Tale as Old as Time – The Mexican Revolution

The Mexican Revolution was a revolution that lasted from 1910 to 1920 in order to gain land reforms and equality for the people of Mexico. During this ten year period, Mexico saw five presidents in office, all for varying lengths of time, and all that accomplished everything other than land redistribution and equality. In this unit, I wrote three journal entries from the perspective of Thomas Sanchez, a middle/upper-class citizen from the north of Mexico, who retells the Mexican Revolution. In this journal, we follow Thomas as he discovers Mexico isn’t the paradise he once thought it to be, and rather than joining the revolution for personal gain, he joins in order to help the people, whom he once thought to be prospering and happy. Whilst the revolution allowed for equality and land redistribution back to their original owners, a few things stayed the same. For starters, the economy was still in shambles and stayed in shambles until 1934, when Lazaro Cardenas got elected and helped Mexico regain economic stability. In addition to that, during the entirety of the revolution, whilst there was some foreign investment and intervention, Mexico did not fall under the rule of any other nation and remained independent throughout all ten years. Unlike other revolutions, the Mexican Revolution brought a lot of change to the nation of Mexico, for example, since the revolution had brought opportunities for women to join the fight and help their nation, women’s rights greatly increased after the revolution because of the amazing opportunities they were given. Another big change was the freedom of expression after the fall of the Porfiriato, and with that came many great pieces of art in the form of murals, three of the most famous painters after the revolution were Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. These three artists painted famous and colourful murals, to show the togetherness and community of the Mexican people even though the nation had many different social classes. These murals are still famous today and became a part of the Mexican community since they created an artistic movement in Mexico.