Pedro J. González

In the 1920s, many U.S. companies tried to broaden their audience by appealing to the Mexican population by advertising their products in Spanish.[7] After struggling to find a radio station that would accept him, González saw an ad from a music house owned by Mauricio Caulderón in LA, who hired him. González thus became a paid ad-reader for Spanish language ads.[7] After a few months, he became independent and began writing ads for Mexican products. Later, he landed a 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. time slot for his own show on an independent station operated by a man named Don Pedro who identified as Mexican.[10] González quickly became highly recognized within the Spanish-speaking community through the radio station on KMPC, reaching hundreds of thousands of people as far as Texas, especially Mexican laborers.[7][11]

His program consisted of Los Madrugadores (The Dawn Risers), who premiered on KMPC in December, 1929. This wake-up radio show was broadcast live from Teatro Hidalgo in Mexican Barrio. It was aimed at the growing Latino/a community, and specifically the Mexican labor community who worked early hours, throughout the Southwest. Los Madrugadores became one of the most prominent groups amongst Mexican artists in LA during the 1930s.[12] In regards to their music, they catered to the musical tastes of the Mexican community in the form of corridos and canción mexicana. González aired live music, including romantic ballads that he sang alongside Los Madrugadores. These included classics such as "Sonora Querida" and “Mañanitas Tapatías” which were recorded and released by the Columbia Records label.[7] Their content was based in the band members' first-hand knowledge of the working class in LA, explaining their popularity in the working class and labor communities. For instance, González started as a longshoreman and the two other founding members of Los Madrugadores, Victor and Jesus Sánchez, had been farm workers.[8] Los Madrugadores soon became a popular entertainment group at gatherings of both Mexicans and white Americans.[3] In fact, they became an attraction at the city's white social and politically elite events.[3] As his radio show and Los Madrugadores gained popularity, González became a cultural icon, essentially helping to preserve Mexican language and culture in the Southwest during a time of extreme hostility towards immigrants in the 1920s and 1930s.[7]

In addition to the music he played for his widespread audience, ranging from across California, to Arizona, to northern Mexico, González also used his platform to talk about a wide range of topics. From broadcasts about injustices towards Mexicans and issues concerning Mexican workers in Southern California, to advertisements of local businesses and publicizing local job listings. In one case in 1929, González organized a collection for donations that would go towards paying for the burial of a Mexican woman, María González.[6] María González had been raped and murdered in Los Angeles, and due to her family being in poverty, her body was to be cremated, as the cost for a proper burial was too expensive.[6] Listeners of González's broadcast were able to raise $152.97 (equivalent to about $2,200 today[13]) to help María González's family with the burial cost.[6]

Another example of his influence within the Mexican and Mexican American labor community is when González told his listeners that workers were needed to help clear land at a given location in LA.[7] To his own surprise, about 200 laborers with shovels and axes showed up in order to help.[6][7] After receiving calls of complaints from white Americans about the broadcast causing a disturbance in their neighborhoods, the police arrived at the scene.[14] Perceiving this gathering as an uprising, they begin to arrest some of the workers.[3][7] These arrests were overseen by District Attorney Buron Fitts who further explained to González about other complaints the police had received about the sound of the Spanish-language radio in the morning.[3] This event marked the start of when González began to be seen negatively and as a threat by the LA police and Fitts.

Due to the Great Depression in the 1930s, Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans were scapegoats for the stagnant economy.[5][7] Consequently, the 1930s saw thousands of Mexican immigrants incarcerated due to the passage of legislation that criminalized unauthorized entry into the U.S.[6] The Secretary of Labor under President Herbert Hoover, William N. Doak, launched a campaign of repatriation (see Mexican Repatriation) that targeted illegal Mexicans in the U.S.[4] "Sweeps" were conducted, which involved agents of the United States Border Patrol of the Immigration and Naturalization Service surrounding an area, such as a farm or factory and in some cases a Latino neighborhood, public park or public transportation, where many potential Mexican immigrants were suspected to be.[4] The agents would then demand identification, and arrest those who could not provide the necessary papers.[4] Due to the scale and surprise factor of the repatriation sweeps, many legal Mexican Americans were also deported or incarcerated under the charge of being illegal immigrants.[15]

As about half a million Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans were deported under these repatriation policies, González was one of the few people who extensively reported on the repatriation and warned the Mexican community of the raids. "They say that this government campaign is to secure jobs for North American citizens. It's a trick. It isn't true. It's really nothing more than a racist attack against all Mexicans. We are neither illegals nor undesirables," said González in one of his broadcasts. He was also vocal about his criticism of Buron Fitts' anti-Mexican sentiment.[4] Additionally, he used his corridos to protest these situations.

His popularity and influence over the Mexican and Mexican American community further alarmed government officials.[16] As a result, he was also unjustly incarcerated like many Mexican American people at the time, with his release from prison depending on the very policy of repatriation he had protested.

While González was imprisoned, the remaining members of Los Madrugadores composed a corrido about González. The corrido, in two parts, told of González's popularity, his experiences, his romantic life, and more, as seen in the following sample of the lyrics:

Señores oigan la historia que refiere este corrido

Gentlemen hear the history that this corrido refers to

De un cantador muy famoso de muchos muy bien querido

Of a very famous singer, dearly loved by many

Aprendan bien estos versos no los echen en el olvido

Learn these verses well, don't let them be forgotten

Es Pedro J. González de quien vamos a cantar

It's Pedro J. González of who we will sing of

El anunciador de radio que se hizo más popular con sus bonitas canciones

The radio announcer that was made more popular with his pretty songs

Supo a todos conquistar

He knew how to win everyone over

El pueblo con simpatía lo haría sentir un hermano

The town with sympathy made him feel like a brother

Por escuchar sus programas se levantaban temprano a oír a Pedro González con su guitarra en la mano

To listen to his programs they got up early to hear Pedro González with his guitar in his hand

El siguiente día formaron Los Madrugadores

The following day they formed Los Madrugadores

y por miles se contaron todos sus admiradores

And for miles all of his admirers were told

De todas partes venían a oír a sus cantadores

From every part they came to hear his singers

Las mujeres no faltaban a diario a sus oficinas

The women were never missing daily at their offices

Pasando dedicatorias a hermanas, tías y sobrinas

Passing dedications to sisters, aunts, and nieces

La mayor parte a sus novios y otros hasta sus vecinas

The majority to their boyfriends and others even to their neighbors[17]

At San Quentin, prison conditions were cramped with thousands of Mexican immigrants being imprisoned. Other American prison conditions made life difficult for the incarcerated Mexican immigrants. At the time, letters that were written from the prison, and received by the prison had to be in English.[6] While incarcerated, González acted as a translator for fellow Mexican inmates, that only spoke and read Spanish.[2] He also assisted those inmates as a "de facto liaison".[2]

While imprisoned, González was disgusted by the way in which officials punished the inmates. He felt that the forms of punishments used on inmates were similar to those "used 500 years ago."[7] González himself was forced to stand in "a tank filled with excrement and sewage" during one such punishment.[18] After experiencing the horrible treatment inmates were subjected to, González organized a hunger strike. He aimed to not only make punishments less inhumane, he also demanded that he and other Mexican prisoners be given the "right to write and receive letters in Spanish" and have "Mexican cultural events".[6] About 10,000 inmates at San Quentin were involved in this hunger strike, which left officials no choice but to make changes to the system.[4]

After being deported to Mexico, González and his family settled in Tijuana, Mexico. González was instrumental in developing the radio broadcasting industry in Tijuana, as he had been in California. He also created another group of Los Madrugadores, which would also have their work broadcast by González.[2]

During this time, González was a strong advocate for veterans of the Mexican Revolution. In fact, he led the formation of a national organization, which recognized and fought for the rights of these veterans. This organization was able to get veterans health and pension benefits as well as land grants in the form of ejidos.[2]

Due to opposition he had faced from politicians and land speculators in Tijuana, González and his wife moved back to California in 1973. This also allowed them to live closer to their children, who were all U.S. citizens. It is unclear when he was granted access back to the US. He continued to support Mexican veterans and the civil rights of Mexicans and Mexican Americans until his death on March 17, 1995, in Lodi, California.[2][16]