ABSTRACT
In an article titled “‘What’s good for Boyle Heights is good for the Jews’: Creating multiracialism on the Eastside during the 1950s,” Sánchez (2004) traced the history of racial diversity, social activism, and “multiracialism” in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles to the turning points when the area became populated predominantly by Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants. Sánchez’s close analysis of the documents of a variety of civic and political organizations—including the Soto-Michigan Jewish Community Center, the Community Services Organization, and the Los Angeles Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born—shows how, during the 1950s, organizers acted to forward leftist political ideals and sustain the Boyle Heights community as a multiracial community in the face of growing pressure from the House Un-American Activities Committee and other conservative groups. Using announcements for events, meeting minutes, and news from the local press, Sánchez illustrates how activists created intercultural programming for the Japanese, Jewish, Anglo, and Latino communities and shared a struggle for workers’ rights.
