Julia Young
The Catholic University of America, History, Faculty Member
- History, Transnational migration, Diaspora Studies, Migration History, Mexico History, Mexican Migration, and 15 moreCristero War, Cultural History, Mexican History, Mexican Revolution, Transnational History, Pope Francis, Mexico, Latin America, Liberation Theology, Pope Pius XII, 19th Century Mexico, 20th Century Mexico, Mexican Studies, Religion & the Public Sphere, and Church and Stateedit
In the summer of 1926, an army of Mexican Catholics launched a war against their government. Bearing aloft the banners of Christ the King and the Virgin of Guadalupe, they equipped themselves not only with guns, but also with scapulars,... more
In the summer of 1926, an army of Mexican Catholics launched a war against their government. Bearing aloft the banners of Christ the King and the Virgin of Guadalupe, they equipped themselves not only with guns, but also with scapulars, rosaries, prayers, and religious visions. These soldiers were called cristeros, and the war they fought, which would continue until the mid-1930s, is known as la Cristiada, or the Cristero war. The most intense fighting occurred in Mexico's west-central states, especially Jalisco, Guanajuato, and Michoacán. For this reason, scholars have generally regarded the war as a regional event, albeit one with national implications. Yet in fact, the Cristero war crossed the border into the United States, along with thousands of Mexican emigrants, exiles, and refugees.
In Mexican Exodus, Julia Young reframes the Cristero war as a transnational conflict, using previously unexamined archival materials from both Mexico and the United States to investigate the intersections between Mexico's Cristero War and Mexican migration to the United States during the late 1920s. She traces the formation, actions, and ideologies of the Cristero diaspora--a network of Mexicans across the United States who supported the Catholic uprising from beyond the border. These Cristero supporters participated in the conflict in a variety of ways: they took part in religious ceremonies and spectacles, organized political demonstrations and marches, formed associations and organizations, and collaborated with religious and political leaders on both sides of the border. Some of them even launched militant efforts that included arms smuggling, military recruitment, espionage, and armed border revolts. Ultimately, the Cristero diaspora aimed to overturn Mexico's anticlerical government and reform the Mexican Constitution of 1917. Although the group was unable to achieve its political goals, Young argues that these emigrants--and the war itself--would have a profound and enduring resonance for Mexican emigrants, impacting community formation, political affiliations, and religious devotion throughout subsequent decades and up to the present day.
In Mexican Exodus, Julia Young reframes the Cristero war as a transnational conflict, using previously unexamined archival materials from both Mexico and the United States to investigate the intersections between Mexico's Cristero War and Mexican migration to the United States during the late 1920s. She traces the formation, actions, and ideologies of the Cristero diaspora--a network of Mexicans across the United States who supported the Catholic uprising from beyond the border. These Cristero supporters participated in the conflict in a variety of ways: they took part in religious ceremonies and spectacles, organized political demonstrations and marches, formed associations and organizations, and collaborated with religious and political leaders on both sides of the border. Some of them even launched militant efforts that included arms smuggling, military recruitment, espionage, and armed border revolts. Ultimately, the Cristero diaspora aimed to overturn Mexico's anticlerical government and reform the Mexican Constitution of 1917. Although the group was unable to achieve its political goals, Young argues that these emigrants--and the war itself--would have a profound and enduring resonance for Mexican emigrants, impacting community formation, political affiliations, and religious devotion throughout subsequent decades and up to the present day.
Research Interests: Border Studies, History of Roman Catholicism, 19th Century Mexican History, 20th Century Mexico, Separation of Church and State, and 10 moreUS-Mexico Borderlands, Borderlands Studies, Mexico, Mexican Revolution, 20th Century Mexican History, Church and State, Catholic Church History, Cristero War, La Cristiada, and Vatican and Cristiada
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This paper examines the public relations battles in the US media over Mexico's Unión Nacional Sinarquista (UNS), an explicitly Catholic social movement founded in 1937 that aimed to restore the Church to its traditional role in... more
This paper examines the public relations battles in the US media over Mexico's Unión Nacional Sinarquista (UNS), an explicitly Catholic social movement founded in 1937 that aimed to restore the Church to its traditional role in Mexican society and to reject the reforms of the revolutionary government. The sinarquistas shared many of the features of fascism and Nazism, the major global antidemocratic movements of the time, including a strident nationalism, authoritarian leanings, an emphasis on martial discipline and strict organizational structure, and a militant aesthetic. Both its ideological leanings and rapid growth (as many as 500,000 members by the early 1940s) led many US writers to suggest that the UNS represented a dangerous fifth-column threat to both Mexico and the United States. Others, particularly in the Catholic press, saw the UNS as an anticommunist organization that could actually help foster democracy in Mexico. For their part, UNS leaders defended themselves v...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
During Mexico’s Cristero War (1926–1929), when Mexican Catholic rebels took up arms to overthrow the anticlerical government of President Plutarco Elías Calles (1924–1928). After almost three years of fighting, the war formally ended with... more
During Mexico’s Cristero War (1926–1929), when Mexican Catholic rebels took up arms to overthrow the anticlerical government of President Plutarco Elías Calles (1924–1928). After almost three years of fighting, the war formally ended with peace accords between the Catholic hierarchy and the State in June 1929. To understand the Cristero War, however, it is necessary to focus on more than just the three-year period during which the war was fought. Indeed, it was a conflict with deep historical antecedents. Furthermore, after the peace accords it did not completely disappear, but rather persisted and mutated. Additionally, it became a transnational conflict by attracting the attention and participation of migrants; and finally, it has recently been revived as a contemporary issue for Catholics across the globe.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Art and historia mexicana
Research Interests:
This article reconstructs and analyzes the role of the Knights of Columbus in Mexico’s Cristero War. Founded in Connecticut in 1882, the Order quickly expanded into Mexico, establishing its first chapters there in 1905. Within two... more
This article reconstructs and analyzes the role of the Knights of Columbus in Mexico’s Cristero War. Founded in Connecticut in 1882, the Order quickly expanded into Mexico, establishing its first chapters there in 1905. Within two decades, the Mexican Caballeros de Colón had become one of the country’s most prominent and politically active Catholic lay organizations. During the Cristero War (1926–1929), the Mexican and U.S. Knights collaborated in order to resist the anticlerical Mexican state. In the process, the organization connected and politicized Catholics who supported the Cristero cause. By tracing the expansion of the Knights of Columbus from the United States into Mexico, and then following the Mexican Knights back into exile in the United States, this article demonstrates how transnational political activism shaped the lives of Catholics on both sides of the border. Este artículo reconstruye y analiza el papel que jugó la orden llamada Knights of Columbus en la Guerra Cri...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Immigration, Political Science, Immigration History, Migration Studies, Immigration Policy (Immigration History), and 7 moreNativism, Early Twentieth Century American Popular Culture and Nativism, Immigration Policy, Mexican Migration History, WWII "Bracero Programs", Braceros, and US Immigration law
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
During the late 1920s, the Mexican government under President Plutarco Elías Calles (1924-1928) confronted multiple challenges to state consolidation. These included plots by political rivals, foreign relations crises, and several popular... more
During the late 1920s, the Mexican government under President Plutarco Elías Calles (1924-1928) confronted multiple challenges to state consolidation. These included plots by political rivals, foreign relations crises, and several popular revolts. The longest-lasting and most destabilizing of these was the Cristero War, which persisted from 1926 until 1929, with sporadic uprisings into the early 1930s. Despite these challenges, Calles and his handpicked successors not only remained in power at the beginning of the 1930s, but also launched the single-party political system that would endure in Mexico until the end of the twentieth century.
Research Interests:
Chapter VI in El ir y venir de los norteños: Historia de la migración mexicana a Estados Unidos. (Siglos XIX-XXI), eds. Rafael Alarcón Acosta & Fernando Saúl Alanís Enciso (Mexico: El Colef, El Colmich y El Colsan, 2016)
Research Interests:
This article reconstructs and analyzes the role of the Knights of Columbus in Mexico’s Cristero War. Founded in Connecticut in 1882, the Order quickly expanded into Mexico, establishing its first chapters there in 1905. Within two... more
This article reconstructs and analyzes the role of the Knights of Columbus in Mexico’s Cristero War. Founded in Connecticut in 1882, the Order quickly expanded into Mexico, establishing its first chapters there in 1905. Within two decades, the Mexican Caballeros de Colón had become one of the country’s most prominent and politically active Catholic lay organizations. During the Cristero War (1926–1929), the Mexican and U.S. Knights collaborated in order to resist the anticlerical Mexican state. In the process, the organization connected and politicized Catholics who supported the Cristero cause. By tracing the expansion of the Knights of Columbus from the United States into Mexico, and then following the Mexican Knights back into exile in the United States, this article demonstrates how transnational political activism shaped the lives of Catholics on both sides of the border.
Este artículo reconstruye y analiza el papel que jugó la orden llamada Knights of Columbus en la Guerra Cristera de México. Fundada en Connecticut en 1882, dicha orden se expandió rápidamente a México y estableció sus primeros capítulos ahí en 1905. En el lapso de dos décadas, los “Caballeros de Colón” mexicanos se convirtieron en una de las organizaciones católicas laicas más prominentes y con mayor actividad política del país. Durante la Guerra Cristera (1926–1929), los Caballeros mexicanos y estadounidenses colaboraron con el fin de resistir al Estado mexicano anticlerical. En este proceso, la organización conectó y politizó a los católicos que apoyaban la causa cristera. Al rastrear la expansión de los Caballeros de Colón de los Estados Unidos a México y al seguir sus pasos de regreso al exilio en Estados Unidos, este artículo demuestra cómo el activismo político transnacional conformó las vidas de los católicos a ambos lados de la frontera.
Este artículo reconstruye y analiza el papel que jugó la orden llamada Knights of Columbus en la Guerra Cristera de México. Fundada en Connecticut en 1882, dicha orden se expandió rápidamente a México y estableció sus primeros capítulos ahí en 1905. En el lapso de dos décadas, los “Caballeros de Colón” mexicanos se convirtieron en una de las organizaciones católicas laicas más prominentes y con mayor actividad política del país. Durante la Guerra Cristera (1926–1929), los Caballeros mexicanos y estadounidenses colaboraron con el fin de resistir al Estado mexicano anticlerical. En este proceso, la organización conectó y politizó a los católicos que apoyaban la causa cristera. Al rastrear la expansión de los Caballeros de Colón de los Estados Unidos a México y al seguir sus pasos de regreso al exilio en Estados Unidos, este artículo demuestra cómo el activismo político transnacional conformó las vidas de los católicos a ambos lados de la frontera.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This paper surveys the history of nativism in the United States from the late nineteenth century to the present. It compares a recent surge in nativism with earlier periods, particularly the decades leading up to the 1920s, when nativism... more
This paper surveys the history of nativism in the United States from the late nineteenth century to the present. It compares a recent surge in nativism with earlier periods, particularly the decades leading up to the 1920s, when nativism directed against southern and eastern European,
Asian, and Mexican migrants led to comprehensive legislative restrictions on immigration. It is based primarily on a review of historical literature, as well as contemporary immigration scholarship. Major findings include the following:
-- There are many similarities between the nativism of the 1870-1930 period and today, particularly the focus on the purported inability of specific immigrant groups to assimilate, the misconception that they may therefore be dangerous to the native-born population, and fear that immigration threatens American workers.
Mexican migrants in particular have been consistent targets of nativism, immigration restrictions, and deportations.
-- There are also key differences between these two eras, most apparently in the targets of nativism, which today are undocumented and Muslim immigrants, and in President Trump’s consistent, highly public, and widely disseminated appeals to nativist sentiment.
-- Historical studies of nativism suggest that nativism does not disappear completely, but rather subsides. Furthermore, immigrants themselves can and do adopt nativist attitudes, as well as their descendants.
-- Politicians, government officials, civic leaders, scholars and journalists must do more to reach sectors of society that feel most threatened by immigration.
-- While eradicating nativism may be impossible, a focus on avoiding or overturning nativist immigration legislation may prove more successful.
Asian, and Mexican migrants led to comprehensive legislative restrictions on immigration. It is based primarily on a review of historical literature, as well as contemporary immigration scholarship. Major findings include the following:
-- There are many similarities between the nativism of the 1870-1930 period and today, particularly the focus on the purported inability of specific immigrant groups to assimilate, the misconception that they may therefore be dangerous to the native-born population, and fear that immigration threatens American workers.
Mexican migrants in particular have been consistent targets of nativism, immigration restrictions, and deportations.
-- There are also key differences between these two eras, most apparently in the targets of nativism, which today are undocumented and Muslim immigrants, and in President Trump’s consistent, highly public, and widely disseminated appeals to nativist sentiment.
-- Historical studies of nativism suggest that nativism does not disappear completely, but rather subsides. Furthermore, immigrants themselves can and do adopt nativist attitudes, as well as their descendants.
-- Politicians, government officials, civic leaders, scholars and journalists must do more to reach sectors of society that feel most threatened by immigration.
-- While eradicating nativism may be impossible, a focus on avoiding or overturning nativist immigration legislation may prove more successful.
Research Interests:
An interview with the Kluge Center at the Library of Congress that was posted on Time.com
Research Interests:
The author examines the connections between Mexico's Cristero War, a bloody church-state conflict that raged across west-central Mexico from 1926 to 1929, and the great wave of Mexican emigration to the United States that... more
The author examines the connections between Mexico's Cristero War, a bloody church-state conflict that raged across west-central Mexico from 1926 to 1929, and the great wave of Mexican emigration to the United States that occurred during the same period. Although historians have generally treated the Cristero War and Mexican emigration as two distinct and unrelated subjects, a rich array of
Research Interests:
A guest post for AHA Today (tagged as a talk b/c Academia has no section for online writing!)