González, Gilbert G. 1941-...

Dr. Gilbert G. Gonzalez (Professor Emeritus and Historian at the University of California-Irvine, Chicano/Latino Studies) was one of eight children born to Mexican immigrant parents. Raised and educated in southern California, Dr. Gonzalez received his Ph.D. in United States history from UCLA in 1974. In 1971, Gonzalez was affiliated with the Program in Comparative Culture at the University of California-Irvine, where he established his interests in ethnic studies, U.S.-Mexico agricultural labor relations, Mexican consuls and public policy, segregation of Mexican children in the southwestern states, and Mexican immigration.

Considered by his peers as one of the preeminent scholars of Chicano history and transborder studies, Gonzalez's work argues that Mexican migration since the late nineteenth century is the social and political consequence of United States' economic dominion over Mexico. Indeed, this theme permeates Gonzalez's scholarship. Currently, Gonzalez and a colleague, Vivian Price, are completing a film documentary titled Soldiers of the Fields: Forgotten But Not Silenced, a historical perspective on the lives, struggles, and sacrifices of the men and women of the U.S.-Mexico Bracero Program, which brought approximately 4.8 million Mexican agricultural workers into the United States over a twenty-two year period (1942-1964). Gonzalez also served as a Professor of Social Sciences and Director of the Labor and Studies Program at the University of California-Irvine.