Latinos and Native
Americans Seek
Equality
Chapter 23 Section 1 Notes
Objectives
• Describe the growth and diversity of the
Latino population in the United States
during the 1960s.
• Summarize the efforts of Latinos to secure
civil rights and respect for their cultural
heritage.
• Explain the efforts of Native Americans to
secure reforms in government policies.
• Main Idea
• During the 1960’s Latinos campaigned for…
1.
2.
3.
Improved working conditions/better treatment for
farm workers;
Educational programs;
Political Power
• Terms and Names
• Cesar Chavez
• United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC)
• La Raza Unida
• American Indian Movement (AIM)
Latinos fight for improved working conditions:
HOW DID THEY GET WHAT THEY
WANTED?
• Mexican American (largest Latino
group in the US) farm workers
protested & went on strike due to
low wages & poor working
conditions;
• Barrios (Spanish speaking
communities) had higher jobless
rates & poverty than whites &
other minorities;
• Cesar Chavez organized Cal. Farm
workers into the Nat’l Farm
Workers Assoc. which later became
the United Farm Workers
Organizing Committee; they used
boycotts, labor strikes & hunger
strikes & sparked cultural pride
inspiring “brown power”
movements across the US.
FEDERAL LAWS/PROGRAMS
THAT ADDRESSED THEIR
NEEDS…
• By 1970 Union
workers were
guaranteed higher
wages and other
benefits they had
long been denied.
Cesar Chaves….
• Chavez Bio
• How can César Chávez be compared
to Martin Luther King?
• 10 Things you may not know...
Improvement in Education
• HOW DID THEY GET WHAT THEY WANTED?
• Latino politicians began to demand that schools offer Spanish
speaking children to be taught using their own language;
• Brown Berets – organized by David Sanchez – organized
walouts in LA high schools demanding smaller classes, more
Latino (Chicano) teachers, Administrators & programs;
• Federal Laws/Programs that addressed these needs:
• Bilingual Education Act (1968) – provided funds for bilingual &
cultural education programs for Spanish speaking children.
• High Schools, colleges/universities established Chicano studies
programs across the US.
Latinos fight for more Political Power
• How did they get what they wanted? Federal
laws/programs implemented to help?
• Mexican American Political Association (MAPA)
• Helped elect eight Hispanic Americans to the House
of Representatives and one senator
• Established in 1970, La Raza Unida (MexicanAmericans United)
• Ran Latino candidates in five states
• Won races for mayor, school board, and city council.
• Some took a confrontational stance – trying to
reclaim land the US had taken from Mexican
landowners in the 19th century; trying to force
recognition of the plight of migrant farmers; most of
these confrontations ended with arrests.
• What similarities can you ID between the Civil
Rights movement & the efforts of Latinos in the
1960’s?
Native Americans Struggle for better living conditions,
Equality and Greater Autonomy
• Native Americans are Culturally diverse; suffer highest
rates of poverty, unemployment; disease and death.
• Issues: poverty, unemployment , illness (tuberculosis
and alcoholism), and shorter life expectancy
• 1961 – Declaration of Indian Purpose
• Called for end to termination policy & established
policies designed to create opportunity for Native
Americans
• 1968 – LBJ announced the National Council on Indian
Opportunity to ensure programs that reflected the needs
of Native Americans.
Voices of Protest
• HOW HAVE THEY TRIED TO GET WHAT THEY
WANT? They have organized; protested; confronted
the government.
• American Indian Movement(AIM)
• Dissatisfied young Native Americans
• Militant Native American rights organization
• began in 1968 as a self-defense group against police
brutality
• Actively confront the U.S. government to protect the
rights of large Native American populations in
northern and western states.
Confronting the
Government
• “Trail of Broken Treaties”
• Washington DC
• March to protest US government’s treaty violations
throughout history
• Push for end to the Bureau of Indian Affairs due to corruption
• Seized building and destroyed records causing $2 million in
damage
• Wounded Knee, South Dakota
• AIM with 200 Sioux to protest tribal leadership and federal
policies
• Seized town and took hostages
• Confrontation with FBI
Native American Victories
• Federal laws/programs to address their needs:
• 1972 - Indian Education Act
• 1975 – Indian Self-Determination and Education
Assistance Act
• Gave tribes greater control over own affairs and
children’s education
• Alaska Native Claim’s Settlement Act of 1971
• 40 million acres and $962 million to native peoples
• Trail of Broken Treaties
• Smithsonian "The Indian Problem"
1960’s = ACTIVISM!
• Activism & social movements
succeed through ORGANIZATION,
RESOURCES & STRONG LEADERSHIP.
*How well did the 2 groups we
discussed today do with those 3
things?