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An excerpt from:Study Measures Immigrant Contribution to Chicago
Authors Say Positives Tend to Be Overlooked
November 17, 2006
By Ebonnie Ruffins
Medill News Service
Mexican immigrants in Chicago significantly contribute to the city's cultural diversity while maintaining important customs of their homeland, according to a study by the Field Museum and the Rockefeller Foundation. The year-long study investigated the social networks of Mexican immigrants living in Aurora, South Chicago, Pilsen, Little Village, Albany Park and the North Side.
"Mexican communities came to Chicago in the late 19th century, so there's a long history of (Mexican immigrants) contributing to the success of Chicago," said Alaka Wali, director of the Center for Cultural Understanding and Change at the Field Museum . "In the days of the old steel mills, (immigrants worked) and settled on the South Side of Chicago.
Rebecca Severson, one of the study's principal investigative anthropologists, said Mexican immigrants play key roles in every aspect of society while still maintaining a sense of native cultural identity. She cited the example of a vendor in Aurora who not only sold his street food but told patrons -- mostly newly arrived immigrants from Mexico -- where to get health care and where they could vote.
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