“Here Come the Monte Boys: Vigilante Justice and Lynch Mobs in Nineteenth-Century El Monte”

city view 1870.jpg

In this print by El Sereno artist Daniel Gonzalez titled “City View 1870,” Gonzalez portrays a rendition of distant view of a town during the late 1800s.

Lesson plan by Alfred Mendoza

Essential Questions and Overview

Unit 2: Colonization, Dehumanization, and Counter-Narratives

Unit EQ: Why is counter narrative so powerful in advancing truth and justice? (Carrasco Cardona, L., 2020)

Lesson EQ’s: Who were the El Monte boys? Who countered and resisted them? What is their legacy today? Did the El Monte Police Department originate from a white supremacist lynch mob of the nineteenth century?

This lesson on Chapter 4 “Here Come the Monte Boys: Vigilante Justice and Lynch Mobs in the Nineteenth-Century El Monte” will examine the history of vigilantism and Mexican resistance  in the Southwest and particularly in the town of El Monte. Students will read about and discuss the lynchings and extermination of indigenous peoples and Mexican-Americans post the Treaty Guadalupe Hidalgo. Additionally, students will investigate the legacy of the Monte boys and its connection with the El Monte Police Department using various secondary and primary sources. Lastly, students will explore the resistance heroes such as Juan Flores and Pancho Daniel gang and their legacy today, a story I heard about from the homies growing up. Telling the story of the racist, white supremacists, former Texas Rangers, Comanche-Mexican  killers,  pro- Confederate, former US Cavalry during the US-Mexican War, and Lynch Mob, the Monte boys, is never told without the mention of the resistance, the so called bandits, the Mexican Barrio Defenders, legends, fierce, courageous, and EMF origins legends,  Juan Flores and Pancho Daniel Gang.

Core Reading and Supplements

READINGS:

Primary Sources

El Monte Rangers muster roll (digitized original): https://semapeastofeast.com/files/show/753

El Monte Rangers muster roll (transcribed): https://semapeastofeast.com/files/original/77f57e1b7d6f242a9f5d2f6a37f6f6ca.pdf

"Muerte de Miguel Soto en San Gabriel." El Clamor Público, Volume 2, Number 32, February 07, 1857. https://semapeastofeast.com/items/show/331

Schulberg, David Edward. A History of the El Monte Police Department. El Monte: California Police Department, 2008. https://semapeastofeast.com/files/original/c2e8213601c950b2e243c918f8042851.pdf

LEARNING TARGETS

  • Students will be able to describe how vigilante violence was used to enforce and uphold white supremacy during the recolonization of Tovaangar, Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula, LA
  • Students will be able to describe who were the Monte boys and apply the four I’s of oppression to the events that occurred in the making of LA
  • Students will be able to explain how a white supremacist lynch mob’s legacy in the former “anti-Mexican capital” of Los Angeles circa late 1800s, El Monte lingers in this blue lives matter culture
  • Students will be able to explore resistance efforts led by various bandits, barrio legends, and defenders of the Mexican barrios post Guadalupe Hidalgo, Juan Flores, Pancho Daniel, Tiburcio Vasquez, Joaquin Murrieta

POSSIBLE ASSESSMENTS/PRODUCTS

  • Infographic/Mural
  • Xican@ Pop-up Book
  • InfoSlides presentation
  • Infographics canva.com
  • Zine
  • Song: Corrido/Ballads
  • Poem
  • Essay/Short Response to EQs
    • Claim-Evidence-Reasoning Paragraph
  • Visual/Video Analysis
  • Compare/Contrast Sources

ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY

  • Texas Rangers
  • frontier justice
  • lynching
  • Vigilante
  • White supremacy
  • Gringo ignoramus
  • Confederate sympathies
  • anti-Republicanism
  • Xenophobia
  • Racism
  • Squatter
  • Ideological Oppression
  • Institutional Oppression
  • Interpersonal Oppression
  • Internalized Oppression
  • Comanche
  • Bandit
  • Juan Flores
  • Pancho Daniel
  • Joaquin Murrieta
  • Tiburcio Vasquez
  • La Gente De Razon
  • Andres Pico
  • Pio Pico
  • Tiburcio Vasquez
  • Operation Black Flower
  • Blue Lives Matter?

Content Standards

This lesson was created for Ethnic Studies, US History, and ELA teachers. There are no content standards for 9-11th grade that address the recolonization of California and vigilante violence that enforced white supremacy during this era and beyond. Below are ELA Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening Standards.

CCSS Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.9: Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.7” Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.11-12.1.A: Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences the claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1: Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.2: Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) in order to make informed decisions and solve problems, evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source and noting any discrepancies among the data.

Possible Starters: Visual/Video Analysis/EQ Response  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FwYNgtMs-tKJC3zm8IhZsNWld0ex1lslkkuu4h6-TBc/edit?usp=sharing

Case Studies “Lynchings in the Southwest”  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H1_b7YqEAc8S86SpXB7jeQqnx-R0DZS_Eh2qPRW-saU/edit

Comparing Historical Sources: “Here Come the Monte Boys”: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12Wuaj7_4rHmbkGT4KS3lSmLFURsLtRMgmH1mFO-grH4/edit

“Here Come the Monte Boys: Vigilante Justice and Lynch Mobs in Nineteenth-Century El Monte”