Chicano Civil Rights Movement Events and Ideas #3 US History Unit 7

Essential Questions Analyze the three Chicano Civil Rights Movements What made each of them effective? What challenges did they have? Were they effective of not?

Chicano Civil Rights Movement The movement focused on three main Points: Farm Workers Educational Rights Voting and Political Rights

1. Farm Workers Rights

Bracero Program Through the Bracero program, the U.S. encouraged Mexicans to work in the U.S. during WWII. The program continued until 1964 The bracero program (named for the Spanish term bracero, meaning "manual laborer" - "one who works using his arms") was a series of laws and diplomatic agreements, initiated by an August 1942 exchange of diplomatic notes between the United States and Mexico, for the importation of temporary contract laborers from Mexico to the United States. American president Franklin D. Roosevelt met with Mexican president, to discuss Mexico as part of the Allies in World War II and the bracero program. After the expiration of the initial agreement in 1947, the program was continued in agriculture under a variety of laws and administrative agreements until its formal end in 1964.

Bracero Program After the war, many employers continued to use Latino workers They could pay them very low wages and make them work long hours without a break.

United Farm Workers Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta created the United Farm Workers. The goal was to unionize for better wages, working conditions, benefits.

United Farm Workers Goals: Specific Hours and Pay Toilets and Water in fields Pension after retirement Protective gear against pesticides Amnesty for workers brought illegally.

Protests and Boycotts The group staged peaceful protests and boycotts. They organized workers which forced the employers to meet their demands. Filipinos also joined the workers.

Grape Boycott 1966 – Cesar Chavez led a 300 mile walk from Delano, CA to Sacramento to bring public awareness to farm workers issues On March 17, 1966 Cesar Chavez embarked on a three hundred mile pilgrimage from Delano, California to the state’s capital of Sacramento. This was an attempt to pressure the growers and the state government to answer the demands of the Mexican and Filipino farm workers which represented the Filipino-dominated Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee and the Mexican-dominated National Farm Workers Association, led by Cesar Chavez. The pilgrimage was also intended to bring public attention to the farm worker’s cause. Shortly after this, the National Farm Workers Association and the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee merged and became known as the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee. Chavez’s successful boycotting campaigns in the docks inspired him to launch a formal boycott against the two largest corporations which were involved in the Delano grape industry, Schenley Industries and the DiGiorgio Corporation *More than 3,000 joined on the March. Many left the fields and their jobs as the March past by them

With the Help of Others… Chavez sent workers and students to the docks to persuade longshoremen not to unload the shipment of grapes – they agreed. A thousand 10 ton cases of grapes were left to rot on the docks. After a record harvest in the fall of 1965 left activists and strikers with nothing to protest since the workers left the fields as the grape season drew to a close, Chavez turned to a different tactic of protest. His solution was to send two workers and a student activist to follow a grape shipment from one of the picketed growers to the end destination at the Oakland docks. Once there, the protestors were instructed to persuade the longshoremen not to load the shipment of grapes. The group was successful in its action, and this resulted in the spoilage of a thousand ten-ton cases of grapes which were left to rot on the docks. This event sparked the decision to use the protest tactic of boycotting as the means by which the labor movement would win the struggle against the Delano grape growers. (bumper stick shown)

Child holding picket sign in front of Raley's Market during the grape boycott, Sacramento, California, 1968

Cesar Chavez marching with Coretta Scott King in New York City, 1973 Protest Duration The protest lasted five years and the United Farm Workers were successful and had their demands met. Starting in December 1965, Chavez’s organization participated in several consumer boycotts against the Schenley corporation. The increased pressure from supporters in the business sector led to the farm workers’ victory and acquisition of union contracts that immediately raised wages and established a hiring hall. The DiGiorgio Corporation was finally pressured into holding an election amongst its workers allowing them to choose the union they wanted to represent them on August 30, 1967. This came as a result of the boycott tactic of blocking grape distribution centers. With their products not on the shelves of retailers as a result of the boycott, the DiGiorgio Corporation was pressured to answer to the demands of the farm workers. The result of the vote favored the union representation of the UFW, a 530 to 332 vote, against the representation of The Teamsters, which was the only union that was competing against the UFW in the election. (Coretta Scott King – Martin Luther King Jr.’s wife) Cesar Chavez marching with Coretta Scott King in New York City, 1973

2. Educational Rights

Issues with Educational Rights Hispanic students were often placed in segregated schools. Unfair practices against Hispanic students Hispanic college students worked with African Americans to established rights for both.

Mendez v. Westminster School District of Orange County Five fathers challenged the practice of school segregation of Hispanic children in Orange County schools The 1947 the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found that segregation in California schools was unconstitutional Mendez v. Westminster School District of Orange County, was a 1947 federal court case that challenged racial segregation in Orange County, California schools. In its ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in an decision, held that the segregation of Mexican and Mexican American students into separate "Mexican schools" was unconstitutional. Five Mexican-American fathers, (Thomas Estrada, William Guzman, Gonzalo Mendez, Frank Palomino, and Lorenzo Ramirez) challenged the practice of school segregation in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. They claimed that their children, along with 5,000 other children of "Mexican" ancestry, were victims of unconstitutional discrimination by being forced to attend separate "schools for Mexicans" in the Westminster, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, and El Modena school districts of Orange County.

Educational Improvements In 1960, California introduced Bi-lingual education in public schools. Integration of Hispanic students into White schools. Introduction of Black and Hispanic History classes on College Campuses.

3. Activist Groups: Voting and Political Rights

Brown Berets Pro-Chicano organization More militant like the Black Panthers Focused on returning all US territory once held by Mexico to Mexico The Brown Berets are a pro-Chicano organization that emerged during the Chicano Movement in the late 1960s and remains active to the present day. The group was seen as part of the Third Movement for Liberation. The Brown Berets focus on returning all United States territory once held by Mexico to Mexico; they have also organized against police brutality and advocate for educational equality. Units exist in most sections of California and a few in other southwestern states.

Brown Berets The Brown Berets and Black Panthers worked together in the 1970s. They organized against police brutality They advocated for educational equality

Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) A Mexican civil rights organization formed in 1967 in San Antonio, Texas Involved in Hispanic voter registration – not successful Staged 18 school walkouts to achieve equality for Mexican American students The Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) is a civil rights organization formed in 1967 in San Antonio, Texas, USA to fight for Mexican-American rights. The creators of MAYO, Los Cinco, consisted of José Ángel Gutiérrez, Willie Velásquez, Mario Compean, Ignacio Pérez, and Juan Patlán. MAYO and its political organization, Raza Unida Party, played an important part in Texas history during the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were a part of the larger Chicano movement in the United States, and played a role in bringing about civil rights for Mexican-Americans. MAYO was involved in voter registration in South Texas. MAYO did well at getting voters registered, but they were not successful in getting the Hispanic voters out to the polls to vote, especially in metropolitan areas. School walkouts were a major part of MAYO’s approach to achieving equality for Mexican Americans. They staged walkouts at least 18 times

Voting and Political Rights La Raza Unida Political Party 1970 American political party centered on Chicano nationalism in Texas. The party campaigned for better housing, work, and educational opportunities for Mexican- Americans. The La Raza Unida Party started with simultaneous efforts throughout the U.S. Southwest. The most widely known and accepted story is that the La Raza Unida Party was established on January 17, 1970 at a meeting of 300 Mexican-Americans in Crystal City, Texas by José Ángel Gutiérrez and Mario Compean, who had also helped in the foundation of the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) in 1967. In Lubbock, the youth organization was headed by journalist Bidal Aguero, who later worked in the Raza Unida Party. The party originated from a group called WOW, or Workmen of the World. Its original thirteen members included Alfredo Zamora, Jr., the first Chicano Mayor of Cotulla, Texas, who unseated a member of the Cotulla family. Also part of this group was the 2nd Hispanic Mayor of Cotulla, Arcenio A. Garcia. He was the youngest mayor of the State of Texas (24) at that time. Zamora left LaSalle county within 2 years and the next election in 1972 was won by Garcia under the Raza Unida party. Previously in December 1969, at the only national MAYO meeting, Chicano activists decided on the formation of that third party Raza Unida. This new party would focus on improving the economic, social and political aspects of the Chicano community throughout Texas. This party resulted in the election of the first 2 Mexican American Mayors of LaSalle County Texas

Essential Questions Analyze the three Chicano Civil Rights Movements What made each of them effective? What challenges did they have? Were they effective of not?