Abstract
This thesis presents a critical exploration of Eduardo-Bonilla Silva’s Latin Americanization Thesis using the 2015 American Community Survey to explore the determinants of homeownership and home values among Cubans in the United States. Homeownership is an important wealth-generating mechanism, and access to it can determine the future socio-economic standing of subsequent generations. Results reveal racial inequalities in both homeownership and house values. White Cubans are more likely to own homes and have higher home values compared to other race and black Cubans. These results highlight the importance of considering racial inequality within select immigrant groups. Similar to previous research, demographic, economic, and housing characteristics have varying effects on housing tenure within the regression models. The concluding remarks address the theoretical implications of the findings using the Latin Americanization Thesis as well as the historical context in which these inequalities were created and persist. As the legal status of Cuban migration drastically changes, this project provides an important understanding for the ways in which one Latinx group encounters the United States racial system.