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During the 1950s, the Chicano movement faces many political challenges. One such challenge is receiving fair pay. Most Chicanos didn't even get paid for their work. The government did not show any importance since they were considered immigrants one example of the political challenges the Chicano movement suffers is discussed in “THEY TAKE OUR JOBS!” by Aviva Chomsky the author asserts “for centuries the United States… grants rights to some people but not to others”. In other words, this demonstrates that the government only cares about the people who are citizens. if you are an immigrant the government doesn't care about you. This displays the struggles the Chicano movement endures because they have no importance in them. This makes them
feel as if they can't ask for help because they won't get any response. It made the Chicano movement feel as if the only way the government would help them only if they become citizens. Since the government didn't care about Chicanos, socially they also didn't care Throughout the 1950's until the 1980's the Chicano movement faced a lot of social challenges. Chicanos struggled to get paid fairly since most of them were immigrants with no rights. Most Chicanos had to work from day to night each day in order to survive because the government didn't provide them with help since most of them were not citizens. Most Chicanos worked at huge farms in California. They would grow crops and pick crops. They would work from dawn to dusk. The pain they went through each day was terrible. In an article Graphic Biographies: Cesar Chavez authors Brown, O'hern, and Hudson-Goff states that farm owners had a choice to pay labor workers the amount they deserved. Most Chicanos disagreed but they didn't speak up; “Workers got discouraged, even scared.” [Brown, O'hern, and Hudson-Goff] Chicanos would rather stay quiet than to stand up and tell the farm owners that they should be getting paid fairly. Farm workers did not understand that the money they earned was to survive and pay their bills. Chicanos felt intimidated by the society which made them have no voice. Eventually, Cesar Chavez got tired of the violence and abuse the farmer owners were giving to the Chicanos. On 1962, Cesar started an organization called National Farm Worker Association. The Chicano movement socially struggled with receiving fair pay but eventually they got paid 35 cents per hour.
Many Mexicans immigrated to the United States throughout the 1920’s forming their own communities like East Los Angeles. Throughout the years, they overcame hardships like segregation, bad stereotypes, etc. They created a movement for civil rights, where their culture began to flourish around the country, known as the Chicano Movement. One big contributor to the Chicano Movement is Cheech Marin. “Being a Chicano in Hollywood, my experience is that you're not given credit for any sophistication... You're just kind of some guy that just crossed the border, you know, on the back of a truck and that's it (Cheech Marin).” Cheech Marin has brought many talents to the Chicano community from the 1970’s to now. He is an author, actor, director, writer, and art collector. His most famous works include the famous comedy duo Cheech and Chong, his solo film Born in East L.A., and his wide-range collection of Chicano art.
Cheech Marin, a comedian actor and activist, said, “You have to want to be Chicano to be Chicano.” What Cheech Marin means by this is that being Chicano is something Chicanos feel and think instead of letting others give them that title. Before there were Aztecs and Chicanos there were the Mexica. The Mexica were natives who migrated all through out what is now known as Mexico. They each spread to different parts of the land. Most ended up in what is now present day Mexico City. Those Mexica later became the Aztecs. The Aztecs had a myth of how the earth and all living things were created. In the myth the Aztec sun god and the goddess of Earth both created all living things. Hence, making all Aztecs royalty. The city was then destroyed by the Spanish conquistadores. Although the Spaniards won the Aztecs didn’t go down without a fight.
The first article I have chosen is, “Juncture in the road: Chicano Studies Since: “El plan de Santa Barbara” by Ignacio M. Garcia. I have chosen this particular article for various reasons. One is because reading the first few paragraphs of the article stirred up many emotions within me. I found myself growing angry and once, again, repulsed by the United States discrimination system. The more knowledge I obtain on the United States, on its past and how it develops today, I can finally say that I resent everything it stands for and embarrassed being part of it. I would rather say that I am a country of one…myself. The second reason for choosing this article, was because it was an easy read for me as well as the topic being discussed was intriguing.
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.
In the documentary, Precious Knowledge, it stated that M.A students weren’t allowed to speak their native tongue Spanish and administration were given the power to use corporal punishment ( POC are targeted more than their White counterparts). There was a purposeful segregation when it came to various ethnic groups, it was no surprise that Whites had the College Prep courses and all other minorities were given vocational courses since policy makers came under the false assumption that Whites were going to strive and POC were just going to end up being in agriculture. POC were given an unfair and unequal opportunities that not only underestimated their intellectual capabilities but also negated their chance at upward mobility in society and decreasing their likelihood of getting a stable, well-paying job in their lifetime. Under these harsh conditions, these M.A students and their allies sparked what is now considered the Chicano Movement. This powerful activism led Tucson city council to set up the Ethnic Studies department across their schools to boost Latinx achievement and cut their high school dropout rates. It’s important to note that these programs were born out of the same protests mentioned above and confrontation of the police (Movement
“Sometimes it does not seem Santa Barbara anymore—the new houses and strange people and hotels. Some of us have little to do now, and our own town is no longer beautiful or gay. Even our houses are being pulled down, as you cans see, and in a few years, I think, there will be no Spanish town.” ( Chicanos in a Changing Society pg. 117) Albert Camarillo
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.
Imagine seeing 10,000 of your classmates walking out of your school because they wanted a better education - a better way of life. In the 1960s’ Chicano students were being “pushed out”(Esparza) of school or being pushed towards vocational programs. East L.A was home to schools were “one out of every four Chicano’s completed high school”(Esparza). Instructors and the school board alike did not have an interest in helping Chicanos finish school to become someone other than a laborer and was expected of them to keep being a laborer. In “Taking Back the Schools”, Sal Castro a high school counselor claims, “I think the bottom line is the lack of concern of the teachers towards the kids and whether the kids were really getting an education or not...the reality set in that the teachers weren’t really concern for the kids.”(Esparza).
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.
Again we would see the celebration of Dia De Los Muertos. In the 1970s, Self Help helped encourage the art that participated. It helped bring to community together and create large ensemble of art, parades, and festivals revolving around in the Chicano community.
Latinos have struggled to discover their place inside of a white America for too many years. Past stereotypes and across racism they have fought to belong. Still America is unwilling to open her arms to them. Instead she demands assimilation. With her pot full of stew she asks, "What flavor will you add to this brew?" Some question, some rebel, and others climb in. I argue that it is not the Latino who willingly agreed to partake in this stew. It is America who forced her ideals upon them through mass media and stale history. However her effort has failed, for they have refused to melt.
In this world we are constantly being categorized by our race and ethnicity, and for many people it’s hard to look beyond that. Even though in the past many stood up for equality and to stop racism and discrimination, it still occurs. In this nation of freedom and equality, there are still many people who believe that their race is superior to others. These beliefs are the ones that destroy our nation and affect the lives of many. The people affected are not limited by their age group, sex, social status, or by their education level. Their beliefs can cause them to attack other groups verbally or in silence and even reaching to the point of violence. All of this occurs because we can’t be seen as a “people”, but rather like “species” that need to be classified. An example of racism due to race and ethnicity as categories of identity is seen in the article written by Daphne Eviatar entitled “Report Finds Widespread Discrimination against Latino Immigrants in the South.” In this particular case white supremacy groups discriminate Hispanics that are both legal and illegal in the southern states of America, portraying several theoretical concepts.
For a long time, feminism has failed to include the issues of Latina women. When the feminist movement began, it focused on the issues of one specific group: white, American, middle-class women; therefore, it excluded Latinas, and women of color in general. Latina women realized that they needed to stand up for themselves because if they did not do it, then no one would. Mainstream feminists were not acknowledging their issues; thus, it pushed the need for Latina feminism. Without Latina feminism, Latina issues would not have came to light and would be ignored by many, even non-Latina women. Even though women were fighting for their rights, they seemed to lack the inclusion of all women of any color, ethnicity, race, and class.
As described in the text Categorically Unequal: The American Stratification, Chicanos faced several disadvantages such as their marginalization in society because of their skin color. Although they weren't enslaved like African Americans, Hispanics were differentiated on the wrong side of the color line and in effect did not receive the same rights as lighter-skinned Hispanics. As Douglas A. Massey states:
The cold war was in 1946 through 1991; which was the struggle of ideas of the United States and Soviet Union to stop the spread of communism. Although the cold war was going on, there was domestic problems in the United States. During the 1960s the increase of civil rights and liberties was more powerful for all minority’s groups. However, for the purpose of the assignment I will only be talk about the Mexican American civil right movement of students in California.