Los Autobuses del Sur: Mexican Migrant Routes and Economies in the US South

Abstract

This essay traces the regional expansion of migrant economies through the case of Mexican bus companies established throughout the US South in the 1990s. It draws on familial memories, archival collections, and newspaper articles to illustrate how entrepreneurs in the transit industry expanded their businesses regionally in the late twentieth century as Mexican communities settled and grew across the US South. Specifically, the piece examines how the ruta sureña (southern route) between Houston, Texas, and Atlanta, Georgia, in this era was established by Mexican migrants and facilitated by ethnic Mexican transit entrepreneurs. The bus routes traversing this ruta sureña, alongside migrants’ lived experiences, form part of a broader Latinx South, a region with multiple historical and contemporary points of entry.