Mexican Americans And The Injustices Of The Chicano / Chicana Movement

The 1960’s comprised of many different movements that sought the same goal of achieving equality, equality in means of: political, economical, and social equality. Two similar movements emerged during this era that shared the same ideologies: the Chicano and the Black Power Movement. Both shared a similar ideology that outlined their movement, which was the call for self-determination. The similar experiences that they had undergone such as the maltreatment and the abuse of power that enacted was enacted by the dominant Anglo race helped to shape these ideologies. Despite their similar ideology, they differed in how they achieved this goal, by either obtaining political participation or going to the extreme as using force to achieve their

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.

Many times, these Chicanos were pushed off their lands and forced to try and survive elsewhere. “I owned land as far as the eye could see under the Crown of Spain, and I toiled on my earth and gave my Indian sweat and blood for the Spanish master who ruled tyranny over man and beast and all that he could trample. But… THE GROUND WAS MINE.” This is what life was like before the Spanish-American War and before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This was life before Chicanos were pushed off their land because Anglos fought the documents in court. This is before the treaty that was supposed to protect their rights fell through. This is when life was hard, but it was a life they knew and a struggle they lived with. Although Chicanos have endured many struggles, this is one they want to fight for.

The Chicano art movement rose during the civil rights era was based on three goals that included restoral of land, education reforms rights for farm workers. The three goals followed by the Chicano Art artists had long been coming. One of the first goals included rights for farm workers. Arguably, the Mexicans Americans fight to secure unionization for the farm workers was one of the key goals of the Chicano art. In order to Sway the grape farmers, Cesar Chavez launched a national boycott that aimed at the American Farm

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

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.

With the increase in salary many Mexicans would feel the money made would be enough to support their family, and live a more comfortable life. The growth of immigrants sparked around the 1970’s, and continued to grow as decades passed. According to the pewhispanic.org the immigrant population had a seventeen fold increase from the decades before. (seven hundred sixty thousand immigrants were currently in the United States in the nineteen seventies.) Even with the increase in salary Mexican americans were still unsatisfied, and believed they deserved more money, more respect, and less racial segregation. The leader of the United Farm Workers movement Cesar Chavez helped organize boycotts and strikes against the farm owners, and got others to stop buying grapes; this severely hurt the grape growing business. Not only did the increase in salary encourage others to immigrate to the United States, but better working conditions did as well. With more immigrants entering the United States, many Mexicans would find themselves to be illegally in the US. Chavez was strongly against those who were in the US illegally and would refuse to help them. Though these people were not receiving the UFW benefits, it encouraged them to apply for citizenship.

In his book Racism on Trial: The Chicano Fight for Justice, Ian F. Haney Lopez studies the change that in racial politics brought about by the Chicano movement. He examines why Chicano activists embrace their identity as members of the Brown race, an action that is a rejection of previous generations ' attempts to gain civil rights by claiming to be White. He analyzes this racial transformation in the context of race as a socially constructed idea meant to preserve power dynamics.

In American history, civil rights movements have played a major role for many ethnics in the United States and have shape American society to what it is today. The impact of civil rights movements is tremendous and to an extent, they accomplish the objectives that the groups of people set out to achieve. The Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement, more commonly known as the Chicano Movement or El Movimiento, was one of the many movements in the United States that set out to obtain equality for Mexican-Americans (Herrera). At first, the movement had a weak start but eventually the movement gained momentum around the 1960’s (Herrera). Mexican-Americans, also known as Chicanos, began to organize in order to eliminate the social barriers that

Starting in the late nineteenth century until the end of World War II, the immigration policy in the United States experienced dramatic changes that altered the pace of immigration. High rates of immigration sparked adverse emotions and encouraged restrictive legislation and numerous bills in Congress advocated the suspension of immigration and the deportation of non-Americans (Wisconsin Historical Society). Mexican American history was shaped by several bills in Congress and efforts to deport all non-Americans from the United States. The United States was home to several Spanish-origin groups, prior to the Declaration of Independence. The term “Mexican American” was a label used to describe a number of Hispanic American groups that

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.

One of the many similarities about the Mexican American Civil Rights movements and the Chicano Movement in the 60s- 70s is that they fought for what they believed they had a right to have. Many in the 1940’s and in the 1960’s stepped up to show their loyalty to the United States by joining the military and sadly manly lost their lives during World War II and the Vietnam War. They were many Mexican Americans who were stationed in infantry and many dangerous areas during the war. They all fought with courage and fought with heart to accomplish the same goal each soldier had. Even though both the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement and the Chicano Movement seemed to have many similarities, they had many differences. I argue that The Chicano Movement and The Civil Rights Movement are different in many ways because they fought for different motives and wanted a better life for themselves as Mexican Americans in America. They of course had many similarities but took different extremes.

In United States history, there have been many protest and struggles of people and citizens of this nation. People who fought for their rights and did whatever it took to gain the goal in life which was to have your independence and civil rights. Three important groups African American, Native American, and Feminist wanted and achieved their rights after years and years of rebellious for their civil rights and here is how they did it.

were fighting for the right to become an equal in the eyes of society and winning the battle in

Women began to protest forcefully for equal rights and they weren’t alone. African Americans, Mexican Americans were all getting into the fray and government was having a challenging time keeping pace. The Supreme Court in ruling after ruling began changing the nature of equality within our society. These