1. The Chicano Experience
A Historical Overview

2. 1831 Map of Mexico
1831 Map of Mexico

3. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Mexico to cede 55% of territory
Arizona
California
New Mexico
Texas
Parts of Colorado, Nevada, Utah
(“Immigration”)
(“Mexican Americans and the Chicano Movement”)

4. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Promised…
Mexicans could maintain current residence.
Retain property rights
Religious and cultural freedoms
Become US citizens, if desired
(Perl, 24)

5. Three Great Surges
1900s
1940s
1990s to today

6. 1900s Revolution in Mexico U.S. Economy El Paso, Texas
Easy return to Mexico
Population quadrupled
(“Immigration”, Perl)
Revolution caused Mexicans to flee violence, terror, poverty, etc.
US economy was strong
El Paso was the entering point for many immigrants and served as the Mexican Ellis Island; Mexicans considered it a passage to a new life and as a symbol of change for their new lives; they hoped that America would provide a safer, better life for their children and grandchildren
The short distance to Mexico allowed many immigrants to return frequently; thus, their immigration was ot necessarily permanent (this is different from most other types of US immigrants).
1910s and 20s—estimated more than 1 million returned to Mexico because of family concerns, improved conditions in Mexico, or because they had earned enough money to have a better life
However, in those 20 years, the number of Mexican residents in the US quadrupled—1 million Mexican residents by 1930.

7. 1900s Continued… Open US-Mexican border Lack of documentation
Illegal Methods
Exploitation
Jobs
Farmhands
Miners
Railroads
(“Immigration”, Perl)
Because of the open border, immigration numbers are simply estimates.
Documentation was less stringent than it is today—estimates!
Many immigrants entered illegally (or stayed illegally). The illegal immigrants were more likely to be exploited by employers since they had no means to report any incidents.

8. World War I 1917 Mexicans move north Mexican labor needed (Perl, 47)
Chicago—meatpacking
Detroit—auto factories
Steel mills
Paper factories
Chemical plants
(Perl, 47)
As a result of the US entering WWI, Mexican labor was needed to fill the positions previously held by those fighting.

9. Americanization of Mexican-Americans
“Americanization through Homemaking” (1929)
Recipes; units of study
“Mexican girls are very fond of sewing”
“Mexican families are mal-nourished…”
“Mexican women are noted for the clean wash they hang on the line.”
(Ellis)
Some groups worked to try to get rid of the what they thought were the negative aspects of the Mexican-American life
Americanization pamphlet stated stereotypes as truths.
School Pamphlet posited that enrolling MA girls in cooking, sewing, motherhood, household budgeting, and cleaning classes was “the key to social harmony”

10. The Great Depression Job crisis, food shortages, deportation
Hostility toward Mexican-Americans grew
Repatriation—500,000 Mexicans
Free trains
Voluntary return
Coercion
US Citizens
(Perl, 57)
MA had to face the additional threat of deportation.
Because of job shortages, hostility toward immigrant workers increased; government began a program of repatriating immigrants
Many immigrants were forced to leave the US and even some US citizens were sent to Mexico because the US suspected that they were Mexican. Hundreds of thousands sent to Mexico in the 1930s. Many of these had previously been recruited in the 1920s as cheap farm labor.

11. The Great Depression Immigrants struggled
Many small farms closed; large farms reduced workers
Migratory existence
Most poorly paid workers
Migrant work camps (Farm
Security Administration)
(Perl, 57)
Those who were not deported struggled to find/keep work and survive
Because immigrants found work wherever they could get it, many became migrants and worked any place there was an opportunity.
The FSA set up camps with housing, food, protection from farmers who might have exploited them, and medicine for migrant families. One of the main purposes of the camps was to prevent violent attacks on Mexicans.
One big, unintentional benefit: a sense of community for the migrant workers—because of this workers began to meet over labor issues. These discussions paved the way for future farm labor movements.

12. American Workforce 1930’s Ranching Mining Railroads (“Immigration”)
Extra perk: mobility to more urban areas
Majority of Mexican-Americans in urban areas by the end of the Depression
Los Angeles, San Antonio,
Detroit, Chicago
(“Immigration”)
By the end of the 1930s, MA established in US workforce
Railroad system used MA as a source of inexpensive labor, and MA used it to move north and east in the US to more urban areas.
Cities had growing populations of MAs

13. 1940s World War II—500,000 Mexican-Americans served Wartime industries
Bracero Program (bracero=day laborer)
Paid very low wages
Unacceptable working conditions
Mexico refused to send workers to Texas after poor treatment until 1947
Didn’t end until 1964
Many Americans opposed
(“Immigration”)
(Perl, 59-61)
While many believe in the power of president’s Roosevelt’s programs during the Great Depression, WWII also ignited the workforce and created jobs for MA as soldiers went off to fight.
War industries had workers flocking for those high-paying jobs, thus the farmers needed cheap labor from other sources.
Bracero-or laborer—program encouraged Mexicans to come to US as contract workers. It was a deal worked out between the US and Mexico that was set up to benefit both. Mexico hoped that the treatment of the workers would improve
Labor unions opposed the Bracero Program for cutting out the American worker since Mexican workers could be paid so little.

14. Bienvenidos Braceros!?
And goes way back I.e., fumigating the dirty mexicans

15. Zoot Suit Riot Los Angeles, 1942 Five days of bloodshed
Ban on zoot suits
(“Immigration” )
(Behnke, 44)
Week long race riot
Outfit popular with African and Mexican-Americans; extra-wide shoulders, knee-length coats, cuffed, baggy pants, long watch chains, and (sometimes) a porkpie hat. The outfit symbolized rebellion against Anglos and was worn by both MA and AA men.
Fight broke out between a group of zoot-suited teens and sailors who were on leave from the Navy. After, some sailors started roaming the streets looking for revenge, took over parts of the city, and beat any MA boys they found.
Stopped traffic, searched cars, pulled MA from recreation activities
After riots, LA County City Council outlawed zoot suits.
After 5 days, LA was off limits to sailors; attacks ended.
MA used the energy fueled by the riots to organize activism.

16. 1940s Deportation campaign after WWII
More than 4 million Mexican-Americans
Lasted into the 1950s
Despite bracero program, a new campaign of deportation started after the conclusion of WWII. It was much larger than the deportation of the Depression.

17. Chicano WWII—250,000 Mexican-Americans
New pride
New dedication to improving work conditions
Sprung from a La Raza Unida Conference
El Paso
1967
Portrayed a sense of pride and solidarity
Not accepted by all Mexican-American
(Behnke, 45-48)
After WWII, MA soldiers felt they had been respected by Anglos for the first time. Groups started forming that strived to protect the rights of MA.

18. Modern Chicano Movement
1960s
Universities
Goals
Improve lives of workers
End segregation
End police repression
Conclude land grant struggles
Improve education for Chicanos
Gain political representation
(Rodriguez)

19. Activism Many Mexican Americans enlisted LULAC MALDEF UFW—60s and 70s
Cesar Chavez
Dolores Huerta
La Causa
Organized farm workers and pressured employers through boycotts
Grapes
Lettuce
(“Immigration”)
(Brooks)
LULAC-League of United Latin American Citizens
MALDEF-Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
UFW-United Farm Workers
These civic organizations became prominent after the conclusion of the war.
UFW was started by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta and other people who believed in their movement that they called “La Causa.”
Chavez was influenced greatly by Ghandi and MLK and thus believed that he could get results without violence.
He organized strikes and marches and sit-ins.
Mexican Americans began to describe themselves as Chicanos and Chicanas.
In 1959, Chavez staged a sit-in with 10,000 people at a ranch that hired braceros. Because of the negative television publicity, the farmer of the ranch agreed to stop employing braceros.

21. Chavez continued to work for the workers’ rights until his death in 1993. (16)

22. “I am Joaquin”
I am Joaquin In a country that has wiped out all my history, And stifled my pride… My knees are caked with mud. My hands are calloused from the hoe. I have made the Anglo rich… Here I stand Poor in money Arrogant in pride. (Perl, 73)
Poem written by Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales, one of the pioneers of the Chicano Movement.
The title references a Mexican California outlaw who went on a rampage after the Anglos took away his claim to the gold mine he had been working on and killed his brother.
Poem’s purpose was to define Chicano nationalism of he time.

23. Chicano Agenda Bilingual Education
History of La Raza and chicano power struggle in schools
1960s
Texas, Colorado, New Mexico
Walkouts
1968
High schools in East LA
Multicultural education
Better facilities
More Latino faculty members
National Chicano Moratorium March
(Perl, 74)
(Rodriguez)
Bilingual education was a victory for the movement. In 1968 Congress passed the Bilingual Education Act that provided federal aid for schools that taught immigrant students in their native languages.
1974—amendment to the act added encouragement for schools to teach students about many cultures.
In 196os, MA students participated in a walkouts to bring focus to the movement
National Chicano Moratorium March--Many MA were serving in Vietnam and were suffering huge casualty rates. Chicano Movement opposed the war and demanded peace. 30,000 Chicanos participated in the anti-Vietnam rally in 1970 during which Ruben Salazar, an LA Times reporter was killed. Salazar had written an article for the time just six months before trying to explain Chicano angst.

24. Ruben Salazar Article
What, then, is a Chicano? Chicanos say that if you have to ask you'll never understand, much less become, a Chicano. Actually, the word Chicano is as difficult to define as "soul." For those who like simplistic answers, Chicano can be defined as short for Mexicano. For those who prefer complicated answers, it has been suggested that Chicano may have come from the word Chihuahua--the name of a Mexican state bordering on the United States. Getting trickier, this version then contends that Mexicans who migrated to Texas call themselves Chicanos because having crossed into the United States from Chihuahua they adopted the first three letters of that state, Chi, and then added cano, for the latter part of Texano. Such explanations, however, tend to miss the whole point as to why Mexican-American activists call themselves Chicanos. Mexican-Americans, the second largest minority in the country and the largest in the Southwestern states (California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado), have always had difficulty making up their minds what to call themselves. In New Mexico, they call themselves Spanish-Americans. In other parts of the Southwest they call themselves Americans of Mexican descent, people with Spanish surnames or Hispanos. Why, ask some Mexican-Americans, can't we just call ourselves Americans? Chicanos are trying to explain why not. Mexican-Americans, though indigenous to the Southwest, are on the lowest rung scholastically, economically, socially and politically. Chicanos feel cheated. They want to effect change. Now. …
Mexican-Americans have to live with the stinging fact that the word Mexican is the synonym for inferior in many parts of the Southwest. That is why Mexican-American activists flaunt the barrio word Chicano--as an act of defiance and a badge of honor
(“Ruben Salazar”)
2007 USPS honored Salazar and four other journalists with postage stamps

25. 1990s to Today 20 million+ of Mexican origin
1990s—more than all European countries combined
Immigration more permanent
Two generations—25% of Mexican-American origin
Los Angeles, Chicago, San Antonio, Houston, Phoenix
(“Immigration”)
(Behnke, 50-51)
Currently more than 20 million people of Mexican origin in the United States
In 90s, more legal immigrants from Mexico than all European nations combined.
These five cities have the highest concentrations of MA people.
By the next two generations, more than 25% will be of MA descent—estimated.

26. Which Racial Group? Negroid--African Americans
Mongoloid/Asian-Asian/Native Americans
Caucasian-Euro/Anglo Americans

27. Latino Values
Time: past-present, event-related: immediate short-range goals
Personal Space: close social relationship
Language: bilingual
Communication Styles:
Verbal (Oral/Written): emphasis on oral tradition
Non-Verbal (Kinesics): important; gestures, posture, physical contact; limited eye contact with authority
Paralanguage: some silences, rhythmic and melodic speech; expressive
Environment: harmony with
Work: minimal importance for status: survival

28. Latino Values continued
Group/Individual: group centered, extended family
Achievement/Status and Power: various means of achievement
Age: elders and children important
Gender: male dominant
Competition/Cooperation: cooperation
Sacred/Secular: sacred important, little separation
Verbal/Emotional/Behavioral Expressiveness: expressiveness valued
Body-Mind Relationship: holistic
Preferred Mode of Activity: action oriented

29. Chicano Art Murals Tortilla Art Papel Picado (Gomez-Malaga) (Palfrey)
(Brooks)
(Gomez-Malaga)
(Palfrey)
Art was used as the prime means to stimulate cultural pride and encourage political activism.
Murals—artistic renaissance of the 1960s.
After the Mexican Revolution, the Mexican government commissioned artists to decorate buildings with murals to promote doctrine. Unlike those, the Chicanos of the 1960s created art that reflected their own values on schools, churches, and other buildings to promote the movement. Both political and cultural identities were at the forefront of the murals which were greatly influenced by previous Mexican murals. Few of the artists had any formal training. San Diego’s Chicano Park is home to the largest collection of murals in the world.
Papel picado—bright tissue paper art that is created for festivities of all sorts. Its roots can be traced back to the Aztecs in Mexico who created paper out of mulberry bark and wild fig tress. They cut the paper to create banners and flags to line the streets and decorate temples for many rituals.
Color schemes are often influenced by the festival.
Sky blue or pink with white=honor Virgin Mary
Bright pink, orange and purple are used for the offering associated with The Day of the Dead.
Purple=Easter
Red, green, white (Mexican flag colors) used for Independence Day.
Rainbow colors=Christmas and non-religious festivities
Tortilla art is high-quality art that uses a bakes tortilla as a canvas.
Painting by Carmen Lomas Garza, a Chicana artist who paints about her life growing up in Kingsville, Texas. Note the papel picado hanging in the scene.