthatEnglish colonistsforgedwhatbecametheUnitedStates,andbuiltitfromeasttowest.Others,moreawareofthepossibilityofatrap,said,“ItmustbesomewhereinFlorida,ormaybetheSouthwest,”andnominatedSanAgustín,Florida,orSantaFe,NewMexico.Theanswers,thoughnotstrictlycorrect,weresensible.EuropeanshavebeenincontinuousoccupationatSanAgustín sinceSpaniardsfoughtFrenchmenforitin1567.SantaFeandEl PasowereinSpanishhandsfrom1598—adecadebeforethecolonizationofJamestownbegan—thoughSantaFe wasbrieflyevacuatedduringaseventeenth-centuryIndianrevolt.ThecorrectanswertothequestionaboutthelocationofthefirstpermanentEuropeancolonyinwhatisnowUSterritoryis,however,PuertoRico,foundedoverahundredyearsbeforeJamestown.
YetnobodythinksofPuertoRicoastheplacewhereUShistorybegan,partlybecausetheislanddidnotbecomeUSterritoryuntil1902,whentherepublichadbeeninexistenceforfullyacenturyandaquarter,ifonecountsfromtheDeclarationofIndependence,andthecountryalreadyhadacharacterandconstitutiontowhichPuertoRicanshadmadenocontribution.Obviouslythesearevalidscruples.Theyaccountforwhy,inoneofStephenSondheim’sversionsofhislyricsforWestSideStory,hewrotethat“nobody”intheUnitedStatesknowsthatPuertoRicois“inAmerica.”
Butinpart,Americans—includingPuertoRicans,sometimes—ignoreordeliberatelyexcludePuertoRicobecauseofprejudice:prejudicethattheUnitedStatesisacountrymadebywhiteAnglo SaxonProtestants,constructedbyAnglophonecolonists,whereconceptsoflibertyandlawaredefined bytraditionsthatoriginatedinEngland;wheretheEnglish languageisthebasisofwhateverculturalunitycanbecontrivedamongalltheethnicitiesthatmakeupthepopulation;andwhereyoubecome“American”—or,moreaccurately,whereyouqualifytobeacitizenoftheUnitedStates—bysubscribingtoacanonicalversionofthehistoryofthecountrythatbeginsamongEnglish colonistsontheeastcoastofthecontinent.
Noneofthoseprejudicesisunquestionable.Allarefoundedonshakyhistoricalassumptions.Nocountryhasanunchangingessence.Nocommunityhasanunchangingidentity.WhatitmeanstobeEnglish orChineseorSpanishorIndonesianorAmericanchangesallthetime.TherewasneveratimewhenmostAmericans,ormostpeopleinwhatisnowtheUnitedStates,werewhiteEnglish Protestants.Themakingofthecountryhasbeenacollectiveeffort—sometimescollaborative,sometimesconflictive—ofalltheethnicandreligiousminoritieswhoinhabitit.NativeAmerican“Indians”havebeencontributingforlongerthanAnglos.Bytheendofthecolonialperiod,inmuchoftheruralsouth,blackscountedformoreintermsofnumbersandperhapseffortthanwhiteEnglish people.Over40percentofthepopulationofGeorgiaandtheCarolinaswereblackwhentheDeclarationofIndependencewassigned.WithouttheinputofothercommunitiesofEuropeanorigin,theUnitedStatestodaywouldbeunrecognizable.WithoutthemigrantswhohavejoinedfromAsia,especiallyinrecenttimes,thefuturecharacteranddynamicofthehistoryoftheUnitedStateswouldbeverydifferentand,probably,lesssuccessfulinconventionalterms—interms,thatis,ofwealthandpower—thanitwouldotherwisebe.IcanimagineaUShistorytextbookofthenot-too-far-distantfuturebeginningnotwiththearrivalofpuritansinMassachusetts,orwithEnglish adventurersinJamestown,orevenwithFrenchandSpanishcontendersinFlorida,orconquistadoresatElPasoorinNewMexico,butwiththreepigsandsomegoatsinPuertoRico.Whatmightsucharewritingofthecountry’s past look like?
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| Felipe Fernandez-Armesto |
Felipe Fernández-Armesto, born in London of Spanish parents, is William P. Reynolds Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, currently working on research projects in the history of language and of cultural organisms. In 2007, he was awarded the World History Association Book Prize and Tercentenary Medal of the Society of Antiquaries. Recent publications includeConquistadors: a Very Short Introduction (with Matthew Restall), Oxford, and 1492 The Year the World Began, Harper Collins. For copies of Our America, contact the publisher, Norton & Co., New York, or the available retail and online outlets.