Chicano Movement

The cultural practices that Chicanos/Chicanas partake in such as being pachucos and pachucas, being actively involved in feminism, creating music and using stereotypes in film reflect their struggle to attain freedom and empowerment against Anglo society and within themselves. The various elements that make up Chicano culture have helped them resist Anglo culture and develop subcultures within the Chicano community. In addition, it has also allowed them to free themselves from the idea of becoming just like standard the American that they are expected to be.

Hispanics have been immigrating to America since the beginning of the Spanish Colonial era. Up until the 1920’s Mexican Americans have boomed in rural places in america. The 1920’s was meeting the beginning of a renaissance, a better promised life for both native americans as well as immigrants. Businesses were booming, wages were higher, and the industry was creating a bright future for America. However, Mexican Americans continued to face hardships as well as few successes leading up to the 1920’s. Whether these were Native born Americans with a Hispanic background or newly immigrated Mexicans, Mexican Americans faced the hardship of poverty, discrimination, segregation, and struggles during the 1920’s.

During the 1970’s, Mexican Americans were involved in a large social movement called the "Chicano movement." Corresponding with the great development of the black civil rights movement, Mexican Americans began to take part in a series of different social protests in which they demanded equal rights for themselves. Composed mainly of Mexican American students and youth, these activists focused on maintaining a pride for their culture as well as their ethnicity to fuel their political campaign. Left out of this campaign initially though were Mexican immigrants.

Chicanos faced another problem along with their land being taken and being treated as second class citizens. Assimilating into American culture was difficult. Do you keep in touch with the roots of your homeland or do you change and adapt to the new ways of American culture? This was a struggle for Chicanos and it was difficult to adapt. A new language and a new culture in a place they once called their home. Some people tried to fit into both cultures, putting them into somewhere else entirely. This didn’t help their sense of belonging, and ultimately casted them farther as outsiders than before.

More than a century of prejudice against one of the largest minority residing in the United States that continues today. To these days Hispanics are targets of discrimination and are not offer equal opportunities in jobs and education. The roots of discrimination go back to the end of the Mexican War when thousands of Mexicans became American citizens overnight. The sign of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo not only transfer land to the United States but also the people that live there before it became territory of the United States. These people began to suffer from discrimination in their owl land. Their sons and daughters did not have better luck because even thought they were born in the United States therefore they are American citizens

My topic centers on civil rights. My research question will be, how did the Crystal city walkouts influence the Chicano movement? I will focus on Mexican American civil rights or as it was called the Chicano movement. The term Chicano is used by Mexican Americans to identify themselves, it is used as a political identity. Mexican Americans came up with this term when felt like they were neither accepted into the Mexican culture nor the American culture. Mexican Americans were considered white yet treated differently. This was documented in the Hernandez v.Texas case where Chicano lawyers fought for equal treatment in court setting and outside.

African Americans and Mexican Americans were being denied equal membership in U.S society. This race discrimination denied dignity to those who were minorities. For minorities there was everyday discrimination in restaurants, public services, housing and education (Alvarez, p. 18). Both

The Chicano movement, also known as El Movimiento, was a civil rights movement that began in the 1960s with a primary objective of attaining empowerment and self-determination as well as rejecting and confronting the history of racism, discrimination and disenfranchisement of the Mexican-American community and was much more militant than movements prior to it. Some issues the Chicano movement dealt with were farm workers’ rights, political rights, better education and restoration of land grants. Additionally, the movement sought to gain social equality and economic opportunity. The movement strove to tackle the stereotype the media and America synonymized with Mexicans. The Chicano movement was influenced by progress made in movements such as the Black Power Movement, antiwar movement and various others.

Mexicans have been a people long oppressed. That is evident not only by the readings edited by Zaragosa Vargas in Major Problems in Mexican American History, but also by the the documentary Chicano!. The Mexicans’ past is underscored by conquest of the present-day American Southwest first by the Spanish and then by the United States following the Mexican American War. With other countries establishing control over them, Mexicans have never really been able to establish themselves. Efforts were repeatedly made to shape them into what others perceived them to be. The language they should speak, the religion they should practice, the things they should learn, and the way they should live, were all

Chicanos felt that as a nation, the history has had some significant Chicano influence that also needed to be recognized and taught within our school system. They also felt that the institutions that let this country function like law enforcement, government and education, were set up to systematically work against the Chicano. This was their way to identify themselves with the struggle against such entities.

| The United States citizens who are Spanish-speaking who were somehow brought into the country due to the end results of the Mexican War are considered as being Mexican Americans. Hispanic immigration into the United States is caused because of two reasons: an escape from any political persecution and for economic opportunities (Rodriguez, 1995).

Discrimination was a very harsh case to all Mexican Americans and also for the African Americans. In the 1950’s it was a very difficult time for the Hispanics, they were considered people who weren’t intelligent and invisible. There was too much racism in everywhere and every place of Texas. There were also many signs out the restaurants, parks, and in public places that said, “No Mexicans,

During the 19th Century, the United States sought to expand westwards and increase their land. Since Mexico stood in the way they did all they could to provoke it and start a war. “The Mexicans fired the first shot. But they had done what the American government wanted” (Zinn 151). What they wanted was California, soon they wanted Texas and then Arizona and New Mexico came along. For a long period of time, probably still today; Mexican-Americans are seen as “an ahistoric people” (Romano 44). An assumption that is completely wrong. Mexican American have been fighting for their rights and equality since they became part of America. In fact, they had two movements conduct by different generations. The Mexican-American Generation between 1930 and 1960; and the Chicano generation between 1945-1960. Although both generations were had the same ancestry, they had different worldview because of their history and the events that were going on in their time. Both Mexican-American generation and Chicano generation similarities and differences help understand the overall Chicano history in the 20th Century.

Discrimination has been the brawn of injustices done to people of color. Most don't know of the Chicano struggle in the United Stated for the past four to six generations. Chicanos in America were forced to face chaos, poverty, and pain. Chicano, by Richard Vasquez is a perfect example of how Mexican Americans and Chicanos were treated in America during the 90's. Although Chicanos faced a burdensome life in America, lots of customs and culture immigrated to America with them, which has fabricated the Chicano Culture. The book Chicano profoundly demonstrates how hard it was for a Mexican family to immigrate to America. Once Chicanos started a life in America, it was very hard to get out of it. Mexicans were not socially accepted because

In the Preface of Major Problems in Mexican American History Zaragosa Vargas writes, "Nearly two thirds of Latinos in the United States are of Mexican descent, or Chicanos- a term of self definition that emerged during the 1960's and early 1970s civil rights movement. Chicanos reside mainly in the Southwest, the Pacific Northwest, and the Midwest. Their history begins in the precolonial Spanish era, and they share a rich mestizo cultural heritage of Spanish, Indian, and African origins. The Chicanos' past is underscored by conquest of the present-day American Southwest first by the Spanish and then by the United States following the Mexican American War" (xv). When one thinks of a Chicano one thinks of the Mayans and Aztecs, the conquests,