The Chicano Movement Summary

White people have always been the superior ethnicity with better lifes, jobs, and opportunities. One would think in a majority-minority state like Texas, where the majority of the population is made out of minorities, it would be an area controlled by minorities and not the white supremacist. In David Montejano’s story, “Quixote’s Soldiers, A Local History of the Chicano Movement,” he goes into depth of how the Mexican Americans in San Antonio created a Chicano movement that began to change the status quo and has impacted the culture today. Quixote’s Soldier’s is a well written narrative in which Montejano is able to prove his points by his style of writing and interpretation, by the numerous sources he acquires, and by… Quixote’s Soldier’s

In Racial Fault Lines: The Historical Origins of White Supremacy in California, Tomas Almaguer (2009) describes how race and racism coincides to facilitate the birth of white supremacy in California during the late nineteenth century. The idea of racial formation allowed groups to establish their power and privilege over defined racial lines. For each of the three racialized groups presented Chapter one combines the historical and sociological framework to describe the transformation of Mexican California. Through highlighting the historical accounts of racialized groups, fear of potential threats to white workers creates white supremacy. He continues by describing the peopling of Anglo-CA from 1848-1900 with the immigration of Irish, German,

Once again, Mexican-Americans were blinded by a belief in which they thought would help them move up the economic ladder. However, the belief that having an education would help them get somewhere in life was misleading. Anglo-Americans created unreasonable

La Raza Unida and Brown Berets Unions have been, and continue to be, an important force for democracy, not just in the workplace, but also in the community – locally, nationally, and globally. Unions make democracy work better. Political, labor, and racial unions have been instrumental in the lives of many people in the United Sates, and even more important, they have led to important advances in the American histoy. For many years, the Chicano people were considered minority, the situation was to change in the mid and late 1960s, as many movements developed in response to the oppression of the Chicano community. In order to effect social change, Chicanos saw the need to enter into politics and galvanize the Mexican American community.

In effect of African-Americans fighting for their civil rights, Mexican-Americans formed La Raza Unida when they saw that, “even the most disillusioned Mexican-American begin to dream large dreams again” (372). The civil rights movement for African-Americans helped opened the eyes of Mexican-Americans, and they soon realized that there was a disadvantaged minority. At this time period, they faced “the same level economically, but substantially below educationally” compared to African-Americans (372). “Mexican-Americans is not too much better off than the Negro” (372). After world war two, many Mexican-Americans wanted to be acknowledged for their sacrifice for serving their country.

The Zoot Suit Riots of 1943 represented a pivotal moment in the evolution of the Chicano experience. They mark a period of immense injustice, prejudice, and racism experienced by Mexican-Americans and had a tremendous impact on the evolution of civil rights in the U.S. As violence began to emerge from the brewing social tensions in Los Angeles, this event galvanized the Chicano civil rights movement and carried its implications to the present day. The riots not only catalyzed an organized resistance movement against systemic discrimination and injustice that lasts today, but they also provided a platform for reclaiming Chicano cultural identity. The film dives deep into the causes of the Zoot Suit riots by exploring the Sleepy Lagoon Case.

Laird (1925) was the first Mexican American litigation cases of school desegregation. The plaintiff Romo sued the defendant Tempe Elementary School District. The board directed the Mexican American children to the Eighth Street School; this was a school primarily consisting of Mexican American students who were segregated from their white comrades to attend a school taught by student teachers. These teachers weren’t even qualified; they were part of a beginners teaching program developed at Tempe State Teachers’ College. Romo argued that the teachers provided were not qualified and did not have the ability to teach properly compared to well qualified teachers.

Throughout the 19th century, the United States’ population significantly increased. Mexico looked towards the United State’s booming population and offered Stephen Austin the prospect of colonizing the “old three-hundred” American families in present-day Texas in order to populate the otherwise desolate region. Mexican officials, however, weren’t aware of the implications such colonization would have on the union’s longevity. In spite of Mexican provisions requiring colonists to become “Mexicanized” and be non-slave owning catholics, many Texans did not follow such terms facilitating the development of an independent Texan-American identity ultimately culminating in the Texan Revolution. After the Texan Revolution, Texas applied for statehood in the United States raising questions as to how such expansionism might upset the balance of free to slave states.

During the 1920s, the Chicano movement faced many political challenges. One of the many problems was many teachers didn 't put in effort to teach Chicanos. In addition, schools had student’s graduate high schools without even being ready for college. One example of the political challenges the Chicano movement suffers is discussed in the History of a Barrio by Richard Romo the author asserts; “the Los Angeles School District maintained separate schools for Mexicans on the premise that Mexicans had special needs” [Romo 139]. In other words, this demonstrates that school districts separated Chicanos from normal classes because they had trouble learning.

The pro-native nature of Chicano nationalism is based on the nature of the Mexican national identity in which the culture is heavily induced in the Spanish and indigenous cultures. This is in the case where 30% are indigenous while 60% of the population and the other 0.1 being of other racial groups and the European heritage. The experience of the Mexican Americans led to the creation of the culture by culminating their

Chicano Movement & its importance in latino history Chicano movement was a movement founded by Cesar Chavez and Huerta ortega and it emerged from them. The Chicano movement started in 1965 but peaked at the end of 1975, The Chicano movement aimed to have the right to equality in education and housing and having the right to have voting representation, their tactics were simple but effective they consisted of school boy scouts, strikes, walkouts, and demonstrations. The Chicano movement was a response to the injustices faced by Mexican Americans that included but were not limited to, discrimination, racism, poverty and lack of political representation.

Many other problems occurred in schools. Many schools did not give a good education to Chicanos. Haney-López says ”Chicano students participated in a variety of school “walkouts” in 1968 to protest their educational curriculum”(Lopez), which didn’t give them good future opportunities. These walkouts highlight the fact that Mexican Americans were discriminated against and were not given equal opportunities in education or the working environment. The Chicano movement was a major role in raising awareness to the issues and fighting for equal rights of Mexican

The Chicano movements were not primitive. Instead they were movements that protested the inequalities and treatment of their people like they did not matter. These movements then attracted police brutality on the people though this violence always been justified like an effort to liberate the people from the tranny of the Mexicans. None of this is true, however. Accuna thus looks to deconstruct the myth that the Hispanics were any primitive or wild or that they could not govern themselves (Acuna, n.p).

We’re constantly being influences by our surrounding. Usually, our parent’s cultural background plays a significant part in shaping who we are. On the other hand, co-cultures also promote their own set of values which could easily shape our ideas about certain matters as well. These components are a part of how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive too. Growing in a Mexican household allowed me to be exposed to more family orientated events that included music, food and dancing.

Segregation of Mexican Americans from the dominant Anglo race has been around for many years. Since the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Mexican Americans have been treated like a second-class race facing racism and segregation. As a result, segregation in the education system affected Mexican American children. An increasing number of Mexican Americans across California led to an increase of Mexican children enrolling in schools. Author David James Gonzales (2017), explores the degrading school facilities Mexican students were assigned to.