Sanctioning Matrimony : Western Expansion and Interethnic Marriage in the Arizona Borderlands

254 Pages·2016·3 MB·English

by  Sal Acosta

Sanctioning Ma triMony

SaL a coSta
saNCTiONiNg
MaTriMONY
Western Expansion and Interet hnic Marriage
in the Arizona Borderlands

TUCSON
The University of Arizona Press
www.uapress.arizona.edu
© 2016 The Arizona Board of Regents
All rights reserved. Published 2016
Printed in the United States of America
21 20 19 18 17 16 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN-13: 978-0-8165-3237-7 (cloth)
Cover designed by Leigh McDonald
Cover photo courtesy of the Arizona Historical Society/ Tucson
Publication of this book is made possible in part by funding from the Office of Research at
Fordham University.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Acosta, Sal, author.
Title: Sanctioning matrimony : western expansion and interethnic marriage in the Arizona
borderlands / Sal Acosta.
Description: Tucson : The University of Arizona Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015028629 | ISBN 9780816532377 (cloth : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Interracial marriage—Arizona—Tucson—History—19th century. | Interracial
marriage—Arizona—Tucson—History—20th century. | Mexican Americans—Arizona—
Tucson—Social conditions—19th century. | Mexican Americans—Arizona—Tucson—Social
conditions—20th century. | Social classes—Arizona—Tucson—History—19th century. | Social
classes—Arizona—Tucson—History—20th century. | Interracial marriage—Law and legislation—
Arizona—Tucson—History—19th century. | Interracial marriage—Law and legislation—Arizona—
Tucson—History—20th century. | Miscegenation—Arizona—Tucson—History—19th century. |
Miscegenation—Arizona—Tucson—History—20th century.
Classification: LCC HQ1031 .A325 2016 | DDC 306.84 /609791776—dc23 LC record available at
http:// lccn.loc.gov/2015028629
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (Permanence of Paper).
To Araceli,
the love of my life,
the life of my love
x

contentS
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
introduction 3
1 arizona’s Miscegenation Law and racial Prescriptions 22
2 the Discourse of Manifest Destiny and the Mexican Question 44
3 intermarriage in tucson, 1860–1930 71
4 “ the woman in question is not a white woman, but a Mexican”:
relationships with Blacks and chinese 101
5 Marital expectations in the Borderlands 132
epilogue 159
Notes 165
Bibliography 213
Index 235

iLLuStrationS
Figures
1. Hiram Stevens, Petra Santa Cruz, Sam Hughes, and Atanacia
Santa Cruz 9
2. The Dalton-Vásquez family 11
3. Alexander Levin and Zenona Molina 69
4. Theatrical production at Tucson’s Safford School 72
5. Beatriz Ferrer, Jesús Barceló, and Sofía Hughes 81
6. Tucson, 1910: white and white-Mexican households and
single white women, by district 87
7. Tucson, 1930: white and white-Mexican households and
single white women, by district 91
8. Tucson, 1930: black and Chinese residents and Mexican
households, by district 110
9. Hi Wo, Emeteria Moreno-Wo, and children 119
10. Mónica, Francisca, Luisa, and Lidia Flin 137