Latino Civil Rights Seminar

FHSS 351: Latino Civil Rights Seminar Fall 2019 Emigdio Vasquez, “El Proletariado de Aztlán” (Orange, CA: 1979) “I never thought in terms of fear...I thought in terms of justice.” • Emma Tenayuca “It is not enough to teach our young people to be successful…so they can realize their ambitions, so they can earn good livings, so they can accumulate the material things that this society bestows. Those are worthwhile goals. But it is not enough to progress as individuals while our friends and neighbors are left behind.” • Cesar Chavez Fridays 11:00am-12:15pm BNSN W003 Instructors: Dr. David-James Gonzales Dept. of History 2107 JFSB (801)422-6082 [email protected] Dr. Bryant Jensen Dept. of Teacher Education 206H MCKB (801)422-3241 [email protected] Course Description: The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with major figures, events, issues and locations of the Latino Civil Rights Movement in the United States, focused mostly on events and developments in Texas during the second half of the 20th century. In learning about the setbacks and victories of major movements, this seminar culminates in a Civil Rights tour in South Texas, where we will spend nearly a week taking in the sites and learning from those with firsthand experiences en la lucha for racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic equality. We take on major topics (e.g., labor, immigration, education, housing, veterans’ rights) that have a long history and continue to reverberate in local and national politics today. This course is a seminar. Thus, in addition to learning from readings and films, we will learn with and from each other as we discuss together. You are expected to attend the seminar and to be active participants in our discussions, in person and online. Attendance and active participation are crucial to the design of this course. Prior to each session in-person, we will respond to digital dialog prompts on Learning Suite to reflect on the readings, and explore applications to society today as well as our own lived experiences. Given this format, students are expected to generate and share knowledge, rather than simply consume. Course Learning Objectives: 1) Historical Analysis. Students will improve their critical analysis of major themes, events, and issues related to the Latino Civil Rights movement of the 20th century. 2) Recognize Privilege and Inequity. Students will recognize and acknowledge institutional and interpersonal levels of exclusion and marginalization embodied in the Latino experience in the United States. 3) Critical Dispositions. Students will develop critical dispositions related to social equity, including self-awareness, social awareness, advocacy, and meekness. 4) Positionality. Students will examine identities and positions of others and themselves, especially related to race, ethnicity, migration, citizenship, language, and social class. Required Text: Ignacio M. Garcia, Chicanismo: The Forging of a Militant Ethos among Mexican Americans (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1997). Assignments (descriptions at end of syllabus): - Critical Dialogue Posts Texas Journal Biography Reflection Summary Project Civic Engagement Presentation CLASS & READING SCHEDULE Week 1 Sept 6 Introductions | Overview | Latinas/os, History, Politics, and Mormonism Reading Vicki Ruiz, “Nuestra América: Latino History as United States History,” The Journal of American History, Vol. 93, No. 3 (Dec., 2006). Ignacio M. Garcia, “Thoughts on Latino Mormons, Their Afterlife, and the Need for a New Historical Paradigm for Saints of Color,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Winter 2017). Watch PBS, “Empire of Dreams,”The Latino Americans (2013) Biographic Profiles Dr. Vicki L. Ruiz Dr. Ignacio M. Garcia Sept 8 Class Visit & Fireside (6 PM) The Museum of Mormon Mexican History Museum, 1501 N Canyon Rd, Provo, 84604 Week 2 Sept 13 Latina/o Labor Activism from the Great Depression to the Cold War Reading Zaragosa Vargas, “The Mexican American Struggle for Labor Rights in the Era of the Great Depression,” in Crucible of Struggle: A History of Mexican Americans from Colonial Times to the Present Era (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011). Lori A. Flores, “An Unladylike Strike Fashionably Clothed: Mexicana and Anglo Women Garment Workers Against Tex-Son, 1959-1963,”Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 78, No. 3 (August 2009). Biographic Profiles Emma Tenayuca Luisa Moreno Sophie Gonzales Gregoria Goya Montalbo Maria L. Hernandez Organization Profiles Confederación de Uniones Obreras Mexicanas United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America International Ladies Garment Workers Union El Congreso Del Pueblo de Habla Española Week 3 Sept 20 The Mexican American struggle against school segregation Reading Guadalupe San Miguel, Jr., “The Struggle against Separate and Unequal Schools: Middle Class Mexican Americans and the Desegregation Campaign in Texas, 1929-1957,” History of Education Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Autumn, 1983). David-James Gonzales, “Mendez v. Westminster, 1945-1947” in Lilia Fernandez Ed., 50 Events that Shaped Latino History [2 vols.]: An Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2018). Organization Profiles League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) - See also: https://lulac.org/about/history/ Ladies LULAC - See also: https://lulac.org/about/history/women/ Biographic Profiles Alonso S. Perales Manuel C. Gonzales Bernardo F. Garza George I. Sanchez Jose T. Canales Alice Dickerson Montemayor Esther Nieto Machuca Adela Sloss Vento Week 4 Sept 27 Mexican American Politics during WWII and the early Cold War Reading Steven Rosales, “Fighting the Peace at Home: Mexican American Veterans and the 1944 GI Bill of Rights, Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 80, No. 4 (November 2011). Carlos Blanton, “The Citizenship Sacrifice: Mexican Americans, the Saunders-Leonard Report, and the Politics of Immigration, 1951-1952,” Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 40, No. 3 (Autumn, 2009). Watch PBS, “War and Peace,” The Latino Americans (2013) Organization Profiles American G.I. Forum American G.I. Forum Women’s Auxiliary Community Service Organization Biographic Profiles Hector P. Garcia Eduardo Idar Gustavo C. Garcia Carlos C. Cadena Felix Longoria John J. Herrera Lucy Acosta Week 5 Oct 4 Mexican Americans and the Struggle for Political Representation Reading Kenneth C. Burt, “Edward R. Roybal: Latino Political Pioneer and Coalition Builder,” in Anthony Quiroz ed., Leaders of the Mexican American Generation: Biographical Essays, (Boulder, CO: University of Colorado Press, 2015). Mario T. Garcia, “The Politics of Status: The Election of Raymond L. Telles as Mayor of El Paso, 1957,” in Mexican Americans: Leadership, Ideology, and Identity, 1930-1960 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998). Watch PBS, Willie Velasquez: Your Vote is Your Voice, 2016 Organization Profiles Viva Kennedy Political Association of Spanish Speaking Organizations (PASSO) Southwest Voter Registration Education Project Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund Biographic Profiles William C. Velasquez Maria de Socorro Gonzalez Meza Leonel Jabier Castillo Week 6 Oct 11 The Chicana/o Movement: A New Political Ethos Reading Garcia, Chicanismo, Introduction, Chapters 1 and 2 (pp. 3-67) Watch Episode 1: “Quest for a Homeland” of Chicano! History of the Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement, 1995 Organization Profiles Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o de Aztlan (MEChA) Crusade for Justice Biographic Profiles Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales Alberto Baltazar “Alurista” Reies Tijerina Lopez Alicia Escalante Primary Documents Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales, “Yo Soy Joaquin” “El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán” “El Plan de Santa Barbara”: Week 7 Oct 18 The Chicana/o Movement: Identity and Place Reading Garcia, Chicanismo, Chapters 3 and 4 (pp. 68-116) Watch Episode 2: “The Struggle in the Fields” of Chicano! History of the Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement, 1995 Episode 3: “Taking Back the Schools” of Chicano! History of the Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement, 1995 Organization Profiles United Farm Workers Texas Farm Workers Union Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) Brown Berets Biographic Profiles Cesar Chavez Dolores Huerta Eliseo Medina Gilbert Padilla Sal Castro Gloria Arellanes Primary Documents “El Plan de Delano” El Macriado Week 8 Oct 25 The Chicana/o Movement: Oppositional Politics Reading Garcia, Chicanismo, Chapters 5 and 6 (pp. 117-146) Watch Episode 4: “Fighting for Political Power” of Chicano! History of the Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement, 1995 Organization Profiles Raza Unida Party Mujeres por la Raza Biographic Profiles Jose Angel Gutierrez Martha Cotera Rosie Castro Virginia Aguirre Muzquiz Maria D. Jimenez Flores Enriqueta Vasquez Elizabeth Martinez Primary Documents La Raza (newspaper) Chicano Movement Newspapers Week 9 Nov 1 Sanctuary Movement 1980s to Present Read Felipe Hinojosa, “The Sanctuary Movement, 1980s,” in Lilia Fernandez Ed., 50 Events that Shaped Latino History [2 vols.]: An Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2018). Randy Capps et al., “Revving Up the Deportation Machinery: Enforcement Under Trump and the Pushback,” [condensed] Migration Policy Institute (May 2018). Watch Videos on Border Angels and No Más Muertes websites Organization Profiles The New Sanctuary Movement No Más Muertes Border Angels Week 10 Nov 8 Immigrant Rights Movement 1990s to Present Read Juan D. Garcia, “California’s Proposition 187, 1994,” in Lilia Fernandez Ed., 50 Events that Shaped Latino History [2 vols.]: An Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2018). Amalia Pallares, “Immigrant Rights Marches of 2006,” in Lilia Fernandez Ed., 50 Events that Shaped Latino History [2 vols.]: An Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2018). Watch See CHIRLA films Organization Profiles Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) Central American Resource Center in Los Angeles (CARECEN) Week 11 Nov 15 Dreamer Movement Read Daniel Altschuler, “The Dreamers’ Movement Comes of Age, Dissent Magazine (May 16, 2011). Roberto G. Gonzales, “Learning to be Illegal: Undocumented Youth and Shifting Legal Contexts in the Transition to Adulthood,” American Sociological Review 76(4) (2011). American Immigration Council, “The Dream Act, DACA, and other Policies Designed to Protect Dreamers,” (June 3, 2019). Organization Profiles United We Dream UnidosUS Week 12 Nov 22-26 South Texas Trip Read A brief history of San Antonio, TX A brief history of Corpus Christi, TX A brief history of Crystal City, TX A brief history of Austin, TX Watch Chicano Civil Rights “Education” | Austin Revealed, PBS (2016) Organization Profiles Academia Cuauhtli (Austin) Esperanza Hope and Justice Center (San Antonio) South Texas Human Rights Center (Falfurrias) See also: article about Eddie Canales and STHRC in the Texas Observer here Week 13 Nov 29 No Class - Thanksgiving Break Week 14 Dec 6 Last Day of Class Organization Profiles BYU Hispanos Unidos BYU LEAD Utah Coalition of La Raza (UCLR) Centro Hispano Latinos in Action Comunidades Unidas Assignments Critical Dialogue Posts (15 points each) For most of the class meetings we will hold, you are required to engage with the assigned materials for that class and share your responses to discussion questions on the course's Digital Dialogue discussion page on Learning Suite. With each dialogue that you participate in, you are required to: 1) answer each of the questions that are asked by 11:59 pm on the Wednesday before class. There will be two questions - one question will guide and test your reading comprehension, while the other will ask you to engage more personally with the topics and issues at hand. 2) read other students' posts and make a second contribution based off of your classmates' comments on the second, personal engagement question, that explores new insights you gained and/or questions or concerns prompted by those posts, by 11:59 pm on the Thursday before (the second contribution can come in the form of a new posts all together or as a response to a classmate's post). Please focus on your classmates' answers to the second question in your second contribution. Critical Dialogue Questions Week 1: After reading the two articles by Professor Ruiz and Garcia, please share your thoughts on 1) how the diverse experiences of Latinas/os challenge and reshape our understanding of U.S. History and 2) the impact and implications of growing Latina/o and Latin American populations in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Week 2: What challenges, successes, and limitations did Mexican Americans face as they organized to secure labor rights and protections during the early-to-mid 20th century? What do you admire most about one of the labor activists or organizations covered in the profiles this week? Week 3: How was the Mexican American struggle against school segregation similar to and different from the African American experience? Why do you think the struggle for educational equality has been central to civil rights struggles for communities of color in the U.S.? How would you characterize progress (or the lack of progress) in school desegregation for Latinos in K-12 schools today? Week 4: How did Mexican American participation in WWII affect their struggle for civil rights in the postwar years? Why did the issue of U.S. citizenship divide Mexican American activists? Week 5: Considering the articles on Raymond Telles and Edward Roybal, what challenges did Mexican Americans face as they sought to participate more directly in the electoral process during the 1950s and 1960s? After watching the Willie Velasquez documentary, describe his role in shaping American political campaigns during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Week 6: After reading the introductory chapters in Chicanismo alongside the primary documents “Yo Soy Joaquin” and “El Plan Espiritual Aztlan,” discuss the new “political ethos” that emerged out of the Chicana/o Movement. How did identifying as Chicana/o shape the struggle for Mexican American and Latina/o equality moving forward? Week 7: After watching the first three episodes of Chicano! History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement, pick one of the issues covered (land, education, or farm workers) and discuss what has inspired and informed you as you’ve learned about the people and organizations involved in these mobilizations. Week 8: After reading the final two chapters of Chicanismo and watching episode four of Chicano!, reflect on the role of oppositional politics in the struggle for Latina/o political power. Or put another way, how and why did Chicana/o activists employ strategies and tactics that directly challenged institutions of social, economic, and political power? How do you see examples of oppositional politics in contemporary social justice movements (e.g., immigrant rights, Me Too, LGBTQ+, Black Lives Matter, etc.)? Week 9: What are your thoughts on the role of churches, schools, and other civic institutions in providing sanctuary to immigrants, families, and communities threatened by deportation or other uncertainties associated with their status? What similarities do you see between the sanctuary movement of the 1980s and contemporary issues related to immigrants seeking asylum/refugee status in the U.S.? Week 10: How have state and federal efforts to criminalize unauthorized migration and limit the ability of immigrants to access basic public services (healthcare and education in particular) transformed the movement for Chicana/o-Latina/o civil rights in recent decades? Week 11: What do you find inspirational about the youth-led Dreamer Movement? What type of policy would you advocate for on behalf of Dreamers if you were a member of Congress? Biography Reflection (25 points) For this assignment we will give you a list of key people within the Latino Civil Rights Movement. Working with the instructors you will choose/be assigned one of them to research. After researching the individual, you will then choose a medium in which you will 1) give a brief report of the individual's life and contributions to civil rights and 2) reflect on what you learned personally from this person as a model for positive action. Give equal attention to both aspects of the assignment. You may provide your report and reflection in one of the following forms: a 600-800 word written paper or a 3-5 minute video-recorded speech. Consult with course instructors if you have an alternative format. Texas Journal (40 points) Each student will be required to keep a journal before and during our trip to South Texas. The purpose of the journal is to document and process questions and insights related to the sites we will visit, the events you will reflect on, and the civil rights participants with whom we will interact. Prior to our trip, between and during our class time together, you will note your wonderments and other inspired questions and insights regarding civil rights sites, events, and participants in and around San Antonio, Austin, Corpus Christi, and Crystal City. During our trip, you will make a personal entry in the journal at the end of each day. These entries are meant to be in the moment, personal reactions, recorded in your personal time on the trip. They should also be helpful to you in preparing your Summary Project and Civic Engagement Presentation. Some questions that may be helpful to you as you record and process your experiences: - What has been the most impactful (positive, negative, or both) to you and why? (Consider events, sites, people.) - What are you learning about yourself? - If you could convey an idea or concept related to the civil rights movement that would be the most beneficial for the BYU campus community (students, administrators, and faculty), what would it be and why? Summary Project (40 points) For this assignment, you will have the opportunity to summarize and synthesize your experience in the class and on the tour, drawing upon personal experience, readings/videos, and journal entries. You will have 3 options for this assignment (pick one): a) a 2,000- to 2,500-word paper, with references to class readings and videos b) a 30-minute presentation c) a 20-minute video (pulling together clips and video from the tour) Civic Engagement Presentation (30 points) You are required to make a public presentation as a way to share what you have learned in the class and on the trip to a broader community. This presentation can take place on campus, in the community, at a public school, or in a religious setting. Graduate students can choose between two options: 1) the above OR 2) present to a group of professionals (or students preparing for that profession) within your field of study and focused on the implications of civil rights for your profession. Students must present in the presence of at least one of the mentors for this course in order to count for course credit. Students may use the materials from the summary project as a basis for this presentation.