Richard Rodriguez was born on July 31, 1944, to Mexican immigrants Leopoldo and Victoria Rodriguez. In spite of the difficulties he faced as a Spanish-speaking child in the United States, Rodriguez excelled in school and eventually earned a Ph.D. in English literature. In 1976, rather than accept one of many job offers from prestigious universities, Rodriguez postponed a career as a professor. Although confident in the quality of his work, he could not quiet the suspicion that universities sought him primarily because he was a member of an ethnic minority. Rodriguez spent the next six years writing his autobiography, Hunger of Memory.
The postwar Mexican American community. Like many other segments of American society, Mexican American culture experienced numerous changes as a result of World War II. The drafting of an enormous segment of the male population sent many Mexican American youths to war, but since such a large number of American soldiers were sent overseas, a vacuum in the labor force was created. This caused a sudden growth in Mexican immigration to the United States. They came under the Bracero Program, which permitted Mexican laborers to enter the United States temporarily to join work crews on farms and in urban industries.
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