Chicano 50 final

What: Bracero Program

was a U.S.-Mexico agreement bringing millions of temporary Mexican laborers. offering short-term contracts but often failing to provide promised wages, housing, and protections, leading to exploitation, strikes, and significant, lasting impacts on Mexican-American communities and immigration patterns. 

Who: Bracero Program

Mostly male labor from Mexico

When: Bracero Program

• 1942-1964

• ended in 1947 but was renewed same year

Where: Bracero Program

primarily took place in the United States, with the largest numbers of workers going to California and Texas

Why: Bracero Program

• when a shortage of agricultural labor results in a guest worker program to fill the labor needs of fields during and after WWII

What: The Origins of the United Farm workers

• AWOC (Agricultural Workers ORganizing Committee) organized successful wildcat strikes in the Coachella Valley

• Made mostly of Filipino farmworkers, they initially found it difficult to organize effective strikes because of the surplus of Mexican “Scab” labor

Who: The Origins of the United Farm workers

• Philip Vera Cruz and Larry Itliong, Pete Velasco, and others organized the 1965 Grape Strike along with Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, forming the UFW 

When: The Origins of the United Farm workers

• tarted in 1962 as the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) by Chavez and Huerta, merging with Larry Itliong's Filipino-led Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) in 1966 to form the UFW.

Where: The Origins of the United Farm workers

movement originated and centered in California's Central Valley, especially Delano

Why: The Origins of the United Farm workers

because migrant farmworkers faced brutal exploitation: low wages, pesticide exposure, no rights, poor housing, and child labor, with organizers brutally suppressed

What: El Plan de Delano

a foundational declaration for the United Farm Workers (UFW) movement, modeled after Mexico's Plan de Ayala, calling for farmworkers' liberation, fair wages, dignity, and justice, using non-violence, boycotts, and strikes to achieve social and economic rights against oppressive growers. 

Who: El Plan de Delano

penned by Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and Luis Valdez

When: El Plan de Delano

during the 1965 Delano grape strike,

Where: El Plan de Delano

Delano, CA

Why: El Plan de Delano

for the rights of farm workers

What: Crusade for Justice

• A grassroots civil rights and cultural center for Mexican Americans (Chicanos).

• Promoted Chicano identity, pride, and self-determination. 

• helped organize the first Mexican American based third party organization, LA RAZA UNIDA party

Who: Crusade for Justice

Mexican-American activist, poet, and boxer Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales

When: Crusade for Justice

founded in 1966

Where: Crusade for Justice

Denver, CO

Why: Crusade for Justice

• Fought against racism, police brutality, and discrimination in education.

Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales

Leader of Crusade for Justice, wrote poem “I am Joaquin”, became symbol of Chicano identity

What: Denver Chicano National Youth Liberation Conference 1969

• a cultural festival to reaffirm a connection to the Southwest and Mexico

Who: Denver Chicano National Youth Liberation Conference 1969

over 1,000 attended, Chicanos from all walks of life attended the conference, including ex-pintos, students, workers, artists, musicians, farmworkers

When: Denver Chicano National Youth Liberation Conference 1969

1969

Where: Denver Chicano National Youth Liberation Conference 1969

Denver

Why: Denver Chicano National Youth Liberation Conference 1969

• Political discussions on how to organize regionally

• Provided the cohesion to a forming Chicano identity

• Created a plan for a Chicano movement based on cultural affirmation and political self-determination

• The Plan Espiritual de Aztlan charts the movement

What: El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan

• The manifesto describing the origins of a Chicano identity and the future political project of Chicanismo, a growing political ethos

• Aztlan, a nahuatl word for the place of cranes, was identified as the original homeland of Mexicanos. Chicanos were only re-claiming their right to be on their ancestral land

Who: El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan

• Alurista, the poet laureate for Chicanos, wrote the preamble of the Plan with the intent of grounding a Chicano identity to a pre-columbian past

• Also made by corky

When: El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan

1969

Where: El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan

Denver

Why: El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan

to inspire Mexican American self-determination, cultural pride, and political power by uniting Chicanos around their indigenous heritage (Aztlán) to achieve social, economic, and political liberation from oppression, demanding control over their communities, education, and destiny

What: Aztlan

The birthplace of Mexica peoples

Who: Aztlan

The Mexica came from the caves of Chicomoztoc

Where: Aztlan

Said to have been in what is now the US Southwest

Why: Aztlan

Introduced by Chicana/o artists and pets as a place where Chicanos could ground themselves

What: Hijas de Cuahtemoc

A chicana feminist newspaper

Who: Hijas de Cuahtemoc

founded by Anna Nieto-Gómez and Adelaida Castillo at CSU Long Beach

When: Hijas de Cuahtemoc

1971

Where: Hijas de Cuahtemoc

CSU Long Beach

Why: Hijas de Cuahtemoc

Addressed Chicana-specific issues ignored by the male-dominated Chicano Movement and mainstream feminism, focusing on economic justice, community empowerment, domestic violence, employment, and the sexual double standard.

What: The approaches to Chicana movidas

movidas are submerged, strategic, often undercover political maneuvers—small-scale acts of resistance carried out in “backrooms and bedrooms, hallways and kitchens,” rather than the public stage of major movement actions. They are acts that work “within, around, and between” formal movement structures, challenging power from the margins.

Who: The approaches to Chicana movidas

Chicana activists of the 1960s–1970s—women navigating intersecting conditions of race, gender, class, and sexuality—developed these political and cultural “technologies” as part of their praxis

• Key figures: Gloria Anzaldua and Chela Sandoval

When: The approaches to Chicana movidas

primarily during the 1960s–1970s Chicano Movement era

Where: The approaches to Chicana movidas

Movidas occur in informal domestic and semi-private spaces—kitchens, hallways, living rooms—as well as within the margins of larger Chicano movement organizations (church groups, student groups, welfare rights groups, coalitions)

Why: The approaches to Chicana movidas

• challenge their exclusion and invisibility in male-dominated movements

• name forms of oppression “ignored, subordinated, or not perceived”

• carve out new spaces and counterpublics for Chicana feminist thought

• create cross-racial, cross-movement coalitions

• build a feminist praxis rooted in everyday life

What: Brown Berets

Chicano youth activist organization known for militant stances against police brutality, community service projects, and the symbolic use of the brown beret as a marker of Chicano power. They blended cultural and revolutionary nationalism and were often compared to the Black Panthers and Young Lords

Who: Brown Berets

Primarily working-class and poor Chicano youth, ages 14–24.

When: Brown Berets

• Origins: 1967, evolving from the Young Citizens to Young Chicanos for Community Action (YCCA).

• Name “Brown Berets” widely adopted late December 1967–January 1968.

• Period of major mobilization: 1968–1970 (walkouts, anti-war marches, free clinic work, La Causa newspaper)

Where: Brown Berets

Founded in East Los Angeles, with chapters later spreading across the Southwest, Pacific Northwest, Midwest, and even unexpected places like Kansas City and Minnesota

Key early spaces included:

• the Piranya Coffeehouse (early organizing space), East L.A.

• various Brown Beret headquarters (moved due to eviction and a bombing)

Why: Brown Berets

to combat:

• police brutality

• racism and discrimination against Mexican Americans

• social and economic inequality

• lack of youth political representation

What: Chicanas within the Brown Berets

Chicanas played essential yet often marginalized roles within the Brown Berets—performing political, editorial, organizational, and community labor while confronting internal sexism. They produced art, edited newspapers, organized marches, staffed the Free Clinic, and articulated early forms of Chicana feminist consciousness.

Who: Chicanas within the Brown Berets

• Gloria Arellanes (one of the most active and central leaders, though publicly erased)

• Andrea Sanchez, Yolanda Solis, and numerous high school and working-class young women

• “Gang girls” like Cha Cha and Cookie, who were drop-in affiliates

When: Chicanas within the Brown Berets

• Initial significant influx of women: late 1967–1968

• Heavy involvement in La Causa: 1968–1969

• Height of contribution and rising feminist consciousness: 1969 (articles like “Palabras para la Chicana” and “Chicanas de Aztlán”)

• Departure and founding of Las Adelitas de Aztlán: 1970, shortly before and after the August 29 National Chicano Moratorium march

Where: Chicanas within the Brown Berets

Their work occurred in:

• Brown Beret headquarters (multiple relocations due to eviction/bombing)

• the Free Clinic, where women did critical labor and stayed after hours pasting up La Causa newspaper

• national youth conferences and movement gatherings where women were often relegated to cooking/cleaning roles (e.g., Denver Youth Conference at Corky Gonzalez’s home)

Why: Chicanas within the Brown Berets

Chicanas joined the Berets to:

• participate in anti-police brutality organizing

• serve their communities

• enact revolutionary politics

• assert leadership and challenge sexist constraints

• transform the movement from within by claiming space as “revolutionary sisters”

What: East LA Blowouts

• we see the largest manifestation of high school protests or “blow outs”

• The “blow outs” shut down East L.A. schools

Who: East LA Blowouts

• over 15,000 Mexican American high school students walked out of classes

• Sal Castro

  • Lincoln High School Teacher

• Thirteen organizers were charged with inciting unlawful protest and faced decades in prison

When: East LA Blowouts

beginning March 6, 1968

Where: East LA Blowouts

East LA schools

Why: East LA Blowouts

• High school students in particular were increasingly protesting the decades of neglect

• Students were not allowed to speak Spanish in class, and when they did, they would punish kids as if they did if they did something terrible

• wanted representation and more chicano classes & teachers

What: COINTELPRO

was a series of covert and often illegal FBI projects aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations deemed subversive

Who: COINTELPRO

the FBI and undercover police

When: COINTELPRO

1956-1971

Where: COINTELPRO

throughout US, infiltrating groups like communist party, black panther party, and chicano movement

Why: COINTELPRO

expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize" the activities of these movements and especially their leaders.

What: The Massacre in Tlateloco

Mexican military opened fire on a large, peaceful student protest in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, resulting in hundreds of deaths

Who: The Massacre in Tlateloco

the Mexican gov against peaceful student protests

When: The Massacre in Tlateloco

October 2, 1968

Where: The Massacre in Tlateloco

Plaza de las Tres Culturas, in Mexico City

Why: The Massacre in Tlateloco

Students were protesting government authoritarianism, demanding greater democracy, and opposing the upcoming Olympics

What: Chicana Feminism

is a social, political, and cultural movement for Mexican American women, born from the Chicano Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, that addresses the unique, intersecting oppressions of sexism, racism, and classism, challenging patriarchal norms within their own communities and the limitations of mainstream feminism.

Who: Chicana Feminism

Mexican American women

When: Chicana Feminism

starting in 60s

Why: Chicana Feminism

Latinas faced unique oppression from sexism within the Chicano Movement (machismo, subservient roles) AND racism/classism from mainstream feminism

What: CASA

a marxist-leninist organization

Who: CASA

led by Bert Corona

When: CASA

1970s

Where: CASA

LA

Why: CASA

a mutualista-style social service organization, providing legal and social assistance to undocumented workers and their families.

What: Queer Aztlan

• A decolonized, utopian, queer-inclusive vision of Aztlán, the mythical homeland of the Aztec people, reimagined as a spiritual and political space for all Chicanx people.

Who: Queer Aztlan

• Key figures like Cherríe Moraga, who coined the term and wrote about it in works like The Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea.

When: Queer Aztlan

• Around the early 1990s, gaining traction in conversations and writings, notably by Cherríe Moraga, who contrasted it with the exclusionary nature of mainstream gay liberation (like "Queer Nation") and Chicano Nationalism.

Why: Queer Aztlan

• To challenge patriarchal, heteronormative structures within Chicanx culture and movements that exclude queer individuals.

• To offer a space of belonging and self-affirmation for queer Chicanx people, combating homophobia, sexism, and racism.

• To fulfill the promise of liberation for all, recognizing that freedom for one group is dependent on freedom for all. 

What: Queer Latino Archiving during AIDS epidemic

The community-driven preservation of queer Latino lives during the AIDS epidemic, mainly through AIDS obituaries in the Bay Area Reporter. These obituaries became an informal “gay Latino album of the dead,” documenting migration, sexuality, community life, and stigma that mainstream archives ignored.

Who: Queer Latino Archiving during AIDS epidemic

• Queer Latino men whose deaths were recorded.

• Families, friends, and partners who submitted obituaries.

• Community historians/archivists like Horacio N. Roque Ramírez.

• LGBTQ archives and grassroots AIDS organizations preserving materials.

When: Queer Latino Archiving during AIDS epidemic

Primarily 1984–1993, the height of AIDS deaths recorded in the BAR, with ongoing community archiving and oral history work continuing into the 1990s and 2000s.

Where: Queer Latino Archiving during AIDS epidemic

Centered in San Francisco, especially the Mission District and the Castro, with archival traces also revealing queer Latino migration from Mexico, Central America, Texas, and the Southwest.

Why: Queer Latino Archiving during AIDS epidemic

Because queer Latinos were silenced and erased in mainstream AIDS history, their deaths often hidden by stigma and racism. Obituaries and community archives created spaces to remember, honor, and document queer Latino life when no formal archive existed.

Elizabeth “Betita” Martinez

• central figure in the Chicano and black movement, part of several collectives and organizations for liberation

• worked with Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

• She has been involved in youth organizing and other movements in Bay-Area

• co-edited the book “500-years of Chicana history”

What: El grito del Norte

A bilingual newspaper (Spanish/English) focused on Chicano, Latino, and broader human rights movements, featuring anti-imperialist, feminist (La Chicana), and land-rights issues.

Who: El grito del Norte

Co-founded by Elizabeth Martinez and Beverly Axelrod, with major contributions from Enriqueta Longeaux y Vásquez

When: El grito del Norte

Published from 1968 to 1973.

Where: El grito del Norte

Based in Española and Las Vegas, New Mexico, serving the Southwest and beyond. 

Why: El grito del Norte

To give voice to the Chicano Movement, report on struggles (police brutality, land dispossession), challenge U.S. imperialism, and connect local Chicano issues to global liberation movements (like Vietnam).

What: The Houston Conference 1971

• It was the first interstate assembly for Mexican-American feminists, focusing on Chicana identity and struggles.

• Key issues discussed included gender discrimination, abortion, birth control, racism, educational inequality, and employment discrimination. 

Who: The Houston Conference 1971

• Around 600 women from 23 states, including students, social workers, and activists from various political groups.

When: The Houston Conference 1971

• May 28–30, 1971. 

Where: The Houston Conference 1971

• Magnolia Park YWCA in Houston, Texas. 

Why: The Houston Conference 1971

• To address the unique, triple discrimination (racism, sexism, classism) faced by Chicanas.

• To organize stronger advocacy for women's rights and work towards societal change. 

Examples of how Chicana Artists forged a Chicana feminism thru their practice

Ester Hernandez: La virgen de las calles

• reimagined the virgen de guadalupe

Yolanda Lopez: Our Lady of Guadalupe