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The Chicano Movement 1960s And 1970s

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The Chicano movement was part of the American Civil Rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s. It sought political empowerment and social inclusion for Mexican-Americans. The term ‘Chicano’ was originally used as a derogatory label for the children of Mexican migrants. People on both sides of the border considered this new generation of Mexican Americans neither ‘American’ nor ‘Mexican’. In the 1960s the term ‘Chicano’ came to be accepted as a symbol of self-determination and ethnic pride.
The real beginning of this movement predates the 1960s and 70s. It began with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This 1848 agreement ended the Mexican vs. American war and resulted in America acquiring territory from Mexico. However, not only did the United States obtain a huge land mass, but it also obtained most of the Mexican population. These people and their descendants were not assimilated as full and equal citizens; instead, they were systemically discriminated.
For many years after, the Chicano people were considered the silent or forgotten minority. As well as this, Chicanos suffered the highest unemployment, the lowest income, the worst education, the highest death …show more content…

They based their actions on the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which was signed by the United States and Mexico in 1848. Mexican lands were granted to the United States but the agreement ensured that landowning Mexicans would keep their pre-existing property rights in the lands transferred; however, the United States failed to honour the latter part of the agreement. Many Mexicans thus lost their lands. Those in the Chicano movement, argued that many Mexican Americans were not immigrants and that the Mexican people owned the land ceded to the United States. When this failed, the Chicanos demanded that the land be given back to Mexican Americans as they believed it constituted their ancestral homeland, also known as

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