The Sleepy Lagoon Murder Case

Author : Eduardo Obregón Pagán
Publisher : Univ of North Carolina Press
Page : 328 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2004-07-21
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0807862096

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Murder at the Sleepy Lagoon by Eduardo Obregón Pagán Pdf

The notorious 1942 "Sleepy Lagoon" murder trial in Los Angeles concluded with the conviction of seventeen young Mexican American men for the alleged gang slaying of fellow youth Jose Diaz. Just five months later, the so-called Zoot Suit Riot erupted, as white soldiers in the city attacked minority youths and burned their distinctive zoot suits. Eduardo Obregon Pagan here provides the first comprehensive social history of both the trial and the riot and argues that they resulted from a volatile mix of racial and social tensions that had long been simmering. In reconstructing the lives of the murder victim and those accused of the crime, Pagan contends that neither the convictions (which were based on little hard evidence) nor the ensuing riot arose simply from anti-Mexican sentiment. He demonstrates instead that a variety of pre-existing stresses, including demographic pressures, anxiety about nascent youth culture, and the war effort all contributed to the social tension and the eruption of violence. Moreover, he recovers a multidimensional picture of Los Angeles during World War II that incorporates the complex intersections of music, fashion, violence, race relations, and neighborhood activism. Drawing upon overlooked evidence, Pagan concludes by reconstructing the murder scene and proposes a compelling theory about what really happened the night of the murder.

Author : Mark A. Weitz
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
Page : 216 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2010-10-29
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780700617470

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The Sleepy Lagoon Murder Case by Mark A. Weitz Pdf

What began as a neighborhood party during the summer of 1942 led to the largest mass murder trial in California's history. After young Jose Diaz was found murdered near Los Angeles' Sleepy Lagoon reservoir, 600 Mexican Americans were rounded up by the police, 24 were indicted, and 17 were convicted. But thanks to the efforts of crusading lawyers, Hollywood celebrities, and Mexican Americans throughout the nation, all 17 convictions were thrown out in an appellate decision that cited lack of evidence, coerced testimony, deprivation of the right to counsel, and judicial misconduct. Mark Weitz chronicles the Sleepy Lagoon case (People v. Zammora) from the streets of the L.A.'s Mexican-American neighborhoods to the criminal courts, through the appeals process, and to the ultimate release of the convicted. In the process, Weitz opens a window on the uneasy world of Hispanic-Anglo relations, which, exacerbated by an influx of Mexican immigrants, had simmered beneath the surface in California for a century and reached the boiling point by 1942. By demonstrating how an environment of hostility and fear had fostered a breakdown in the legal protections that should have been afforded to the Sleepy Lagoon defendants, Weitz also illuminates a vital episode in the evolution of defendants' rights-including the right to counsel and a fair and impartial trial. As the case unfolded, the prosecution and local media drew ominous comparisons between the supposed dangers posed by the Mexican-American defendants and the threat allegedly posed by thousands of Japanese Americans, whose sympathies had been called into question after Pearl Harbor. Weitz shows how Zammora demonstrates what it is like to literally be tried in the court of public opinion where the "opinion" has been shaped before the trial even begins. Now, as Americans once again feel threatened by outsiders-whether Islamic jihadists or illegal immigrants—Zammora provides a mirror showing us how we acted then compared to how we respond now. While much of what occurred in 1942 L.A. was unique to its time and place, Weitz's compelling narrative shows that many of the social, political, and culture issues that dominated America then are still with us today.

Author : Luis Valdez
Publisher : Arte Publico Press
Page : 220 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 1992-04-30
Category : Drama
ISBN : 1611923417

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Zoot Suit & Other Plays by Luis Valdez Pdf

This critically acclaimed play by Luis Valdez cracks open the depiction of Chicanos on stage, challenging viewers to revisit a troubled moment in our nationÕs history. From the moment the myth-infused character El Pachuco burst onto the stage, cutting his way through the drop curtain with a switchblade, Luis Valdez spurred a revolution in Chicano theater. Focusing on the events surrounding the Sleepy Lagoon Murder Trial of 1942 and the ensuing Zoot Suit Riots that turned Los Angeles into a bloody war zone, this is a gritty and vivid depiction of the horrifying violence and racism suffered by young Mexican Americans on the home front during World War II. ValdezÕs cadre of young urban characters struggle with the stereotypes and generalizations of AmericaÕs dominant culture, the questions of assimilation and patriotism, and a desire to rebel against the mainstream pressures that threaten to wipe them out. Experimenting with brash forms of narration, pop culture of the war era, and complex characterizations, this quintessential exploration of the Mexican-American experience in the United States during the 1940Õs was the first, and only, Chicano play to open on Broadway. This collection contains three of playwright and screenwriter Luis ValdezÕs most important and recognized plays: Zoot Suit, Bandido! and I DonÕt Have to Show You No Stinking Badges. The anthology also includes an introduction by noted theater critic Dr. Jorge Huerta of the University of California-San Diego. Luis Valdez, the most recognized and celebrated Hispanic playwright of our times, is the director of the famous farm-worker theater, El Teatro Campesino.

Author : Guy Endore
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 48 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2020-08-02
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9798668672608

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Sleepy Lagoon Mystery by Guy Endore Pdf

When seventeen boys are in jail for a murder that was never even established as a murder, and may possibly have been due to an automobile accident--when seventeen boys are tried in a court of justice by a judge notoriously prejudiced against anyone of Mexican descent--when officials of the county let it be known that they believe the whole Latin-American population of this hemisphere bears the lust for murder in its blood-stream, an inherited taint that can never be overcome--when during the trial one of the police investigators, who never denied that he brutally beat up certain of the boys, writes a lurid article for a pulp magazine describing the boys as vicious young terrorists guilty of murder, long before the jury has brought in a verdict--when the press drums up wild inventions about zoot-suit gangsters--Well, I ask you: is this American fair play? Is this our American system of considering people innocent until they are proved guilty? Beatings, forced confessions, news-paper terrorism, official racist policies openly enunciated: is this America? Is this California? I say the Sleepy Lagoon case is no sleeping matter.

Author : Eduardo Obregón Pagán,Eduardo Obreg Pag N
Publisher : ReadHowYouWant.com
Page : 602 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2009-06
Category : History
ISBN : 9781442995048

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Murder at the Sleepy Lagoon by Eduardo Obregón Pagán,Eduardo Obreg Pag N Pdf

The notorious 1942 Sleepy Lagoon murder trial in Los Angeles concluded with the conviction of seventeen young Mexican American men for the alleged gang slaying of fellow youth Jose Diaz. Just five months later, the so-called Zoot Suit Riot erupted, as white soldiers in the city attacked minority youths and burned their distinctive zoot suits...

Author : S. Guy Endore,Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 1943
Category : Los Angeles (Calif.)
ISBN : LCCN:94628049

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The Sleepy Lagoon Case by S. Guy Endore,Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee Pdf

Author : Kevin Hillstrom
Publisher : Omnigraphics Incorporated
Page : 214 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2013
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN : 0780812859

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The Zoot Suit Riots by Kevin Hillstrom Pdf

"Surveys the political events, social trends, and racial attitudes that contributed to a week-long outbreak of violence in Los Angeles in 1943 by white servicemen and civilians against young Mexican-American 'zoot suiters.' Includes a narrative overview,biographies, primary sources, chronology, glossary, bibliography, and index"--Provided by publisher.

Author : Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee, Los Angeles
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 1975
Category : Mexicans
ISBN : OCLC:686916796

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The Sleepy Lagoon Case by Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee, Los Angeles Pdf

Author : S. Guy Endore
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 60 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 1972
Category : Social Science
ISBN : STANFORD:36105005642215

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The Sleepy Lagoon Mystery by S. Guy Endore Pdf

Author : Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee
Publisher : Los Angeles : Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee
Page : 40 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 1943
Category : Los Angeles (Calif.)
ISBN : UIUC:30112069159272

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The Sleepy Lagoon Case by Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee Pdf

Author : Catherine S. Ramírez
Publisher : Duke University Press
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2009-01-16
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780822388647

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The Woman in the Zoot Suit by Catherine S. Ramírez Pdf

The Mexican American woman zoot suiter, or pachuca, often wore a V-neck sweater or a long, broad-shouldered coat, a knee-length pleated skirt, fishnet stockings or bobby socks, platform heels or saddle shoes, dark lipstick, and a bouffant. Or she donned the same style of zoot suit that her male counterparts wore. With their striking attire, pachucos and pachucas represented a new generation of Mexican American youth, which arrived on the public scene in the 1940s. Yet while pachucos have often been the subject of literature, visual art, and scholarship, The Woman in the Zoot Suit is the first book focused on pachucas. Two events in wartime Los Angeles thrust young Mexican American zoot suiters into the media spotlight. In the Sleepy Lagoon incident, a man was murdered during a mass brawl in August 1942. Twenty-two young men, all but one of Mexican descent, were tried and convicted of the crime. In the Zoot Suit Riots of June 1943, white servicemen attacked young zoot suiters, particularly Mexican Americans, throughout Los Angeles. The Chicano movement of the 1960s–1980s cast these events as key moments in the political awakening of Mexican Americans and pachucos as exemplars of Chicano identity, resistance, and style. While pachucas and other Mexican American women figured in the two incidents, they were barely acknowledged in later Chicano movement narratives. Catherine S. Ramírez draws on interviews she conducted with Mexican American women who came of age in Los Angeles in the late 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s as she recovers the neglected stories of pachucas. Investigating their relative absence in scholarly and artistic works, she argues that both wartime U.S. culture and the Chicano movement rejected pachucas because they threatened traditional gender roles. Ramírez reveals how pachucas challenged dominant notions of Mexican American and Chicano identity, how feminists have reinterpreted la pachuca, and how attention to an overlooked figure can disclose much about history making, nationalism, and resistant identities.

Author : James Ellroy
Publisher : Grand Central Publishing
Page : 534 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2013-01-01
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781455528752

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The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy Pdf

The D. A.'s brass, a sheriff's deputy, and a rough-and-tumble bagman are unknowingly chasing a nightmare in this thrilling novel from the author of "some of the most powerful crime novels ever written" (New York Times). Los Angeles, 1950 Red crosscurrents: the Commie Scare and a string of brutal mutilation killings. Gangland intrigue and Hollywood sleaze. Three cops caught in a hellish web of ambition, perversion, and deceit. Danny Upshaw is a Sheriff's deputy stuck with a bunch of snuffs nobody cares about; they're his chance to make his name as a cop...and to sate his darkest curiosities. Mal Considine is D.A.'s Bureau brass. He's climbing on the Red Scare bandwagon to advance his career and to gain custody of his adopted son, a child he saved from the horror of postwar Europe. Buzz Meeks-bagman, ex-Narco goon, and pimp for Howard Hughes-is fighting communism for the money. All three men have purchased tickets to a nightmare.

Author : Citizens' Committee for the Defense of Mexican-American Youth
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 33 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2020-08-02
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9798673934500

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The Sleepy Lagoon Case by Citizens' Committee for the Defense of Mexican-American Youth Pdf

This important document is a replica of the FIRST printing of 10,000 copies, prepared in 1942 and published June, 1943. On the night of August 2nd, 1942, one Jose Diaz left a drinking party at the Sleepy Lagoon ranch near Los Angeles, and sometime in the course of that night he died. It seems clear that Diaz was drinking heavily and fell into a roadway and was run over by a car. Whether or not he was also in a brawl before he was run over is not clear.On January 13th, fifteen American-born boys of Mexican descent and two boys born in Mexico stood up to hear the verdict of a Los Angeles court. Twelve of them were found guilty of having conspired to murder Diaz, five were convicted of assault. Their sentences ranged from a few months to life im-prisonment.The lawyers say there is good reason to believe the seventeen boys were innocent, and no evidence at all to show even that they were present at the time that Diaz was involved in a brawl, assuming that he actually was in a brawl, let alone that they "conspired" to murder Jose Diaz. Two other boys whose lawyers demanded a separate trial after the 17 had been convicted, were acquitted on the same evidence.Seventeen for one!It wasn't only seventeen boys who were on trial.It was the whole Mexican people, and their children and their grandchildren. It was the whole of Latin America with its 130,000,000 people. It was the Good Neighbor Policy. It was the United Nations and all for which they fight.It was that kind of trial.It began to be that kind of trial even before Jose Diaz met his death on August 2nd. The Los Angeles papers started it by building for a "crime wave" even before there was a crime. "mexican goon squads." "zoot suit gangs." "pachuco killers." "juvenile gang war laid to youths' desire to thrill." Those were the curtain-raisers, the headlines building for August 3rd.On August 3rd the death of Jose Diaz was scarehead news. And the stories were of Mexican boys "prowl ing in wolf-packs," armed with clubs and knives and automobile tools and tire irons, invading peaceful homes, beating and stabbing their victims to death.On August 3rd every Mexican kid in Los Angeles was under suspicion as a "zoot-suit" killer. Cops lined up outside of dance halls, armed with pokers to which sharp razor blades were attached, and they ripped the peg-top trousers and "zoot-suits" of the boys as they came out.Mexican boys were beaten, jailed. "Zoot-suits" and "Pachuco" hair cuts were crimes. It was a crime to be born in the U.S.A.--of a Spanish-speaking father or mother.

Author : Mauricio Mazón
Publisher : University of Texas Press
Page : 214 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2010-07-05
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780292788213

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The Zoot-Suit Riots by Mauricio Mazón Pdf

“The most incisive analytic study yet produced by a Chicano scholar . . . Mazón looks at the bloody incidents that erupted in Los Angeles during June, 1943.” —California History Los Angeles, the summer of 1943. For ten days in June, Anglo servicemen and civilians clashed in the streets of the city with young Mexican Americans whose fingertip coats and pegged, draped trousers announced their rebellion. At their height, the riots involved several thousand men and women, fighting with fists, rocks, sticks, and sometimes knives. In the end none were killed, few were seriously injured, and property damage was slight and yet, even today, the zoot-suit riots are remembered and hold emotional and symbolic significance for Mexican Americans and Anglos alike. The causes of the rioting were complex, as Mazón demonstrates in this illuminating analysis of their psychodynamics. Based in part on previously undisclosed FBI and military records, this engrossing study goes beyond sensational headlines and biased memories to provide an understanding of the zoot-suit riots in the context of both Mexican American and Anglo social history. “The latest scholarly work to probe the significance of the brawls that erupted in Los Angeles between uniformed servicemen and young Mexican-Americans in June, 1943 . . . Mazon’s contribution is a psychohistory of the riots in which he concludes that they were not as dangerous, or even riotous, as often portrayed.” —Los Angeles Times “In the nascent field of Chicano history psychohistorical studies are not abundant. Thus Mazón makes an immense contribution to the study of the Mexican American.” —American Historical Review

Author : Sarah M.A. Gualtieri
Publisher : Stanford University Press
Page : 236 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2019-11-26
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781503610866

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Arab Routes by Sarah M.A. Gualtieri Pdf

“This ingenious study . . . will transform how we conceptualize immigration, race, gender, and the histories and boundaries of Arab and Latin America” (Nadine Naber, author of Arab America). Los Angeles is home to the largest population of people of Middle Eastern origin and descent in the United States. Since the late nineteenth century, Syrian and Lebanese migration to Southern California has been intimately connected to and through Latin America. Arab Routes uncovers the stories of this Syrian American community, one both Arabized and Latinized, to reveal important cross-border and multiethnic solidarities in Syrian California. Sarah M. A. Gualtieri reconstructs the early Syrian connections through California, Texas, Mexico, and Lebanon. She reveals the Syrian interests in the defense of the Mexican American teens charged in the 1942 Sleepy Lagoon murder, in actor Danny Thomas's rise to prominence in LA’s Syrian cultural festivals, and in more recent activities of the grandchildren of immigrants to reclaim a sense of Arabness. Gualtieri reinscribes Syrians into Southern California history through her examination of powerful images and texts, augmented with interviews with descendants of immigrants. Telling the story of how Syrians helped forge a global Los Angeles, Arab Routes counters a long-held stereotype of Arabs as outsiders and underscores their longstanding place in American culture and in interethnic coalitions, past and present.