First and foremost, this dissertation focuses on the relationship between labor and migration in the development of the City of Oxnard and La Colonia neighborhood. Labor and migration on the Oxnard Plain have played an important part in shaping and constructing the Mexican working-class community and its relationship to the power structure of the city and the agri-business interests of Ventura County. This migration led to many conflicts between Mexicans and Whites. I focus on those conflicts and activism between 1930 and 1980.Secondly, this dissertation expands on early research conducted on Mexicans in Ventura County. The Oxnard Plain has been a key location of struggles for equality and justice. In those struggles, Mexican residents of Oxnard, the majority being working-class have played a key role in demanding better work conditions, housing, and wages. This dissertation continues the research of Tomas Almaguer, Frank P. Barajas, and Martha Menchaca, who focused on class, race, work, leisure, and conflict in Ventura County.Thirdly, this dissertation is connected to a broader history of Mexican workers in California. This dissertation is influenced by important research conducted by Carey McWilliams, Gilbert Gonzalez, Vicki Ruiz, and other historians on the relationship between labor, migration, and activism among the Mexican working-class community in Southern California. This dissertation's primary goal is to expand the history of Mexican workers in Ventura County, which has been an understudied area within Chicana/o and labor history.And finally, this dissertation focuses on highlighting the social history of farm workers, families, union organizers, and community organizers who struggled for a better quality of life for the Mexican working-class community of Oxnard, California.
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