You Can’t be Mexican: You Talk Just Like Me

Frank Mendez, a child of Mexican immigrants, begins his memoir with the story of his father’s harrowing migration from Mexico to Texas in 1920, as he escaped from Zapata’s guerrillos, and continues with his story of growing up in northeast Ohio. He recounts the Mendez family’s experiences with the Depression; labor issues; racism; their lives in the Lorain, Ohio, barrio; and World War II. Mendez dropped out of high school in 1943 and enlisted in the Marine Corps, where he served twenty-two months in the Pacific theater. When he returned to Lorain, he received his high school diploma, bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and a professional engineering license. With an easy, engaging style, Mendez deals directly with the matter of personal identity, addressing the issues that confronted him as he tried to sort out his sometimes conflicting Mexican and American heritage. You Can’t Be Mexican comments on the social and political issues of the twentieth century and will appeal to those interested in immigrant studies and ethnicity studies and modern social history.