CRM- Mexican Americans
Mexican American Rights
KEY TOPICS - Cesar Chavez, UFW, La Raza Unida, Grape Boycott
Chicano Movement - from ABC-Clio (usmstudent, historyrules)
The Mexican American Civil Rights Movement Timeline - awesome overview from Pearson
Cesar Chavez - from Discovery Education (usmstudent, wildcats)
Chicano Movement
- The Chicano, or brown power movement, formed during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, comprised of Mexican Americans and other Latinos who fought discrimination and demanded equal opportunities that whites, and eventually African Americans and Women would get.
- The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) was founded in 1929 to promote unity and demand rights as U.S. citizens. LULAC fought for school desegregation and against labor discrimination.
- The Asociación Nacional México-Americana (ANMA) was established in Phoenix in 1949 to protect civil, economic, and political rights of Mexicna Americans
- ANMA was scrutinized by the U.S. government, labeling it a subversive organization.
- During the 1960s, Chicanos all around the US boycotted schools that discriminated agains Mexican Americans and Latinos. Two well known groups that protested were the Brown Berets and the Black Panthers.
The Mexican American Civil Right Movement Timeline
- In 1962, Cesar Chavez and other labor organizers formed the National Farm Workers of America, a labor union for farm workers most of whom were Mexican Americans. The Union became one of the major organizations working for equal rights for Mexican Americans and striving to improve their economic, social, and political conditions.
- To attract attention to the five year farm worker's strike, the NFWA and Cesar Chavez began a march from Delano, CA to the state capitol, Sacramento. Thousands of farm workers joined the march and lines of protesters stretched for miles. At the end of every day, the marchers would gather to hear inspirational speeches and updates on the strike.
- The Brown Berets emerged as the militant arm of the Chicano movement. They wanted to confront discrimination head on and advocated for aggressive tactics.
- The MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund worked on a broad range of issues of concern to Hispanics, focusing especially on educational and civil rights issues. It frequently resorted to the legal system to advance its goals. Partido Nacional de La Raza Unida (National United Peoples Party or United Race Party) was an American political party centered on Chicano nationalism. During the 1970s the Party campaigned for better housing, work, and educational opportunities for Mexican-Americans.
- On September 8, 1965, Filipino American grape workers, members of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, walked out on strike against Delano-area table and wine grape growers protesting years of poor pay and conditions. The Filipinos asked Cesar Chavez, who led a mostly Latino farm workers union, the National Farm Workers Association, to join their strike.
- Cesar Chavez's strikes for higher wages and better work conditions signaled the beginning of the Hispanic Civil Rights Movements.
- As a result of the Mexican American War of 1848, Mexico seceded its Northern provinces to the US. Many Mexicans chose to stay with their lives, but increasingly faced discrimination and segregation by the anglos that poured into their formerly owned areas.
- Mexican Americans were forced out of their homes, migrating to Mexico
- Although Mexican Americans faced the struggles they faced, they proudly battled on the same battle fields as the whites and blacks