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Chicano and black movements
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Chicano Rights Movement The 1960s was a time of very unjust treatment for Mexican Americans, but it was also a time for change. Many were starting to lose hope but as Cesar Chavez once said, “si se puede”. The chicano rights movement was a movement that started after World War II when Mexican Americans decided it was time to take back their rights and fight for equality. With many successes there were also some failures, but that did not stop them from fighting back for what they deserved. Chican@s of all ages in the US faced many issues due to their race in which included, but weren’t limited to, unequal education, political power, and working conditions. The education system was not equal for everyone. They separated the White and Mexican students with the excuse that the Mexican students did not know the language well enough and needed a different kind of education, so they created schools specifically for them. While the White students had all the new textbooks and nice schools, the Mexicans had what was left. They were given old used textbooks and small poorly built schools. In document 5 it showed two photos. The first photo was of students who attended Mexican Ward School in Texas in 1946. They photo shows students sitting in chairs …show more content…
in a small classroom with their books on their lap. They didn’t even have proper desks to work on. The second photo showed the outside of the school. The school was very small with paint coming off the walls. It looked very poorly built (source: Rivard Report, The, Oct. 25, 2012). A strategy used to end this was court. Chican@s took this to court to end segregation in the school district and won. On February 20th, 1946, the Los Angeles Times wrote an article stating that the segregation was a violation of their guarantees of equal rights under the 14th Amendment of the constitution (source: ProQuest Historical Newspapers, Los Angeles Times (1881-1986)). Another issue they faced was inequality in political power. They lacked representation of Latin@s and allies in politics. Document 4 shows composite photos of Texas Senate and House of House of Representatives in 1952. In both the House of representatives Fifty Third Legislature and the Fifty Third Senate Legislature they are all White men and none of them were Latin@ allies. There are no Latin@s in them (source: Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin). To combat this Chican@s created their own political party in 1972 called La Raza Unida (Source: The women of La Raza Unida). Though it was not very successful they did not stop trying. In 1960 when Kennedy, a LAtin@ ally, ran for president, Chican@s started the Viva Kennedy Clubs to encourage more Mexican Americans to vote for Kennedy. It was successful making many Mexican Americans start voting in favor of Kennedy (source: Hector P. Garcia Archives). Lastly, another issue they faced was poor working conditions.
Latin@s both young and old worked for hours in the hot sun. Out in the fields they worked hard to earn a living, but they did not get paid what they deserved. They got paid very little by the farm laborers who profited a lot from their labor (source: University of Michigan). To fight against this unjust treatment, Chican@s went on strike and boycotted the California grapes. In document 1 it shows photographs of the United Farm Workers strike poster and the boycotts. Many people joined the strike and boycott to help support the cause and won. Both strategies showed to be very effective in getting the farm workers a fair pay and treatment (source: United Farm
Workers). The US was not a very just place for Chican@s in the 1960s. There was a lot of inequality in education, politics, and in the workplace, but for every issue, activists came up with a solution.With strikes, boycotts, elections, and court cases, they fought until they had the equality they deserved. There is a lot that can be learned from the Chican@ Rights Movement and things that can be applied to issues we face today. Though some might say things have gotten better and racism does not exist anymore it still does. Every day Latin@s and African Americans face unjust treatment from the workplace and the law. Actions have already been taken to fight for our equality similarly to what they did in the Chican@ Movement like protests and strikes, but we need to do more. We need to fight for change starting with our government. We need more allies in office and voters to help this country progress. If more people get involved then we can do anything. Si se puede.
While working on the farms they would be sprayed with pesticides. The farm owners did not care at all for these people, only for their crops. They would work long hours without rest and little to no access to water or restrooms. All the workers would share drinking water by passing around a can and everyone would drink from there. Women had it more difficult because restrooms were not available, “it would be embarrassing, extremely humiliating,” as union co-founder, Dolores Huerta, described it in the video. This mistreatment kept going for years, some workers even said that it felt like slavery. In 1962 the National Farm Workers Association was created in Delano California to protest against all the farm owners that took advantage of the migrant workers. The founder of this association was a farmer named Cesar Chavez. He gathered farmers of all cultures to launch a strike that would hopefully undo all of these injustices that the workers had to go through. The farmers began their strike walking and yelling “Huelga” on the roads alongside the farms. This strike lasted two years but
3. Dolores Huerta was the main negotiator during the Delano grape strike. In 1965 Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez were approached by Filipino members of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee ("AWOC"). AWOC wanted higher wages from the Delano are grape growers. AWOC wanted to negotiate new contracts with their employers but they needed the help of Huerta and Chavez. The NFWA was still new and growing although Huerta thought that NFWA was not ready to attack corporate America she could not refuse to help AWOC. The two unions formed into one union called United Farm Workers union. Under this the union Dolores began the battle with the Delano grape growers. Dolores organized over 5,000 workers to walk off their job and to strike until they could reach an agreement with their employers.
In 1938, the Chavez family lost their farm due to the Great Depression. They were forced to relocate to California and become migrant workers. Chavez was distressed by the poor treatment that migrant farmworkers endured on a daily basis. His powerful religious convictions, dedication to change, and a skill at non violent organizing cultivated the establishment of the United Farmworkers (UFW). It was also referred to as “La Causa” by supporters and eventually became a vital movement for self-determination in the lives of California's farmworkers. The astounding nationwide lettuce and grape boycotts along with public support revealed the atrocities of California agribusiness and resulted in the first union hiring halls and collective bargaining for migrant workers. The details of the childhood of Cesar Chavez and how they would later shape his actions are a vital aspect of this book and the establishment of the farm workers movement.
In the early 1960’s, the Civil Rights Movement was rearing its head amongst ethnicities other than African Americans. The mid-60’s saw the flowering of a movement for legal rights among Mexican-Americans, as well as a new militancy challenging the group’s second-class economic status. The aptly named ‘Chicano’ movement had many similarities to what the ‘Black Power’ movement also advocated. It primarily emphasized pride in both the past and present Mexican culture, but unlike the Black Power movement and SDS, it was also closely linked to labor struggles. The movement itself found one of its leaders in César Estrada Chávez, the son of migrant farm works and disciple of Martin Luther King Jr. César Chávez would become the best-known Latino American civil rights activist through his use of aggressive but nonviolent tactics and his public-relations approach to unionism. In 1965, Chávez led a series of nonviolent protests which included marches, fasts and a national boycott of California grapes. The boycott drew national attention to the pitifully low wages and oppressive working conditions forced upon migrant laborers, and in 1969, Chávez addressed a “Letter from Delano” to agricultural employers, defending his own movement’s aims and tactics.
The civil rights movement, by many people, is though to have happened during the 1950's and 1960's. The truth of the matter is that civil right has and always will be an ongoing issue for anyone who is not of color. The civil rights movement started when the black slave started arriving in America centuries ago. The civil rights movement is one of the most known about issues in American history. Everyone at some point in their life has studied this movement. This movement is particularly interesting due to the massive amounts of different stories and occurrences through the course of the movement. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a vital figurehead to this movement. He inspired many people who had lived their whole lives in the shadow of fear of change.
On the other hand, the farm worker’s movement started with disagreements among workers on the wages earned, harsh treatments and the conditions they worked in. As they grew tired of their situation, the workers attended meetings organized by the National Farm Workers Association(NFWA) to strike against the unjust labor conditions they faced. Primary leaders of the walkout, César Chávez and Dolores Huerta, instructed labor organizers to recruit more members, encouraging field workers, sometimes embarrassing them, to signing into the union. Thus, it created a strong unified stand and because they needed as much aid as they could get to fight against growers with power and money. Mexican Americans began to outcry in the fields, holding up signs to fight against their problems and hopefully negotiate with growers to solving their problems. As they protested, growers ignored their requests and brought more people in busloads from Mexico to replace the workers. Since Mexican American protesters were prohibited to enter the fields hence, they objected in front of markets where grapes were sold. They commenced to boycott grapes in public to aware people of their struggles in the fields by
Filipinos asked Cesar Chavez, who led the majority of Latino farm workers, the National Association of agricultural workers to join the strike. Cesar Chavez and NFWA leaders believe they would be years before his fledgling Union, were ready to strike. Filipino union joined in Independence Day of Mexico. Cesar chavez decided the only good way to stop violence in the union was to quit eating, and the only thing he would consume was water. CEsar Chavez in 25 days he already lost 35 pounds, those 25 days without consuming anything. ("Delano Grape Strike and Boycott." UFW: The Official Web Page of the United Farm Workers of America. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2016.)
“There must be the position of superior and inferior” was a statement by Lincoln which formed the basis of discrimination towards black Americans as it highlighted the attitudes of white Americans. Although civil rights for black people eventually improved through the years both socially and politically, it was difficult to change the white American view that black people are inferior to white people as the view was always enforce by the favour of having “the superior position assigned to the white race”.
against their employers, employees were able to go on strike and prove a point. Some
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 goals and moving to literally governing their own selves. Although the Chicano and Black Power Movement sought for self-determination, they differed in the tactics they used to obtain this goal.
...their rules allowing Spanish to be spoken in school along with bilingual instruction. Corporal punishment was restricted and numerous Mexican-American teachers and advisors were hired.
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 prevented them from progressing in American society (Bloom 47). Throughout the years of the Chicano Movement, Mexican-Americans had a “desire to integrate into the mainstream culture while preserving their own identity” (Bloom 47). The Chicano Civil Rights Movement was a progressive era when Mexican-Americans had goals that they wanted to accomplish and sought reform in order to be accepted as a part of the United States.
The chicano movement fought to stop the exploitation of Mexican american migrant farm workers, Mexican Americans were taken advantage of by keeping their wages low so that they stay well below poverty level, children whose parents were migrant workers were limited to three years of education at a time, also they were exposed to poisonous pesticides and the harsh sun for long periods at a time leaving them with many medical problems and being unable to pay for treatments.
The Civil Rights Movement had a lot going on between 1954 and 1964. While there were some successful aspects of the movement, there were some failures as well. The mixture of successes and failures led to the extension of the movement and eventually a more equal American society.
The America¬¬¬n Civil Rights movement was a movement in which African Americans were once slaves and over many generations fought in nonviolent means such as protests, sit-ins, boycotts, and many other forms of civil disobedience in order to receive equal rights as whites in society. The American civil rights movement never really had either a starting or a stopping date in history. However these African American citizens had remarkable courage to never stop, until these un-just laws were changed and they received what they had been fighting for all along, their inalienable rights as human beings and to be equal to all other human beings. Up until this very day there are still racial issues were some people feel supreme over other people due to race. That however is an issue that may never end.