Chicano! History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement Quest for the Homeland

Reies Lopez Tijerina  Major New Mexican land grant activist  Traced land loss to violations of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo  Affirmed Indo-Hispano/Chicano land rights  Affirmed rights to cultural integrity through land base

Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez  Chicano activist that founded the Crusade for Justice  Principal organizer of the National Chicano Youth Conference, March, 1969, in Denver  Supported alternative institutions for Chicanos  One of the principal organizers of La Raza Unida Party  Established La Escuela Tlatelolco, a bilingual, bicultural alternative school for Chicano children  Supporter of concept of Aztlan

National Chicano Youth Conference  Organized for March, 1969, Denver, Colo  National gathering of Chicano activists  El Plan de Aztlan drafted: 15 point program to create alternative institutions, schools, political party, institutions and cultural affirmation  La Raza Unida proposed

Alurista  Alberto Baltazar Urista  Chicano poet that rediscovered the notion of Aztlan  Aztlan as the link to the indigenous past  Aztlan as the mythical Chicano homeland  Our ancestral lands: the Chicano place

The Chicano Moratorium August 29, 1970  Largest minority anti-Viet Nam war protest in the United States  Attended by up to 50,000 protesters in E.L.A.  Chicanos question the rationale for war, high fatality rates for Latinos, draft deferments, lack of educational opportunities  Considered the apex of the Chicano Movement  Laguna Park rally—deteriorates into a police riot

Ruben Salazar  Reporter for The Los Angeles Times  News director of KMEX-TV  Preparing an expose on law enforcement in Los Angeles  Killed at the Silver Dollar Café by a tear-gas projectile  His death aroused instant suspicion of a conspiracy to silence Salazar