Chicano Civil Rights Movement: Key Events, Leaders, and Legislation

The Great Migration

The movement of millions of African Americans from the rural South to cities in the North and West (1910-1970), seeking jobs and escaping racial violence, which reshaped U.S. demographics and politics.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Landmark civil rights law that outlawed discriminatory voting practices such as literacy tests and poll taxes, greatly expanding voting rights for African Americans and other minorities.

Crusade for Justice

A Chicano civil rights and cultural organization founded by Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales in Denver (1966), focused on education, police brutality, and Chicano cultural pride.

MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund)

A national civil rights organization (founded 1968) that uses litigation, advocacy, and education to protect and expand the rights of Latinos in the U.S.

Equal Opportunity Act of 1974

A federal law strengthening protections against employment discrimination and expanding bilingual education programs, benefiting many Chicano and Latino students.

Reies López Tijerina

A Chicano activist who led the fight to restore Mexican American land grants in New Mexico; best known for leading the 1967 Tierra Amarilla courthouse raid.

Rodolfo 'Corky' Gonzales

A key Chicano activist, poet, and leader who founded the Crusade for Justice and wrote the influential poem I Am Joaquín, inspiring Chicano identity and unity.

National Youth and Liberation Conference (1969)

A Denver gathering of Chicano students and activists organized by Gonzales, where El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán was adopted as a call for Chicano self-determination.

United Farm Workers (UFW)

A union founded in 1966 by César Chávez and Dolores Huerta to improve wages and working conditions for farmworkers, especially Mexican Americans.

César E. Chávez

Labor leader and co-founder of the UFW who used nonviolent protest and strikes to win rights for farmworkers, becoming a symbol of Latino activism.

National Farm Workers Association (NFWA)

The farmworkers' union founded by Chávez in 1962, which later merged with another group to form the UFW.

Delano Grape Strike

A 1965 farmworkers' strike in California against grape growers, led by Filipino and Mexican American workers, that brought national attention to the farm labor movement.

¡Sí, se puede! ("Yes, it can be done!")

A slogan coined by Dolores Huerta during the farmworkers' struggle, symbolizing hope and empowerment for the Chicano Movement and beyond.

Dolores Huerta

Co-founder of the UFW, she was a leading labor organizer, negotiator, and feminist voice in the Chicano Movement.

El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán (The Spiritual Plan of Aztlán)

A manifesto adopted in 1969 calling for Chicano cultural unity, self-determination, and political action, rooted in the idea of Aztlán as the Chicano homeland.

El Plan de Santa Bárbara (The Santa Barbara Plan)

A 1969 document created by Chicano students and educators that outlined the creation of Chicano Studies programs and student activism through M.E.Ch.A.

Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (M.E.Ch.A.)

A student organization founded in 1969 to promote Chicano education, culture, and political activism on college and high school campuses.

The Chicano Moratorium

A 1970 protest in East Los Angeles against the Vietnam War and its disproportionate impact on Mexican Americans, where journalist Rubén Salazar was killed.

Brown Berets

A Chicano youth group inspired by the Black Panthers that focused on community defense, fighting police brutality, and advocating for Chicano rights.

Rubén Salazar

A Mexican American journalist for the Los Angeles Times who was killed by sheriff's deputies during the Chicano Moratorium; he became a martyr for the movement.

I Am Joaquín

A poem by Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales (1967) that expresses the struggles, identity, and pride of the Chicano people; it became a cultural touchstone of the movement.