Chicano 004 exam 1

Mexicans and School Segregation

Reasons School Districts Used to Justify Segregation

  • Claimed Mexican children were “linguistically and culturally different” and needed special instruction in English.
  • Stereotyped Mexicans as “backward,” “dirty,” or “diseased”—racist assumptions used to separate them.
  • Schools argued segregation would help Mexicans “Americanize” faster, though it often meant inferior education.

Conditions and Challenges

  • Placed in dilapidated buildings or “Mexican schools” with poor resources.
  • Denied access to advanced courses and extracurricular activities.
  • Experienced language suppression—students punished for speaking Spanish.
  • Teachers often had low expectations of Mexican American students.

Community Resistance

  • Parents formed mutual aid societies and legal defense committees.
  • Organized escuelitas (community schools) to preserve language and culture.
  • Filed lawsuits challenging segregation, laying groundwork for Brown v. Board of Education (1954).

Key Court Cases

Maestas v. Shone

(1914, New Mexico)

  • Background: Mexican American students in Alamosa were segregated.
  • Participants: Miguel A. Maestas (teacher/activist) vs. Superintendent Shone.
  • Arguments: Plaintiffs argued segregation was not based on language ability but ethnicity.
  • Decision: Court ruled segregation unconstitutional—Mexican children were legally considered White and must be integrated.
  • Significance: Early precedent against Mexican school segregation.

Alvarez v. Lemon Grove

(1931, California)

  • Background: Lemon Grove district tried to send Mexican children to a separate “Mexican school.”
  • Participants: Roberto Alvarez and Mexican parents vs. Lemon Grove School Board.
  • Arguments: Segregation violated California law and denied equal protection.
  • Decision: Judge ruled in favor of the students; first successful school desegregation case in U.S. history.

Mendez v. Westminster

(1947, California)

  • Background: Gonzalo Mendez and other parents challenged segregation in Orange County.
  • Arguments: Claimed segregation violated the 14th Amendment.
  • Decision: Court ruled for Mendez—segregation unconstitutional; helped inspire Brown v. Board.
  • Participants: Mendez family, attorney David Marcus, NAACP (Thurgood Marshall filed amicus brief).

Jovita Idar and the Escuelita Movement

Jovita Idar

  • Journalist, educator, activist from Texas.
  • Fought for Mexican American civil rights and education.
  • Helped organize the League of Mexican Women (1911) and supported bilingual education.

Escuelita Movement

  • Community-run schools teaching Spanish literacy, Mexican history, and culture.
  • Curriculum focused on cultural pride and empowerment, unlike segregated public schools emphasizing assimilation.
  • Taught by local educators, often women, in informal settings like churches or homes.

Segregation in California

  • Very common: By the 1930s–40s, roughly 80–90% of Mexican-origin students in Southern California attended segregated schools.

East Los Angeles Walkouts (1968)

Conditions for Chicana/o Students

  • Overcrowded, underfunded schools.
  • Teachers discouraged higher education—promoted vocational training instead of college.
  • Racist treatment and punishment for speaking Spanish.
  • Eurocentric curriculum ignoring Mexican American history.

Community Activism

  • Groups: Young Citizens for Community Action (later Brown Berets), United Mexican American Students (UMAS), Educational Issues Coordinating Committee, Sal Castro (teacher-leader).
  • Organized student strikes at Garfield, Roosevelt, Lincoln, and other high schools.

Demands

  • Bilingual and bicultural education.
  • More Mexican American teachers and administrators.
  • Better facilities and smaller classes.
  • End corporal punishment and racism.
  • Inclusion of Chicano history in curriculum.

Founding of Chicano Studies

El Plan de Santa Bárbara

(1969)

  • Written by: Chicano scholars and activists at UCSB.
  • Audience: Chicano students and universities.
  • Purpose: Establish Chicano Studies programs and promote Chicano self-determination.

Key Points:

  • “Chicano” = Political and cultural identity of pride and resistance.
  • Goals: Educational reform, community empowerment, cultural recovery, and political action.

Chicano Renaissance (Art and Culture)

Influences & Artists

  • Inspired by Mexican muralists: Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco.
  • U.S. artists: Judy Baca, Los Four, Carlos Almaraz, Gronk, Willie Herrón, etc.

Art Mediums

  • Murals, posters, printmaking, photography, sculpture, and performance.

Chicano Park (San Diego)

  • Created in 1970 after community protest saved the land under the Coronado Bridge.
  • Symbol of cultural reclamation and self-determination.
  • Covered in murals celebrating Indigenous, Mexican, and Chicano heritage.

Judy Baca

  • Founded Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC).
  • Created “The Great Wall of Los Angeles”, a massive community mural narrating marginalized histories.

Themes in Chicano Art

  • Identity, resistance, community pride, Indigenous roots, social justice, farmworker rights, feminism.
  • Art was a form of protest and education.

Printmaking

  • Used for mass communication—flyers, posters, manifestos.
  • Affordable, accessible medium for activism and awareness.

Rasquachismo

  • Aesthetic of resourcefulness, improvisation, and pride in working-class creativity.
  • Celebrates “making do” with limited means—turning struggle into style.

Chicanas in the Movement

Traditional Roles

  • Expected to do supportive work—secretarial tasks, cooking, childcare.
  • Often discouraged from leadership or feminist critique.

Women’s Participation

  • Dolores Huerta (co-founder of UFW).
  • Women in Brown Berets, La Raza Unida Party, and grassroots organizing.
  • Formed autonomous groups to address gender discrimination.

Chicana Feminism (1970–1980)

Based on Alma García’s analysis:

  1. Sexism within the Chicano Movement.
  2. Racism within the Women’s Liberation Movement.
  3. Cultural identity and redefining womanhood within the Chicana context.

Organizations & Events

  • Adelitas de Aztlán, Hijas de Cuauhtémoc, Mujeres Por La Raza Conference, Encuentro Femenil (Chicana feminist publication).
  • Emphasized intersectional struggles: race, class, and gender.

Cross-Racial Feminist Connections

  • Shared concerns with Black and Asian American feminists about representation, community control, and economic justice.

Tensions with Women’s Liberation Movement

  • Chicanas rejected white feminism’s middle-class bias and cultural insensitivity.
  • Fought for feminism rooted in race, culture, and community.