In what ways does the commission reports description of how people of Mexican descent were being treated resemble how African Americans were being treated in the southern states during the Reconstruction era?
The correct answer and explanation is:
Correct Answer:
The commission report describes that people of Mexican descent were treated with discrimination, violence, and denied legal protections—similar to how African Americans were treated in the Southern states during the Reconstruction era.
Explanation:
After the U.S. acquired former Mexican territories through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, people of Mexican descent living in the Southwest faced widespread mistreatment. The commission report revealed that they were subjected to racial prejudice, social exclusion, and economic oppression. Their land was often taken through legal manipulation, and they were frequently portrayed as inferior. They were also targeted by violent groups and rarely received justice from local or federal authorities. These conditions mirror the experiences of African Americans in the South during Reconstruction, which followed the Civil War.
During Reconstruction (1865–1877), African Americans were legally freed from slavery, but their freedom was undermined by racism and systemic barriers. White supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan used violence and terror to keep African Americans from voting or exercising their rights. Southern laws known as Black Codes limited African Americans’ ability to own land, move freely, or pursue education. Courts and law enforcement institutions often failed to protect them, and in many cases, actively worked against them.
Both groups faced violence from mobs or militias that acted with impunity. Both were denied equal access to legal protections, education, and economic opportunities. In both cases, local and federal governments often failed to enforce civil rights or protect minority communities from discrimination and abuse. These patterns show how racial hierarchy and white supremacy shaped the treatment of non-white populations, despite constitutional promises of equality. The commission’s findings about Mexican Americans highlight the broader struggles for justice and civil rights that extended beyond the Black experience in the post-Civil War South.