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History essay the civil rights movement
History essay the civil rights movement
The US civil rights movement
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The Civil Rights Era was a time of great movements that fought for the equality of all. Minorities of every ethnic background took part in protests and raising awareness about racial discrimination is education, the workplace, and public services. While most remember the civil rights movements of African Americans led by Martin Luther King Jr. and other influential African American historical figures, Mexican Americans were also fighting for equality in their communities. The Chicano movement empowered Mexican Americans across the U.S. and fought for not only equality, but education reform. Mexican Americans, especially in the southwest, were not receiving a proper education and were not being allowed to live up to their full potential. Students …show more content…
in East Los Angeles became aware of this and decided that enough was enough. In 1968, high school students from various schools in East L.A. walked out to protest the lack of proper education being offered to them. The 1968 East Los Angeles walkouts both benefited from and contributed to the Chicano movement, improved the quality of education for Mexican-American students, and showed America that Mexican-Americans were able to pursue higher careers. Occurring prior to and during the 1968 East Los Angeles walkouts, Mexican Americans throughout Southwest America were developing a movement that addressed social and political issues in the Mexican American community.
“The Chicano movement, or El Moviemiento, was complex and came in to being after decades of discrimination, segregation, and other issues arising over decades of war and violence…” (DailyHistory.org). Mexican Americans, like other minorities at the time, were fed up with being treated less than whites because of their skin color and origin, and were ready to start fighting for equality. Beginning in New Mexico with Reies Lopez “Tijerina’s fight to convince the federal government to honor the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) …” (The Journal), the Chicano movement began gaining support and participants across the American Southwest. One of the most known and successful movements of the Chicano movement was that of the farm workers. “Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta were organizing strikes and convincing Mexican and Filipino laborers to become union members” (DailyHistory.org). Migrant farm workers in California, led by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, began a national boycott on grapes to protest working conditions and low wages enforced by grape growers. The boycott and protest demonstrations organized by the farm workers gained so much attention that Senator Robert F. Kennedy took up interest, and the movement gained even more …show more content…
support. The Chicano movement produced a number of influential Mexican American figures that became role models for Chicano youth in Los Angeles. By witnessing the leading figures of the movement like, Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and Reies Lopez Tijerina, fearlessly go against those that were oppressing Mexican Americans, students began to recognize the problems impacting them and their education, and gained courage to do the same. “The students felt that the school system disregarded their culture and history and they called for more ethnic studies and more ethnically diverse faculty” (DailyHistory.org). With the help of groups like the Brown Berets, a pro-Chicano organization that fought against injustice of Mexican Americans and for social change, students, parents, and educators organized the walkouts. The first East Los Angeles school walkout was done by Woodrow Wilson High School on March 1, 1968. “The incident was enough to prematurely trigger the walkouts” (Global), and soon after, Garfield, Roosevelt, and Lincoln students walked out of campus. Police forces arrived at the start of the walkouts in riot gear and told students to return to class, but of course, most of them refused. In an interview from the Los Angeles Times of former Brown Berets and walkout participants, Vickie Castro explains the scene at the Roosevelt High School walkout, “There was police officers everywhere. They were using batons, trying to get the kids back into school.” Regardless of police brutality and administrator efforts to lock students in, the walkouts reached their peak a week later with 22,000 students in participation. During the walkouts, students gave speeches about overcrowding, racial discrimination in school, and run-down campuses. While the Chicano movement influenced the East Los Angeles walkouts, it also greatly benefitted from them.
With a large group of Chicano youth participating, the walkouts focused national attention on the movement that had just begun. “The East L.A. School Walkouts were [a] critical component of the spark that ignited the Chicano and Mexican American community to begin the fight for equality alongside their Native American, Asian, and African American brothers and sisters during the Civil Rights Era” (DailyHistory.org). Issues that ranged from education reform to farmworker’s rights were being brought into the light. “…the walkouts unified and empowered the Chicano community, which in the process became a political force” (Global). As a sense of ethnic pride and cultural awareness swept the nation, the Chicano movement gained popularity quickly and became the main contributor of the fight for Mexican American civil
rights. Regardless of the other effects they had, the main goal of the 1968 East Los Angeles walkouts was education reform. East Los Angeles high school students “felt they were receiving a substandard education because they were Mexicans and Mexican Americans”, and “… school[s] had forcibly tracked most of the Mexican and Mexican American students into trade and vocational careers [and] did not allow them to even consider pursuing a degree four-year collegiate institution” (DailyHistory.org). Due to the racial discrimination of Mexican American students, high school dropout rates dramatically increased. “In 1967 Mexican American students throughout the Southwest held a 60% high school dropout rate[, and i]f they did graduate, they averaged an 8th-grade reading level” (KCET). Fed up with not being able to live up to their potential and being pushed to become janitors, housemaids, and mechanics, students began to push for change by walking out. Due to the resilience of the students and participation of multiple schools, the walkouts were successful in attracting attention to the racial disgraces of East L.A. high schools. “After a week of protests, the L.A. Board of Education set a meeting for March 11. Chicano students, parent, professors, and community members formed the Educational Issues Coordinating Committee (EICC) as their representative voice. At the meeting, the EICC asked for amnesty for all students involved in the walkouts as well as a community meeting to discuss the needed education reform. The Board agreed and … the community meeting was held at Lincoln High on March 28” (Global). There was hope that change was really going to happen, but there was a lack of funding and the Board could not accomplish the demands of the EICC. This however, does not mean that there was no progress made at all. “Change was not immediately apparent in the high schools; however, a significant change occurred in the college recruitment of Latinos” (Global). Mexicans and Mexican Americans were finally enrolling in universities and pursuing better careers. According to the Los Angeles Times, as time passed, college enrollment went from 2% to 25%. Overtime Mexican Americans began to see a change, and even today we can see the effects of the walkouts and student’s fight for higher education with Chicano studies courses in colleges and scholarship programs specifically for Mexican Americans. Before the 1968 East Los Angeles walkouts, Mexican American students were not expected to go to college and seek superb careers. However, after the walkouts, students became aware of this and decide to do just the opposite. “The Mexican American community had the highest dropout rate and lowest college attendance among any ethnic group” (Global), but this was drastically improved after the walkouts. Prior to the walkouts, the dropout rates for “Mexican American students living east of downtown were funneled into high schools with some of the worst dropout rates in the nation – 57% at Garfield, 45% at Roosevelt, 39% at Lincoln,” but due to raising awareness and protesting for better education, “[t]he dropout rates at Eastside high schools have improved dramatically since 1968 – Garfield, 13%; Roosevelt, 28%; and Lincoln” (Los Angeles Times). Also, as mentioned above, more Mexican Americans were enrolling in college and being accepted. Mexican American enrollment in the University of California, Los Angeles alone, went from 100 to 1,900 (Los Angeles Times). Because they were finally taking control of their education and getting a proper college education, Mexican Americans, and Latinos, began to soar in the high profile career areas, and earn the respect of those who doubted them. For example, in 1980, Franklin R. “Chang Díaz became the first Hispanic astronaut…” (NASA), in 2009, “Sonia Sotomayor became the first Latina Supreme Court Justice in U.S. history” (Biography). Mexicans were finally living up to their potential and exceeding the expectations of thousands who never thought it would happen. The 1968 East Los Angeles walkouts “displayed the largest mobilization of Chicano youth leaders in Los Angeles history. High school students and young adults looking to attend college, took responsibility for their communities and took action to improve it. The 1968 East Los Angeles walkouts both benefited from and contributed to the Chicano movement, improved the quality of education for Mexican-American students, and showed America that Mexican-Americans were able to pursue higher careers. “… perhaps the walkouts’ greatest accomplishment was fostering in the Mexican American community a sense of possibility – the realization that a just cause sometimes requires speaking up” (Los Angeles Times). Mexican Americans gained courage and a voice in 1968, and to this day, fight for their rights and the rights of others.
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
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 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 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.
The Civil Rights Era became a time in American history when people began to reach for racial equality. The main aim of the movement had been to end racial segregation, exploitation, and violence toward minorities in the United States. Prior to the legislation that Congress passed; minorities faced much discrimination in all aspects of their lives. Lynchings and hanging...
The Chicano movement in the LA school system improved Mexican-American self determination. After hiring Mexican-American advisors and teachers students were encouraged to go to college and to follow their dreams no matter how huge the dream was. Mexican-American students in east LA were no longer told what they could not do and were no longer held back from their ambitions. The positive changes implemented by the school board opened the doors for students to further their education and become the professionals they wanted to be. No one could tell them no anymore.
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.
How would you feel if you were told you can’t sit in the front of the bus or you can’t dine in a certain restaurants because of the color of your skin? The civil rights movement was a movement that held massive numbers of nonviolent protest against racial segregation and discrimination in America especially the southern states during the 1950’s and 60’s. The struggle of African Americans to gain equal rights in America during this time was a major problem. The civil rights movement was not only about stopping racial segregation amongst African Americans but also to challenge the terrible economic, political, and cultural consequences of that time. But with the help of great leaders and organizations in the civil rights movement, help brake the pattern of African Americans being discriminated against and being segregated. Martin Luther King Jr. And Maya Angelou were great leaders who had a huge impact on the civil rights movement; even though Dr. King was in the field marching and protesting to fight against segregation and Angelou wrote poetry to inspire the movement and people aware of segregation, they both helped put an end to segregation here in America (American civil rights movement).
Walkout, the movie, described the way mexicans and latinos were treated in Chicago public schools. Latinos students had janitor work to do if gotten in trouble. The students can’t take it any more and begin to protest, that’s when the walkouts came to place. The students organized a group and protested, planned of how this can be stopped. They’re first move was to speak to the district and to notify them of how the latinos were being treated. The district didn’t listen or cared. That’s when the latino students knew they had to do something. They made surveys and handed them out to latinos in public schools all around Chicago. They thought that that would get the district’s attention but they still were apathetic to the situation. The organization of students couldn’t stand any more and began to
Shaskolsky, Leon. “The Negro Protest Movement- Revolt or Reform?.” Phylon 29 (1963): 156-166. JSTOR. U of Illinois Lib., Urbana. 11 Apr. 2004 .
Historically, the Civil Rights Movement was a time during the 1950’s and 60’s to eliminate segregation and gain equal rights. Looking back on all the events, and dynamic figures it produced, this description is very vague. In order to fully understand the Civil Rights Movement, you have to go back to its origin. Most people believe that Rosa Parks began the whole civil rights movement. She did in fact propel the Civil Rights Movement to unprecedented heights but, its origin began in 1954 with Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka. Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka was the cornerstone for change in American History as a whole. Even before our nation birthed the controversial ruling on May 17, 1954 that stated separate educational facilities were inherently unequal, there was Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896 that argued by declaring that state laws establish separate public schools for black and white students denied black children equal educational opportunities. Some may argue that Plessy vs. Ferguson is in fact backdrop for the Civil Rights Movement, but I disagree. Plessy vs. Ferguson was ahead of it’s time so to speak. “Separate but equal” thinking remained the body of teachings in America until it was later reputed by Brown vs. Board of Education. In 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, and prompted The Montgomery Bus Boycott led by one of the most pivotal leaders of the American Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. After the gruesome death of Emmett Till in 1955 in which the main suspects were acquitted of beating, shooting, and throwing the fourteen year old African American boy in the Tallahatchie River, for “whistling at a white woman”, this country was well overdo for change.
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.