ABSTRACT
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries prejudice against Mexicanos filled the air at the street level as well as in pages of both academic scholarship and the mainstream press. For instance, nineteenth century Anglos in Texas referred to their Tejano/Mexicano neighbors variously as pagan, depraved, and primitive. (See Arnoldo De Leon’s They Called Them Greasers.) Within this general atmosphere, Latina/os were considered predisposed to be lazy and mentally inferior, their bodies as preternaturally foul, filthy. (See the work of Natalia Molina.) On a larger scale, the mainstream press constantly linked the internal turmoil of Mexico as a nation with the backwardness and moral decrepitude of Latina/os. (See the work of Mark C. Anderson.)
This racist ideology continued to grow and branch into other areas of material and intellectual life in the twentieth century. In 1922, physical education specialist Elmer D. Mitchell published in American Physical Education Review a series of essays entitled “Racial Traits in Athletics.” In these articles, Mitchell ranked and detailed the characteristics of “15 different races” then present in the American sporting scene. He considered the AngloAmerican, English, Irish, and German “races” the most physically gifted and intellectually able; they were, according to Mitchell, the ones who consistently lead teams to national and international victories. The second tier of athletes included “Latins” and African Americans, among others. Within the category of “Latins” were the French and the Spaniards. At this level of athleticism Mitchell identifies serious limitations and issues, including that they were driven more by emotions than reason, leading to either being lighthearted, indolent, or fiery in temper. He cites Mexican bullfighting as one manifestation of this predisposition. For Mitchell, so-called Latins didn’t have the reasoning system for becoming tier one athletes. And, like the Latins, South American athletes (who were in a third tier) were “undisciplined” and lacked the “physique,” “environment,” and “disposition” to make a “champion” athlete. He writes, “The Indian in him chafes at discipline and sustained effort, while the Spanish side is proud to a fault [his] disposition makes team play difficult.”1
