Chicano/Latino Civil Rights Movement
Latino Equality
• Just as we have looked at the African-American
and Native American fight for equality so to did
the Latino population in the US
– They were fighting for greater representation in
government; better treatment; and a respect for their
culture and heritage.
• Many Latinos upon moving into the US worked
on fruit and vegetable farms doing backbreaking
work.
UFWOC
Two individuals stepped forward to fight for rights for these workers
César Chávez
Dolores Huerta
•Together they established the National Farm
Workers Association
•Four years later the NFWA merged with a
Filipino group and were renamed the United
Farm Workers Organizing Committee
(UFWOC)
UFWOC
• Chávez and others insisted that the farms
accept the union as the bargaining agent for
the farm workers.
– Upon the refusal to accept the union (1965),
Chávez led the people in a boycott the grapes
grown at the farms.
• There were many supermarkets and shoppers who
heeded the boycott. (Mrs. Craig-Salmon remembers
the boycott.)
UFWOC
– Chávez Believed in Dr. King’s nonviolence
concept.
• During the boycott, Chávez also went on a hunger
strike for 3 weeks where he lost 35 pounds.
– In 1970, Huerta negotiated a contract between
the grape growers and the UFWOC
• Union workers gained higher wages and other
benefits long denied them
UFWOC
• The UFWOC victory inspired others to get
involved around the country
– Puerto Ricans in New York demanded that
schools offer Spanish speaking children classes
taught in Spanish and that the curriculum
should include culture
– 1968: Bilingual Education Act provided funds
for schools to offer bilingual and cultural
heritage programs for non-English speakers
Chicano and “Brown Power”
• Chicanos (Mexicanos): is a term to describe
Mexican-Americans which expressed pride in
their ethnic heritage
• 1968: David Sanchez forms a group called the
“Brown Berets”, a community action group
– The “Brown Berets” organized walkouts at East LA
high schools demanding smaller class sizes; more
Chicano teachers and administrators; and programs
designed to reduce the Latino dropout rate
– At colleges and universities more militant MexicanAmerican students won the establishment of Chicano
studies programs
political power
• Many Latinos also organized politically by
forming some groups to work in the two
party system
– Mexican American Political Association
(MAPA)
• Helped LA politician Edward Roybel to the House
• In the 1960’s 8 Hispanic Americans served in the
House, and one served in the Senate (Joseph
Montoya of New Mexico)
political power
– The League of United Latin American Citizens
(LULAC)
• Formed in 1929 to fight segregation and
discrimination
• In the 1940’s and 50’s fought to desegregate schools
in the southwest
• 1954: helped Mexican-Americans gain right to serve
on juries
• 1960’s: some LULAC programs were funded under
LBJ’s “Great Society”
political power
• La Raza Unida (Mexican-Americans United)
– 1970; created to make an independent Latino political
movement
• Some groups became more militant
– 1963: Alianza Federal de Mercedes (Federal Alliance
of Land Grants) was formed to help reclaim US land
taken from Mexican landholders in the 19th century
– Formed by one-time evangelical preacher Reies
Tijerina