Gordon, Linda. The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999.

Title: The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction

Author: Linda Gordon

Year of Publication: 1999

Thesis:

Using the story of predominantly Catholic Mexican Americans who adopted Irish orphans and the backlash from the predominantly Protestant and white community in Clifton, Arizona, Gordon demonstrates the fluidity of whiteness during this period. Orphaned Irish children essentially "became" white as they arrived in Clifton. Using oral interviews, Gordon explores how a major strike in this mining town was so connected to this issue. "Abduction" serves a double meaning, where Mexican Americans were considered undeserving abductors by white people were attempting to abduct legally adopted children while threatening violence.

Time: 1904-5

Geography: New York and Arizona

Organization:

Preface

Cast of Principle Characters

October 2, 1904, Night: North Clifton, Arizona

September 25, 1904: Grand Central Station, New York City

Chapter 1. King Copper

October 1, 1904, 6:30 P.M.: Clifton Railroad Station

Chapter 2. Mexicans Come to the Mines

October 1, 1904, around 7:30 P.M.: Sacred Heart Church, Clifton

Chapter 3. The Priest in hte Mexican Camp

October 2, 1904, Afternoon, Morenci Square and Clifton Library Hall

Chapter 4. The Mexican Mothers and the Mexican Town

October 2, 1904, Evening, The Hills of Clifton

Chapter 5. The Anglo Mothers and the Company Town

October 2, 1904, Night: Clifton Hotel

Chapter 6. The Strike

October 3-4, 1904: Clifton Drugstore and Library Hall, Morenci Htel

Chapter 7. Vigilantism

January 1904: Courtroom of the Arizona Territorial Supreme Court, Phoenix

Chapter 8. Family and Race

Epilogue

- So fascinating that the orphan story (1904) for most respondents in oral interviews was read through the lens of the 1983 strike. 

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

Maps

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