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    The Chicano Movement of the 1960s fought for the rights of Mexican Americans. Leaders called themselves "Chicanos," reclaiming a word that meant "poorest of the poor" with pride. The movement had four main goals: gaining land rights, improving conditions for farm workers, achieving better education, and increasing political power. Leaders like Corky Gonzales and Reies Tijerina organized to regain land taken from Mexican Americans after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Farm workers went on strike in 1965, eventually winning contracts guaranteeing higher pay and protections. Students demanded bilingual education and Mexican American history courses, seeing education as a way to overcome barriers of poverty. In Texas, Mexican American candidates known

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    The Chicano Movement of the 1960s fought for the rights of Mexican Americans. Leaders called themselves "Chicanos," reclaiming a word that meant "poorest of the poor" with pride. The movement had four main goals: gaining land rights, improving conditions for farm workers, achieving better education, and increasing political power. Leaders like Corky Gonzales and Reies Tijerina organized to regain land taken from Mexican Americans after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Farm workers went on strike in 1965, eventually winning contracts guaranteeing higher pay and protections. Students demanded bilingual education and Mexican American history courses, seeing education as a way to overcome barriers of poverty. In Texas, Mexican American candidates known

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    The Chicano Movement of the 1960s fought for the rights of Mexican Americans. Leaders called themselves "Chicanos," reclaiming a word that meant "poorest of the poor" with pride. The movement had four main goals: gaining land rights, improving conditions for farm workers, achieving better education, and increasing political power. Leaders like Corky Gonzales and Reies Tijerina organized to regain land taken from Mexican Americans after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Farm workers went on strike in 1965, eventually winning contracts guaranteeing higher pay and protections. Students demanded bilingual education and Mexican American history courses, seeing education as a way to overcome barriers of poverty. In Texas, Mexican American candidates known

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    123 views4 pages

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    The Chicano Movement of the 1960s fought for the rights of Mexican Americans. Leaders called themselves "Chicanos," reclaiming a word that meant "poorest of the poor" with pride. The movement had four main goals: gaining land rights, improving conditions for farm workers, achieving better education, and increasing political power. Leaders like Corky Gonzales and Reies Tijerina organized to regain land taken from Mexican Americans after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Farm workers went on strike in 1965, eventually winning contracts guaranteeing higher pay and protections. Students demanded bilingual education and Mexican American history courses, seeing education as a way to overcome barriers of poverty. In Texas, Mexican American candidates known

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    The Chicano Movement

    Loren Martinez
    May 9, 2016

    Loren Martinez
    Mr. Stickler
    History 11
    9 May 2016
    The Chicano Movement

    In the 1960s, a generation of leaders came forward to fight for the rights of Mexican
    Americans. They called themselves Chicanos - an ancient Mexican word that means poorest
    of the poor. They reclaimed this word and wore the name with pride. The Mexican American
    Civil Rights Movement is one of the least studied civil rights movements of the 1960s according
    to The Journal for MultiMedia History. This movement included their mission to acquire
    homeland, farm workers rights, better education, and the push for political power for MexicanAmericans. For over 100 years before this movement, Mexican Americans were denied the rights
    of other citizens, and many had their land taken from them. This is the story of their fight for
    equality broken up into four parts.
    The first part of the Chicano Movement is their quest for a homeland. Throughout this
    time, leaders named Corky Gonzales and Reies Tijerina did many things to help the Chicano
    community in this area. Corky Gonzales did things like start The Crusade for Justice- a civil
    rights organization made to create alternatives to educational and political structures. The other
    leader, Reies Tijerina did more militant things, such as the occupation of Carson National Forest
    and the Tierra Amarilla Courthouse Raid to gain back land that had been taken from Mexican
    Americans despite the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Later on, the Chicanos created a homeland
    for themselves based on Aztec myths. This home was called Aztln and would become the pride
    of Chicanos everywhere.
    The next main part of the Chicano Movement is the struggle in the fields. In September,
    1965, Chicano farmworkers from many parts of California decided to walk out of fields and fight
    for a number of demands. The desires they had included decent pay, good education for their
    children, decent housing and to live without fear. The way they went about getting these things is
    through strikes, boycotts, and marches. After a bitter struggle, almost five years after the strike

    had begun, 26 Delano growers signed contracts guaranteeing farm workers $1.80 per hour, plus
    20 cents a box, a hiring hall, seniority, and strict pesticide controls.
    In the 1960s education was seen as a way to break down the barriers caused by poverty.
    Later on, the truth came out. Only one out of four Chicanos completed their high school
    education. Working Chicanos earned about two thirds of what other residents in Los Angeles
    earned. All of these issues dramatically impacted the Mexican America children. Gradually, these
    students realized they were not alone in their frustrations. Students began to demand bilingual
    instruction, Mexican American history courses, an end to corporal punishment, and more
    Mexican American teachers and counselors.
    In a small south Texas town, a new political party took shape that threatened to change
    the political landscape of America. As the nation watched, Chicanos took on the most
    challenging quest of the Mexican American civil rights movement, the fight for political power.
    For years, Mexican Americans had been denied the right to vote by obstacles like poll taxes,
    literacy tests, and gerrymandering voting districts. In 1963, for the first time in more than one
    hundred years, Mexican Americans put up their own candidates for office and challenged anglo
    politicians for control of city government. The five candidates, known as los cinco, surprised
    political observers by defeating the anglo mayor and the all anglo city council. The rise and fall
    of los cinco echoed a long history of conflict between Mexican Americans and the South Texas
    power structure.
    The victories of the chicano movement became the lasting legacy of decades of Mexican
    American activism. The united farmworkers made Americans aware of the plight of workers who
    brought food to their table and inspired labor activists in the cities. The walkouts challenged
    educators to respond to community needs and served as a catalyst for bilingual instruction in

    grade schools and the creation of chicano studies programs at colleges and universities. A
    generation of Mexican American artists, writers, poets, and musicians reclaimed their heritage
    and gave new definition to American culture. Chicanos, with a passion for social justice, help
    bring about changes that expanded and inspired the meaning of civil rights in America.

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