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Mutualistas were community-basedmutual aid societies created byMexicanimmigrants in the late 19th centuryUnited States. According to media analyst Charles M. Tatum,mutualistas
"provided most immigrants with a connection to their mother country and served to bring them together to meet their survival needs in a new and alien country. Cultural activities, education, health care, insurance coverage, legal protection and advocacy before police and immigration authorities, and anti-defamation activities were the main functions of these associations.[1]
Sometimesmutualistas were part of larger organizations affiliated with theMexican government or other national associations. One such association included Alianza Hispano-Americana, which, founded in 1894 inTucson,Arizona Territory, had 88 chapters throughout theSouthwestern United States by 1919. Usuallymutualistas had separate women's auxiliaries, but some, including Club Femenino Orquidia inSan Antonio, Texas and SociedadJosefa Ortiz de Domínguez inLaredo, were founded and run by women.
While Tatum lauds mutualistas for "bringing together Mexican nationals from different social classes to form a common bond, a feat that no organization had been able to achieve in Mexico", there were indeed social divisions within mutualistas. Some, such as Club Mexicano Independencia inSanta Barbara, California, were only open to male citizens of Mexico. Others had elitist membership restrictions.
Many historians describe the "familiar" orientation ofmutualista societies. They fostered sentiments of unity, mutual protection, and volunteerism. HistorianVicki L. Ruiz seesmutualistas as "institutionalized forms ofcompadrazgo andcommadrazgo", the "concrete manifestations" of which were orphanages and nursing homes.[2]
Somemutualistas became politically active in theAmerican Civil Rights Movement. The Comité de Vecinos de Lemon Grove filed a successfuldesegregation suit against theLemon Grove School District in 1931. Many of the people that were involved inmutualismo were active in the subsequentChicanostudentpolitical, andfeminist movements. María Hernández, who formed Orden Caballeros de America with her husband Pedro in 1929, later worked on educational desegregation and supported theRaza Unida Party.
The term is still used inUruguay to describe a form of health insurance.[3]
