Quixote's Soldiers Chapter Summary

He uses records from organizations such as: American G.I. Forum, National Council of la Raza, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), and League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). He also uses newspaper articles and several government documents such as Census data. This gave a broad insight into an even broader topic. Another strength the reader can attribute to this book is that it is easy to follow since the book in ordered chronologically. It makes the context easier to understand because you can really see how the relationship developed and changed over

During the 1960’s, the Civil Rights Movement wasn’t the only one occurring. Struggling to assimilate into American culture, and suppressed by social injustices convicted by their Anglo counterparts, the Chicano movement was born. In the epic poem “I am Joaquin” written by Rodolfo Gonzales in 1969, we dive into what it means to be a Chicano. Through this poem, we see the struggles of the Chicano people portrayed by the narrator, in an attempt to grasp the American’s attention during the time of these movements. Hoping to shed light on the issues and struggles the Chicano population faced, Gonzales writes this epic in an attempt to strengthen the movement taking place, and to give Chicanos a sense of belonging and solidarity in this now

Even by the 1930s, this was particularly among young people who, “born and educated in the United States, demanded to be included in the city’s future … ” (Sanchez 226). At a crucial meeting of Mexican-Americans in 1927, facing an Anglo led municipal incorporation move that would have raised taxes and driven them out, many Mexican-American leaders opposed applying for U.S. citizenship. Even though it would have given them more of a target, specifically, the right to vote on a subsequent ballot measure. The affront to Mexico and their heritage was, for them, a crime that outweighed the benefits (Sanchez 4).

Juan Gonzalez uses Chapter 12: “Speak Spanish, You’re in America!: El Huracán over Language and Culture” of his novel Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America to introduce a truly polarizing argument that has plagued the Latino community in the United States of America. Gonzalez is quick to point out that English is the common language in this country, though he is quicker to note that it should not necessarily be so. This author is so incredibly biased in this chapter that it is nearly impossible to disagree with his opinion without feeling like one is completely shutting out the entire Latino community. However, speaking as a member of this community, perhaps it is this unique insight that allows for not only a contending opinion, but also the framework to make the opinion relevant. Gonzalez makes brash claims with little supporting evidence and relies heavily on argumenta ad passiones to manipulate the reader’s emotions instead of focusing on rationalism and sound judgment. Quite possibly, it was the abundance of this logical fallacy that made it difficult to sympathize with his argument; though, it lays the basis for this chapter analysis.

The formation of segregated barrios and the development of a wealth of community-provided services showed that Mexican-Americans were not content to be marginalized by the United States. Instead, they were embracing an empowering new sense of self-determination and referring to themselves as “Mexicanos or as members of a larger, pan-Hispanic community of La Raza.” At this time La Raza referenced individuals of the Mexican “race”, whether they were in Mexico or in the United States, and was particularly important in the United States, where race was more important than citizenship. In the late 19th and early 20th century United States, race was determined by purity of blood, and there were only two races—white and black. White meant the individual had “pure blood” (European blood); black meant that the individual’s blood included indigenous or African influences. Being white meant being able to exercise one’s constitutional rights and being treated as a normal member of society’s dominant group. Being black meant that, regardless of whether he or she was a citizen, the individual would face discrimination similar to that which I described earlier. When the Spanish conquerors mixed with the people of Latin America, forming the mestizo, or mixed race, population that now composes most of the region, they removed themselves from a “white” classification in the United States. Thus, by engaging with the concept of La Raza, which connotes a mestizo race and population, Mexican-Americans rejected the binary nature of race in the United States and embraced what made them different—their indigenous-mixed blood and the cultural heritage that accompanied it. While the abuse directed towards Mexican-Americans may have

Patrick J. Carrol’s Felix Longoria’s Wake: bereavement, racism, and the rise of Mexican American activism is a book of significance in the fight for equal rights for all Americans especially people of minority ethnicities like Mexican Americans. Carrol takes the reader on a tour of South Texas, where Mexicans and Anglos are segregated by train tracks whether that be schools, housing and even the cemetery where after death Mexican Americans are being segregated and discriminated against. The Mexican American activism fire grows red hot when Felix Longoria a private in the United States Army is killed in active duty during the Second World War on November 11, 1944 in the Philippines. When his body is set to be reburied in his hometown of Three Rivers, only to be rejected twice by the undertaker Tom Kennedy, who just recently purchased the chapel, because white people in the town would not like a Mexican American to use the chapel. This revelation of discrimination, racism and ethnocentrism in the small town of Three Rivers will lead Felix Longoria family, Dr. Hector P. Garcia and LBJ on a three to four months crusade on a national level and local level fight for Mexican American civil rights in South Texas. Even though Private Felix Longoria never gets the wake he is rightfully deserved, he is buried with full military honors.

Overall, the chapter, which focuses on “Hispanicity”, impacted me because I began to formulate ideas which opposed those that had been hammered into my mind all my life. For so long I had heard that minorities were victims to oppression by whites and for that reason minorities should strive to do more than what is expected from them. In reading Rodriguez’s claim, questions that had never been explored in my development arose in my mind such as “Are Hispanics really the victims?”, “Do Hispanics truly strive to their fullest to accomplish things that have never been done?”, and lastly, “Are Hispanics committing acts of hypocrisy?”. If a Hispanic

Throughout the 20th century, Los Angeles emerged as a place of multiculturalist struggles. One of these struggles, was that of the Mexican population, which is what the book Mi Raza Primero focuses on. In Mi Raza Primero by Ernesto Chavez, Chavez successfully argues how the collapse of the Chicano movement resulted from the failure to identify the multi-faceted and dynamic/heterogeneous nature of the ethnic Mexican community. He argues how this failure resulted in a movement that shared a strong sense of cultural nationalism, yet differed in tactics and goals. Chavez uses the examination of La Raza Unida Party and Brown Beret recruitment literature to help support his argument. Specifically, Chavez focuses on the voting data from the late

As a placebo for a changing guard, La Virgen de Guadalupe proved highly successful. The iconic image of La Virgen de Guadalupe remains static in both form and symbolism until the mid twentieth century, when a new movement among Mexican-Americans emerges in California, dubbed the Chicano movement. As visual propaganda becomes a large part of the movement, a significant body of art with common themes and styles, known as Chicano art, follows. This shift in subject matter among Mexican-American artists toward a specific social and political agenda began earlier, as evidenced by the work of Rivera, Orozco, and Posada, but, it isn’t until the mid 1960’s that national or religious iconographic images are recycled to support a larger political or social agenda.

David Montejano in his book Quixote’s soldiers: A local history of the Chicano movement, 1966 - 1981, describe the Chicano movement as a way of helping the Mexican American community. The book is divided in three parts: “Part One: The Conflict Within, Part Two: Marching Together Separately, and Part Three After the Fury”. Each part talks specifically about how the movement transform the city of San Antonio and how it keep changing different cities today. It talks about the problems of degradation that the Mexican American society has, the inequality and injustice. At the same time, talks about the women and the youth and their develop in this movement by creating different organizations. Montejano with a clear interpretation of what the Chicano

The Plan de San Diego provided an excuse to both Anglos and Hispanics to settle scores and seize opportunities. The authors unveil how the backlash resulted in a wave of racism and the deaths of some three hundred Mexican nationals. Harris and Sadler bring light to little known historical events which seem to still affect relationships and feelings between both sides of the warring parties. For example, they suggest The Plan de San Diego was probably devised by supporters of Mexican rebel, Venustiano Carranza, in his homeland and not the town of San Diego, Texas. His motive was to divert the attention away from his rival Pancho Villa.

The 1940’s inevitably signaled the beginning of the Mexican American civil rights era in the west as Mexican Americans rose to immeasurable heights in an attempt to terminate the de jure segregation they were unwillingly victims of. Their notable attempts to prove that they were worthy of the natural rights granted by the founding fathers brought light to the intense hatred shown towards Mexican Americans that was centralized in Los Angeles, California as

Pablo “Yorúba” Guzmán’s “Ain’t No Party Like The One We Got: The Young Lords Party and Palante” detailed the daring group of young Latino male adults and select women who met weekly on Saturdays in El Barrio (Spanish Harlem) to organize the Young Lords Organization in 1969. What started out as a 6-7 member group of nationalists, the “YLO” were essentially a group of educated—and extremely passionate—activists who cared about history. As told in a first person narrative, the chapter “Who Am I” outlined Guzman’s proliferating interest in learning his country’s history while informing us of an auto-biographical timeline. It’s important to note his influences as Nat Turner, W.E.B. Dubois, Harriet Tubman, Malcolm X, and Stokely Carmichael to name

Chicano Literature is a relatively new literature movement whose writings focus on the documentation of Chicano history in America in the 20th century and in analyzing the Chicano experience through the years of various important socio-political changes. The main event that influenced this type of literature was the Chicano movement in the 1960's, which resulted in a better social environment, both in schools and in work places, and a new established guarantee of human rights for Chicanos. Chicano literature can be observed from two viewpoints; the first viewpoint concentrates on literature produced before the 1960’s (or works that reflected beliefs and events in that time period) that depicted the buildup of dissatisfaction with injustices

The 2010 novel by Cynthia E. Orozco “No Mexicans, Women, Or Dogs Allowed” is about Early Mexican American events and how the ideology of “La Raza” came into existence. The book begins with the social, demographic and economic development in the early 20th century of Texas. Talking about some of the struggles that Mexican Americans had faced during the 19th century with many opposing factors simply because of their race. Furthermore, going into detail about the origins of the ideological movement of “La Raza” and the reasons for its success. In the 3rd chapter it analyzes some of the mutualistic movements that sprang up because of the struggles of many Mexican Americans. Orozco starts out in chapter 4 by talking about the 11 founding fathers of the LULAC, their background, and contributions; these founders were the following. “ J.T. Canales, teacher J. Luz Sáenz, labor organizer Clemente Idar, journalist Eduardo Idar Sr., wholesale and furniture store manager John Solís, lawyers Alonso S. Perales and Manuel C. González, district clerk employee James Tafolla Sr., restaurateur Ben Garza, baker Andrés de Luna Sr., and clerk Mauro M. Machado.” As we continue to read, Orozco soon brings up the Harlingen Convention of 1927, which attempted to provide an organizational answer to the problems “La Raza” faced and the attempt to unite all the mutualistic organizations under one banner. Finally, Orozco goes on the explain the events that