The main theme of this film was the Delano Chicano Movement also referred to as the History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement. During September of 1965, Hispanic farm workers in California began striking as they walked off the fields and refused to pick grapes after unfair treatment. In addition, during August 1967, farm workers began boycotting grapes. This movement was mainly for wage increases, better educational systems for their children, better homes and living conditions, as well as stricter pesticide control in the dangerous fields.
Next, the Delano Chicano Movement was led by César Chávez, who was a young civil rights leader. On February 14, 1968, as a response to violent repression, César Chávez, began a 25-day fast,
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eating no solid foods, drinking only water to keep the farm workers movement non-violent. On July 29, 1970, something spectacular occurred, contracts were signed by 26 Delano farmer owners; farm workers were to receive better treatment, $1.80 per hour, plus 20 cents per box of grapes, along with stricter pesticide control in the fields. Lastly, September 16th was and still is an important date for the Hispanics culture, this is the date of their declared independence and has been label as “Mexican Independence Day”. The movement started in Delano, California in the San Joaquin Valley, central valley California.
Farmer workers began losing everything they had, such as their homes. During this movement, Hispanics often asked to sleep on the floor in the homes of others during their march to the capitol. While the farm workers were marching to the capitol in Sacramento, CA for justice, on Easter Sunday of 1966, approximately 10,000 others joined them. After striking nearly two years, farmers still refused to negotiate with the farm workers for better treatment. Hispanics began boycotting the grapes. Eventually, mayors, religious leaders, as well as other countries, such as Europe, France, and Sweden joined the boycott. Dock workers from Sweden, Europe, and France refused to unload the California grapes. On February 14, 1968, César Chávez began his spiritual fast, drinking only water and consuming no solid foods. Although, the Hispanics did not understand what Chávez was doing, some Hispanic left the movement thinking that Chávez was crazy. Afterwards, store owners began telling farm owners that they were not going to sell their grapes because they did not want the people blocking their businesses from the boycott. Later, one farmer gave in and at that time his grapes were the only grapes being sold through the union. On July 29, 1970, the National Grape Boycott yields twenty-six Delano farmers to sign contracts providing better treatment to the farm
workers. Moving forward, the main participants who participated in the events were Civil Rights Union Leader, César Chávez, Dolores Huerta - the Vice President United Farm Worker Union Leader, Eliseo Medina - labor organizer, and Jerry Cohen was a Union Attorney, as these events took place in Delano, CA, Sacramento, CA, and Chicago, IL. Next, in discussing the importance of the leaders, the leaders were needed to lead the people in the right direction and to keep them moving and from making bad choices. Also, the leaders were excellent communicators, who were very effective at getting things done in the Hispanics favor. As I ponder about this film, César Chávez was the most interesting figure for me. Why? Because, he knew and understood the power of spiritual fasting, he was a very effective communicator who attracted Mayors and Religious Leaders from around the world, and he also followed some of the ideas of Dr. Martin Luther King. Moving forward, the elements I were able to grasp of the Hispanic Culture included the Hispanic Culture going on strike, not working under awful conditions. I didn’t blame them not one bit because they were not being compensated very much at all; and, most of all, they were being treated very unfairly. The elements that surprised me were the low wages the Hispanic Culture received, along with the fact that the field owners did not care about the Hispanic Culture’s well-being, their living conditions, and the fact that the children were being pulled out of schools after only a few years of being exposed. At the end of the film, I was experiencing a tremendous amount of joy because the Hispanics got what they wanted. Besides, I totally dislike when people are working hard to earn a living for themselves and their families and experience struggles, such as the struggles from the film throughout their lives. Finally, my general opinion of this documentary is that many people who were responsible for the horrible treatment of the Hispanic culture will answer to God; the farm owners will suffer greatly if they have not already done so. Also, in my opinion, no human should have been subjected to that type of treatment that the Hispanic culture endured, ever. Moreover, yes, I would recommend this movie to expose how awful some people can treat others with no type of feelings of remorse. And, most of all, the individuals responsible thought that it was okay to treat others in such an undignified manner, when in fact it was not. In conclusion, there were three very important events in understanding this documentary. Those events includes, the striking in the Delano Chicano Movement, the Boycotting of the grapes, and the signing of the contracts for better treatment for the Hispanic Culture. In the end, the farm workers were excited.
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.
The video “La Raza de Colorado: El Movimiento” and the exhibit “El Movimiento” at UNC’s Michener Library chronicle the struggles and triumphs of Mexican Americans in Weld County and throughout the state of Colorado. Visitors of the exhibit can see different graphics and pictures posted on the walls depicting many of the important events such as the protests against Kitayama farms in the 1960’s which aimed at improving working conditions and pay, especially for women. Not only were farm workers being exploited, but factory workers lacked appropriate conditions as well, to help with this, several groups such as United Farm Workers, Brown Berets and Black Panthers organized a united front in order to launch strikes and boycotts against offending farms, factories and businesses which oppressed and exploited minority workers. Another source of dissent was the Vietnam war. Minority groups felt that White America was waging a war against colored
Cesar admired heroes like Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr for their nonviolent methods. He followed Gandhi and Dr. King’s practice of nonviolence for the protest against grapes. Some young male strikers started talking about acts of violence. They wanted to fight back at the owners who have treated them poorly. They wanted to fight back to show that they were tough and manly. Some of the strikers viewed nonviolence as very inactive and even cowardly. However, Cesar did not believe in violence at all. He believed nonviolence showed more manliness than violence and that it supports you if you’re doing it for the right reason. He thought nonviolence made you to be creative and that it lets you keep the offensive, which is important in any contest. Following his role model Ghandi, “Chavez would go on hunger strikes” (Cesar Chavez 2). This showed that he would starve for his cause and that he was very motivated. It also showed that he was a very peaceful and nonviolent protester. Chavez was fasting to rededicate the movement to nonviolence. He fasted for 25 days, drinking only water and eating no food. This act was an act of penitence for those who wanted violence and also a way of taking responsibility as leader of his movement. This fast split up the UFW staff. Some of the people could not understand why Cesar was doing the fast. Others worried for his health and safety. However the farmworkers
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.
One of the first documented incidents of the sit-ins for the civil rights movement was on February 1, 1960 in Nashville, Tennessee. Four college African-Americans sat at a lunch counter and refused to leave. During this time, blacks were not allowed to sit at certain lunch counters that were reserved for white people. These black students sat at a white lunch counter and refused to leave. This sit-in was a direct challenge to southern tradition. Trained in non-violence, the students refused to fight back and later were arrested by Nashville police. The students were drawn to activist Jim Lossen and his workshops of non-violence. The non-violent workshops were training on how to practice non-violent protests. John Lewis, Angela Butler, and Diane Nash led students to the first lunch counter sit-in. Diane Nash said, "We were scared to death because we didn't know what was going to happen." For two weeks there were no incidences with violence. This all changed on February 27, 1960, when white people started to beat the students. Nashville police did nothing to protect the black students. The students remained true to their training in non-violence and refused to fight back. When the police vans arrived, more than eighty demonstrators were arrested and summarily charged for disorderly conduct. The demonstrators knew they would be arrested. So, they planned that as soon as the first wave of demonstrators was arrested, a second wave of demonstrators would take their place. If and when the second wave of demonstrators were arrested and removed, a third would take their place. The students planned for multiple waves of demonstrators.
The Chicano Movement was a time that pressed forth for the equal opportunity of the Latino community and proved to America that Mexican Americans were a force to be reckoned with. In the documentary Latino Americans – Episode 5: Prejudice and Pride, it centralizes on the success of the oppressed community through significant leaders in that period. Union activists César Chavez, along with Dolores Huerta, playwright Luis Valdez, teacher Sal Castro, US Congressman Herman Ballido, and political activist José Ángel Gutiérrez all contributed to egalitarianism of Latinos across the nation. This documentary reflects on the importance of equal prospects within the workplace, the academic setting, and the social and political features in society.
This movie is based on changing the lives of Mexican Americans by making a stand and challenging the authority. Even when the cops were against them the whole time and even with the brutal beatings they received within one of the walk out, they held on. They stuck to their guns and they proved their point. The main character was threatened by the school administrators, she was told if she went through with the walkout she would be expelled. While they wanted everyone who was going to graduate to simply look the other way, the students risked it all and gave it their all to make their voices
Senator Robert F. Kennedy described him as “one of the heroic figures of our time” (Cesar Chavez Foundation). This shows that Cesar Chavez made a difference in people’s lives, including Senator Robert’s. Some people may say that immigrants are bad people but Cesar Chavez was an immigrant himself yet, also a hero to the country. Experts say he was an American farm worker, labor leader, and a civil rights activist. This shows that he fought for what he believed in. Being a farm worker wasn’t something he planned on doing but he had no choice because he was an immigrant. He saw how cruel Americans were treating immigrants so he fought for their rights. He spoke for all the immigrants everywhere. The Cesar Chavez Foundation mentioned that at age 11, his family lost their farm during the great depression and became migrant farm workers. This shows how and why Cesar Chavez fought for farmworkers rights. He grew up not having the best childhood but he took others lives into consideration and fought for them to have a better and brighter
One of the greatest civil rights activists of our time; one who believed the ways of Gandhi and Martin Luther King that “violence can only hurt us and our cause” (Cesar Chavez); a quiet, devoted, small catholic man who had nothing just like those he help fight for; “one of America's most influential labor leaders of the late twentieth century” (Griswold del Castillo); and one “who became the most important Mexican-American leader in the history of the United States” (Ender). Cesar Chavez; an American farm worker, who would soon become the labor leader that led to numerous improvements for union workers; it is recorded that Chavez was born near Yuma, Arizona on March 31, 1927 and died on April 23, 1993 in San Luis, Arizona. (Wikipedia) His life affected many others as his unselfish deeds changed the labor union force forever. This essay will discuss the reasons Cesar Chavez became involved in Union rights, the immediate impact he had, and also the legacy he left behind with his actions that influenced American society.
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.
Shaskolsky, Leon. “The Negro Protest Movement- Revolt or Reform?.” Phylon 29 (1963): 156-166. JSTOR. U of Illinois Lib., Urbana. 11 Apr. 2004 .
On 1967 Chicago had its largest single snowfall of 23 inches,Mayor Richard Daley unveiled a sculpture made from Pablo Picasso as a gift to Chicago, in September 24 1969 the trial of the Chicago eight , who were the people responsible for the riots on the Democratic National Convention in 1968 the trial became Chicago seven when one of them was severed of the case and imprisoned. between 1960 and 1970 there was the Chicano movement a cultural and political movement its purpose to make society aware of the injustice Mexican Americans went through in the U.S. , they protested for the rights of the Mexican American farm workers .Most of these Mexican people were all living in the south of Chicago,they were all seen as just farm workers, revolutionists
This movement called for economic and civil rights for poor Americans from different backgrounds. After presenting a structured set of demands to Congress and executive organizations, protestors set up a 3000-person on the Washington Mall, where they remained for six weeks.