Settler Colonialism and Chicano Movement: Key Terms (Pages 1–3)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, people, events, and organizations from Settler Colonialism, Genocide, and the Chicano Movement across Pages 1–3.

Settler Colonialism

A form of colonialism where settlers permanently occupy and claim Indigenous land, often erasing native people through violence, removal, or forced assimilation. In the U.S. and Mexico (19th century onward), this meant Indigenous and Mexican communities lost land, political power, and culture. This system explains how the U.S. Southwest became dominated by Anglo settlers after the U.S.–Mexico War.

Genocide

The systematic destruction of a group based on race, ethnicity, or culture. In the U.S. and Mexico, genocide targeted Native peoples through massacres, disease, and policies like forced boarding schools in the 19th and 20th centuries. These acts reduced Indigenous populations and suppressed their cultures.

Zoot Suit/Sailor Riots (1943)

 A week-long series of riots in Los Angeles in June 1943 where U.S. servicemen attacked Mexican American youth wearing zoot suits. The media portrayed Mexican youth as gangsters, while police arrested the victims rather than the attackers. The riots revealed racial tensions and criminalization of Chicano youth during WWII.

Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee (1942–43)

 Formed in Los Angeles after 24 Mexican American youths were arrested for the alleged murder of José Díaz. The trial was deeply unfair: defendants were denied clean clothes, barred from speaking to attorneys, and faced racist testimony. A multiracial coalition of activists (Mexican, Central American, African American, and Anglo) fought the convictions, leading to eventual release of the youths and exposing racism in the justice system.

Josefina Fierro de Bright

 A Mexican American activist active in Los Angeles in the 1940s. She co-founded the Spanish-Speaking People’s Congress with Luisa Moreno, organizing against discrimination and labor abuses. She mobilized alliances between Mexican Americans and other civil rights groups, making her a central figure in early Chicano activism.

Luisa Moreno

A Guatemalan-born labor organizer active in the U.S. during the 1930s–40s. She organized Latina garment and cannery workers and co-founded the Spanish-Speaking People’s Congress in 1938. She was deported during the Cold War for her activism, but her work laid foundations for Chicano labor and civil rights struggles.

U.S.–Mexico War (1846–1848)

 A conflict sparked by U.S. expansionism and the annexation of Texas. Fighting occurred in Mexico and U.S. borderlands, ending with U.S. troops occupying Mexico City. The war forced Mexico to cede half its territory, setting the stage for Mexican Americans becoming a conquered minority in the U.S. Southwest.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

 The treaty ending the U.S.–Mexico War. Signed in Mexico, it ceded over half of Mexico’s land to the U.S., including California, Texas, and the Southwest. The treaty promised U.S. citizenship and property rights to Mexicans in the ceded land, but these guarantees were widely violated, fueling later Chicano struggles.

Bracero Program (1942–1964)

 Created by the U.S.–Mexico labor agreement during WWII to bring Mexican laborers for agricultural and railroad jobs. Workers were supposed to receive fair pay and housing, but many faced abuse and poor conditions. The program tied Mexican labor to U.S. agriculture and highlighted exploitation of migrant workers.

Operation Wetback (1954)

A U.S. government deportation campaign targeting undocumented Mexican immigrants. Immigration authorities, supported by local police, deported over one million people, many of them U.S. citizens. The operation reinforced anti-Mexican sentiment and showed the state’s reliance on and criminalization of Mexican labor.

Salt of the Earth Strike (1950–1952)

 A strike by Mexican American miners in Grant County, New Mexico, against Empire Zinc Company. When an injunction barred men from picketing, women organized and held the strike lines. The struggle highlighted labor rights, racial discrimination, and women’s leadership, later dramatized in the 1954 film Salt of the Earth.

Sal Castro

 A Mexican American teacher in East Los Angeles during the 1960s. He mentored students and supported their efforts to protest unequal schooling conditions. Castro’s leadership in the 1968 blowouts made him a key figure in Chicano educational reform.

East Los Angeles High School Blowouts (1968)

Student-led protests in March 1968 across multiple East L.A. high schools. Thousands of Chicano students walked out, demanding bilingual education, better facilities, and an end to racist treatment. The blowouts represented a turning point in the Chicano Movement, bringing youth activism to the forefront.

Grassroots Leadership (woman-centered) model

 A leadership style developed in Chicano and labor movements, especially in the 1950s–70s. Women often led through collective decision-making, relationship building, and community work rather than top-down authority. This model challenged male-dominated hierarchies and sustained social justice movements.

Maria Moreno

A farmworker and activist in California during the 1950s. She became the first woman hired as a union organizer by the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC). Her advocacy for migrant families highlighted the intersection of poverty, gender, and labor rights in agriculture.

Chicano Anti-War Moratorium (1970)

A mass protest in East Los Angeles on August 29, 1970, against the Vietnam War. Tens of thousands of Chicanos marched to protest the high death rate of Mexican American soldiers. Police violence broke out, killing journalist Rubén Salazar, and the event became a symbol of Chicano opposition to war and police brutality.

El Plan de Santa Barbara and Chicanx Studies (1969)

A document written by Chicano students and activists at UC Santa Barbara. It called for the creation of Chicano Studies programs to affirm cultural identity and educational self-determination. The plan institutionalized Chicano Studies across universities in the U.S. Southwest.

Dolores Huerta

A Mexican American labor leader and activist. She co-founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez in 1962, organizing strikes and boycotts for farmworkers’ rights. Famous for the phrase “Sí, se puede,” Huerta remains a prominent voice for labor, women’s, and immigrant rights.

Cesar Chavez

A Mexican American labor leader who co-founded the United Farm Workers in 1962. He led the Delano grape strike and boycott, using nonviolent tactics inspired by Gandhi. Chavez became a national figure representing farmworkers and the Chicano struggle for dignity.

United Farm Workers (UFW)

A union founded in 1962 by Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and others. Based in California, the UFW organized farmworkers through strikes, marches, and boycotts. It achieved contracts improving wages and working conditions, becoming a cornerstone of the Chicano labor movement.

Grape Boycott (1965–1970)

A nationwide consumer boycott organized by the UFW to pressure grape growers to recognize farmworker unions. Millions of Americans supported it, avoiding grapes until contracts were signed. The boycott won national attention and secured labor rights victories for Chicano farmworkers.

Paula Crisostomo

A Mexican American high school student leader in East Los Angeles in the 1960s. She helped organize the 1968 East L.A. high school walkouts to protest racist teachers, overcrowded schools, and lack of Chicano representation in curriculum. Crisostomo became a symbol of youth activism in the Chicano Movement, showing how students could push for educational justice.

Mendez Vs Wesminster (1947)

A federal court case in Orange County, California, where Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez challenged the segregation of Mexican American children into separate “Mexican schools.” The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court ruled that segregating Mexican children was unconstitutional because it violated equal protection under the 14th Amendment. The case set a precedent for ending school segregation in California and influenced Brown v. Board of Education (1954).