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The Chicano Movement, also referred to as El Movimiento, was a social and political movement in the United States that worked to embrace a Chicano/a identity and worldview that combated structural racism, encouraged cultural revitalization, and achieved community empowerment by rejecting assimilation. Chicanos also expressed solidarity and defined their culture through the development of Chicano art during El Movimiento, and stood firm in preserving their religion.

The Chicano Movement was influenced by and entwined with the Black Power movement, and both movements held similar objectives of community empowerment and liberation while also calling for Black-Brown unity. Leaders such as César Chávez, Reies Tijerina, and Rodolfo Gonzales learned strategies of resistance and worked with leaders of the Black Power movement. Chicano organizations like the Brown Berets and Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) were influenced by the political agenda of Black activist organizations such as the Black Panthers. Chicano political demonstrations, such as the East L.A. Walkouts and the Chicano Moratorium, occurred in collaboration with Black students and activists.

Similar to the Black Power movement, the Chicano Movement experienced heavy state surveillance, infiltration, and repression from U.S. government informants and agent provocateurs through organized activities such as COINTELPRO. Movement leaders like Rosalio Muñoz were ousted from their positions of leadership by government agents, organizations such as MAYO and the Brown Berets were infiltrated, and political demonstrations such as the Chicano Moratorium became sites of police brutality, which led to the decline of the movement by the mid-1970s. Other reasons for the movement's decline[according to whom? ] include its centering of the masculine subject, which marginalized and excluded Chicanas, and a growing disinterest in Chicano nationalist constructs such as Aztlán.

Before this, Chicano/a had been a term of derision, adopted by some Pachucos as an expression of defiance to Anglo-American society. With the rise of Chicanismo, Chicano/a became a reclaimed term in the 1960s and 1970s, used to express political autonomy, ethnic and cultural solidarity, and pride in being of Indigenous descent, diverging from the assimilationist Mexican-American identity.

The Chicano Movement encompassed a broad list of issues-from restoration of land grants, to farm workers' rights, to enhanced education, to voting and political ethnic stereotypes of Mexicans in mass media and the American consciousness. In an article in The Journal of American History, Edward J. Escobar describes some of the negativity of the time:

The conflict between Chicanos and the LAPD thus helped Mexican Americans develop a new political consciousness that included a greater sense of ethnic solidarity, an acknowledgment of their subordinated status in American society, and a greater determination to act politically, and perhaps even violently, to end that subordination. While most people of Mexican descent still refused to call themselves Chicanos, many had come to adopt many of the principles intrinsic in the concept of chicanismo.

Early in the twentieth century, Mexican Americans formed organizations to protect themselves from discrimination. One of those organizations, the League of United Latin American Citizens, was formed in 1929 and remains active today. The movement gained momentum after World War II when groups such as the American G.I. Forum (AGIF), which was founded by returning Mexican American veteran Dr. Hector P. Garcia, joined in the efforts by other civil rights organizations. The AGIF first received national exposure when it took on the cause of Felix Longoria, a Mexican American serviceman who was denied a funeral service in his hometown of Three Rivers, Texas after being killed during WWII. After the Longoria incident, the AGIF quickly expanded throughout Texas, and by the 1950s, chapters were founded across the U.S.

The Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC)

Mexican American civil rights activists also achieved several major legal victories including the 1947 Mendez v. Westminster court case ruling which declared that segregating children of "Mexican and Latin descent" was unconstitutional and the 1954 Hernandez v. Texas ruling which declared that Mexican Americans and other historically-subordinated groups in the United States were entitled to equal protection under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Throughout the country, the Chicano Movement was defined by several different leaders. In New Mexico, there was Reies López Tijerina who worked on the land grant movement. He fought to regain control of what he considered ancestral lands. He became involved in civil rights causes within six years and also became a cosponsor of the Poor People's March on Washington in 1967. In Texas, war veteran Dr. Hector P. Garcia founded the American GI Forum and was later appointed to the United States Commission on Civil Rights. In Denver, Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzáles helped define the meaning of being a Chicano through his poem Yo Soy Joaquin ( I am Joaquin)[1]. In California, César Chávez and the farm workers turned to the struggle of urban youth, and created political awareness and participated in La Raza Unida Party.

The most prominent civil rights organization in the Mexican-American community is the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), founded in 1968. Although modeled after the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, MALDEF has also taken on many of the functions of other organizations, including political advocacy and training of local leaders.

Some women who worked for the Chicano movement felt that members were being too concerned with social issues that affected the Chicano community, instead of addressing problems that affected Chicana women specifically. This led Chicana women to form the Comisión Femenil Mexicana Nacional. In 1975, it became involved in the case Madrigal v. Quilligan, obtaining a moratorium on the compulsory sterilization of women and adoption of bilingual consent forms. These steps were necessary because many Latina women who did not understand English well were being sterilized in the United States at the time, without proper consent.

While the widespread immigration marches flourished throughout the U.S. in the Spring of 2006, the Chicano Movement continued to expand in its focus and its active participants. As of the 21st Century, a major focus of the Chicano Movement has been to increase the (intelligent) representation of Chicanos in mainstream American media and entertainment. There are also many community education projects to educate Latinos about their voice and power like South Texas Voter Registration Project. SVREP's mission is to empower Latinos and other minorities by increasing their participation in the American democratic process. Members of the beginning of the Chicano movement, like Faustino Erebia Jr., still speak about their trials and the changes they have seen over the years.

The movement started small in Colorado yet spread across the states becoming a worldwide movement for equality. While there are many poets who helped carry out the movement, Corky Gonzales was able to spread the Chicano issues worldwide through "The Plan Espiritual de Aztlán." This manifesto advocated Chicano nationalism and self-determination for Mexican Americans. In March 1969 it was adopted by the First National Chicano Liberation Youth Conference based in Colorado. Adolfo Ortega says, "In its core as well as its fringes, the Chicano Movement verged on strivings for economic, social, and political equality." This was a simple message that any ordinary person could relate to and want to strive for in their daily lives. Whether someone was talented or not they wanted to help spread the political message in their own way. While majority of the group consisted of Mexican-Americans many people of other nationalities wanted to help the movement. This helped moved the movement from the fringes into the more mainstream political establishment. The "Political Establishment" typically consisted of the dominant group or elite that holds power or authority in a nation. Many successful organizations were formed, such as the Mexican American Youth Organization, to fight for civil rights of Mexican Americans. During the early 1960s in Texas many Mexican-Americans were treated like second class citizens and discriminated against. While progress has been made for equality immigrants even to this day are still a target of misunderstanding and fear. Chicano Poetry was a safe way for political messages to spread without fear of being targeted for by speaking out. Politically, the movement was also broken off into sections like chicanismo. "Chicanismo meant to some Chicanos dignity, self respect, pride, uniqueness, and a feeling of a cultural rebirth." Mexican-Americans wanted to embrace the color of their skin instead of it being something to be ashamed of. Many Mexican-Americans unfortunately had it ingrained on them through society that it was better socially and economically to act "White" or "Normal." The movement wanted to break that mindset and embrace who they were and be loud and proud of it. A lot of people in the movement thought it was acceptable to speak Spanish to one another and not be ashamed of not being fluent in English. The movement encouraged to not only discuss tradition with other Mexican-Americans but others not within the movement. America was a land of immigrants not just for the social and economically accepted people. The movement made it a point not to exclude others of other cultures but to bring them into the fold to make everyone understanding of one another. While America was new for many people of Latin descent it was important to celebrate what made them who they were as a culture. Entertainment was powerful tool to spread their political message inside and out of their social circles in America. Chicanismo might not be discussed frequently in the mainstream media but the main points of the movement are: self-respect, pride, and cultural rebirth.

This is a list of the major epicenters of the Chicano Movement.

While Chicanas are typically not covered as heavily in literature about the Chicano movement, Chicana feminists have begun to re-write the history of women in the movement. Chicanas who were actively involved within the movement have come to realize that their intersecting identities of being both Chicanas and women were more complex than their male counterparts. Through the involvement of various movements, the main goal of these Chicanas was to include their intersecting identities within these movements, specifically choosing to add women's issues, racial issues, and LGBTQ issues within movements that ignored such identities. One of the biggest women's issues that the Chicanas faced was that Mexican men drew their masculinity from forcing traditional female roles on women and expecting women to bear as many children as they could.

Sociologist Teresa Cordova, when discussing Chicana feminism, has stated that Chicanas change the discourse of the Chicano movement that disregard them, as well as oppose the hegemonic feminism that neglects race and class. Through the Chicano movement, Chicanas felt that the movement was not addressing certain issues that women faced under a patriarchal society, specifically addressing material conditions. Within the feminist discourse, Chicanas wanted to bring awareness to the forced sterilization many Mexican women faced during the 1970s. The film No Mas Bebes describes the stories of many of these women who were sterilized without consent. Although Chicanas have contributed significantly to the movement, Chicana feminists have been targeted; they are targeted because they are seen as betraying the movement and being anti-family and anti-men. By creating a platform that was inclusive to various intersectional identities, Chicana theorists who identified as lesbian and heterosexual were in solidarity of both. With their navigation through patriarchal structures, and their intersecting identities, Chicana feminists brought issues such as political economy, imperialism, and class identities to the forefront of the movement's discourses. Enriqueta Longeaux and Vasquez discussed in the Third World Women's Conference, "There is a need for world unity of all peoples suffering exploitation and colonial oppression here in the U.S., the most wealthy, powerful, expansionist country in the world, to identify ourselves as third world peoples in order to end this economic and political expansion."

The Chicano Movement was not only limited to Mexican-American individuals. Central Americans also participated in the movement, often identifying themselves as Chicano. In the 1960s, the Central American population comprised approximately 50,000 across the United States. In California, Central Americans migrated and concentrated in cities like San Jose, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Similar to Mexican Americans, Central Americans faced issues in the United States such as discrimination, lack of access to education and healthcare, and low-wage jobs. The difference is that Central American activists have called for the inclusion of Central American issues and experiences within the broader movement. The Central American diaspora have faced discrimination and mistreatment in the United States, particularly from other Latinos because of their identity.

The effects of the Chicano Movement are still felt by Central Americans in the modern times. For instance, many of the MEChA chapters that were established during the movement have started to rename the organization. The Los Angeles Times reported on leaders in the Garfield High School chapter deciding to avoid mentioning the word " Chicano" or " Aztlán," since they explained that the names were Mexican-centric and excluded identities.

In academia, there is a movement to expand ChicanX-LatinX departments to include Central American Studies. Cal-State Northridge became the first university to establish a Central American Studies Department in the United States. In 2019, students at University of California, Los Angeles organized for their Chicana/o Studies Department to expand and include Central American Studies. Most recently, East Los Angeles College added a Central American Studies major, being the first community college to do so. South American departments and majors have to be realized.

Scholars have paid some attention to the geography of the movement and situate the Southwest as the epicenter of the struggle. However, in examining the struggle's activism, maps allow us to see that activity was not spread evenly through the region and that certain organizations and types of activism were limited to particular geographies. For instance, in southern Texas where Mexican Americans comprised a significant portion of the population and had a history of electoral participation, the Raza Unida Party started in 1970 by Jose Angel Gutierrez hoped to win elections and mobilize the voting power of Chicanos. RUP thus became the focus of considerable Chicano activism in Texas in the early 1970s.

The movement in California took a different shape, less concerned about elections. Chicanos in Los Angeles formed alliances with other oppressed people who identified with the Third World Left and were committed to toppling U.S. imperialism and fighting racism. The Brown Berets, with links to the Black Panther Party, was one manifestation of the multiracial context in Los Angeles. The Chicano Moratorium antiwar protests of 1970 and 1971 also reflected the vibrant collaboration between African Americans, Japanese Americans, American Indians, and white antiwar activists that had developed in Southern California.

Chicano student activism also followed particular geographies. MEChA established in Santa Barbara, California, in 1969, united many university and college Mexican American groups under one umbrella organization. MEChA became a multi-state organization, but an examination of the year-by-year expansion shows a continued concentration in California. The Mapping American Social Movements digital project shows maps and charts demonstrating that as the organization added dozens then hundreds of chapters, the vast majority were in California. This should cause scholars to ask what conditions made the state unique, and why Chicano students in other states were less interested in organizing MEChA chapters.

Members of MEChA protesting for free college tuition at the Colegio César Chávez in Mt. Angel, Oregon.

In 1949 and 1950, the American G.I. Forum initiated local "pay your poll tax" drives to register Mexican American voters. Although they were unable to repeal the poll tax, their efforts did bring in new Latino voters who would begin to elect Latino representatives to the Texas House of Representatives and to Congress during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

In California, a similar phenomenon took place. When World War II veteran Edward R. Roybal ran for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council, community activists established the Community Service Organization (CSO). The CSO was effective in registering 15,000 new voters in Latino neighborhoods. With this newfound support, Roybal was able to win the 1949 election race against the incumbent councilman and became the first Mexican American since 1886 to win a seat on the Los Angeles City Council.

The Mexican American Political Association (MAPA), founded in Fresno, California, came into being in 1959 and drew up a plan for direct electoral politics. MAPA soon became the primary political voice for the Mexican-American community of California.

After World War II, Chicanos began to assert their own views of their own history and status as Mexican Americans in the US and they began to critically analyze what they were being taught in public schools. Many young people, like David Sanchez and Vickie Castro, founders of the Brown Berets protested the injustices they saw.

In the late 1960s, when the student movement was active around the globe, the Chicano Movement inspired its own organized protests like the East L.A. walkouts in 1968, and the National Chicano Moratorium March in Los Angeles in 1970. The student walkouts occurred in Denver and East LA in 1968. There were also many incidents of walkouts outside of the city of Los Angeles, as far as Kingsville, Tx in South Texas, where many students were jailed by the county and protests ensued. In the LA County high schools of El Monte, Alhambra, and Covina (particularly Northview), the students marched to fight for their rights. Similar walkouts took place in 1978 in Houston high schools to protest the discrepant academic quality for Latino students. There were also several student sit-ins which objected the decreasing funding of Chicano courses.[citation needed ]

Chicano student groups such as the United Mexican American Students (UMAS), the Mexican American Youth Association (MAYA) in California, and the Mexican American Youth Organization in Texas, developed in universities and colleges in the mid-1960s. South Texas had a local chapter of MAYO that also made significant changes to the racial tension in this area at the time. Members included Faustino Erebia Jr, local politician and activist, who has been a keynote speaker at Texas A&M University at the annual Cesar Chavez walk. At the historic meeting at the University of California, Santa Barbara in April 1969, the diverse student organizations came together under the new name Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MECHA). Between 1969 and 1971, MECHA grew rapidly in California with major centers of activism on campuses in southern California, and a few chapters were created along the East coast at Ivy League Schools. By 2012, MECHA had more than 500 chapters throughout the U.S. Student groups such as these were initially concerned with education issues, but their activities evolved to participation in political campaigns and to various forms of protest against broader issues such as police brutality and the U.S. war in Southeast Asia. The Brown Berets, a youth group which began in California, took on a more militant and nationalistic ideology.

The UMAS movement garnered great attention in Boulder, Colorado after a car bombing killed several UMAS students. In 1972, UMAS students at the University of Colorado Boulder were protesting the university's attitude towards UMAS issues and demands. Over the next two years hostilities had increased and many students were concerned about the leadership of the UMAS and Chicano movements on the CU Boulder Campus. On May 27, 1974, Reyes Martinez, an attorney from Alamosa, Colorado, Martinez's girlfriend, Una Jaakola, CU Boulder alumna University of Colorado Boulder, and Neva Romero, an UMAS student attending CU Boulder, were killed in a car bombing at Boulder's Chautauqua Park. Two days later another car bomb exploded in the Burger King parking lot at 1728 28th St. in Boulder, killing Francisco Dougherty, 20, Florencio Grenado, 31, and Heriberto Teran, 24, and seriously injuring Antonio Alcantar. It was later determined both explosions were caused by homemade bombs composed of up to nine dynamite sticks. Most of the victims were involved in the UMAS movement in Boulder, Colorado. They came to be known as Los Seis de Boulder. Many students in the UMAS and Chicano movement believed the bombing was directly correlated to the students' demands and rising attention on the Chicano movement. An arrest was never made in connection with the car bombing.

A University of Colorado Boulder Master of Fine Arts student, Jasmine Baetz, created an art exhibit in 2019 dedicated to Los Seis de Boulder. The art exhibit is a seven-foot-tall rectangular sculpture that includes six mosaic tile portraits. The depiction of each activist faces the direction in which he or she died. It currently sits in front of the TB-1 building east of Macky Auditorium on the CU-Boulder campus. Baetz, a Canadian, had by chance seen the film Symbols of Resistance, a documentary about Los Seis de Boulder, in 2017. She became inspired to create a piece of art to honor the activists. She invited community participation in the project; over 200 people worked on it in some capacity. The base of the sculpture states, "Dedicated in 2019 to Los Seis de Boulder & Chicana and Chicano students who occupied TB-1 in 1974 & everyone who fights for equity in education at CU Boulder & the original stewards of this land who were forcibly removed & all who remain." It also states, "Por Todxs Quienes Luchan Por La Justicia" (for all those who fight for justice). CU students have protested a campus decision not to make the art exhibit permanent. CU announced the exhibit would be made permanent in September 2020.

A memorial in honor of Los Seis de Boulder was installed at Chautauqua Park in Boulder on May 27, 2020, at the location of the first car bomb explosion exactly 46 years ago. The City of Boulder provided a $5000 grant for the memorial which the Colorado Chautauqua Association's Buildings and Grounds Committee and the City of Boulder Landmarks Review Committee approved. Family members of the deceased gathered to watch as the stone monument was put in place.

The Chicano Moratorium was a movement by Chicano activists that organized anti-Vietnam War demonstrations and activities throughout the Southwest and other Mexican American communities from November 1969 through August 1971. The movement focused on the disproportionately high death rate of Mexican American soldiers in Vietnam as well as the discrimination faced at home. After months of demonstrations and conferences, it was decided to hold a National Chicano Moratorium demonstration against the war on August 29, 1970. The march began at Belvedere Park in LA and headed towards Laguna Park alongside 20,000 to 30,000 people. The Committee members included Rosalio Muñoz and Corky Gonzales and only lasted one more year, but the political momentum generated by the Moratorium led many of its activists to continue their activism in other groups. The rally became violent when there was a disturbance in Laguna Park. There were people of all ages at the rally because it was intended to be a peaceful event. The sheriffs who were there later claimed that they were responding to an incident at a nearby liquor store that involved Chicanos who had allegedly stolen some drinks. The sheriffs also added that upon their arrival they were hit with cans and stones. Once the sheriff arrived, they claimed the rally to be an "unlawful assembly" which turned violent. Tear gas and mace were everywhere, demonstrators were hit by billy clubs and arrested as well. The event that took place was being referred to as a riot, some have gone as far to call it a "Police Riot" to emphasize that the police were the ones who initiated it

The LA Protest brought many chicanos together and got support from other areas like Denver, Colorado who brought one hundred members and affiliates. On August 29, 1970 this was the largest rebellious movement of minorities since Watts uprising of (1965). More than 150 people were arrested and four were killed some accidental. A report from the Los Angeles Times stated, Gustav Montag got in direct contact with the police when they began opening fire in an alley and Gustav's defense was to throw broken pieces of concrete at the officers. The article stated the police officers were aiming over his head in attempts to scare him off. Montag was pictured being carried away from the scene by several brothers and was later announced dead at the scene. Montag was a Sephardic Jew who supported the movement.

Edward J. Escobar details in his work the relationship between various movements and demonstrations within the Chicano Movement and the Los Angeles Police Department between the years 1968-1971. His main argument explores how "police violence, rather than subduing Chicano movement activism, propelled that activism to a new level -- a level that created a greater police problem than had originally existed". At one Chicano Moratorium (also referred to as the National Chicano Moratorium) demonstration as part of the Anti-war activism, popular journalist Ruben Salazar was killed by police after they shot a tear-gas projectile into the Silver Dollar Café where he was after covering the moratorium demonstration and succeeding riots. This is an example Escobar presents that inspired political consciousness in an even broader base of Mexican-Americans, many considering him a "martyr".

Relations between Chicano activists and the police mirrored those with other movements during this time. As Escobar states, Black Civil Rights activists in the 50s and 60s "set the stage by focusing public attention on the issue of racial discrimination and legitimizing public protest as a way to combat discrimination." Marginalized communities began using this public platform to speak against injustices they had been experiencing for centuries at the hands of the U.S. government, perpetuated by police departments and other institutions of power. Like many of the movements during this time, Chicanos took inspiration from the Black Panther Party and used their race, historically manipulated to disenfranchise them, as a source of cultural nationalism and pride.

Edward J. Escobar claims the Chicano Movement and its sub-organizations were infiltrated by local law enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to acquire information and cause destabilization from within the organizations. Methods used by law enforcement included "red-baiting, harassment and arrest of activists, infiltration and disruption of movement organizations, and violence." Agent provocateurs were oftentimes planted in these organizations to disrupt and destabilize the movements from within. Repression from law enforcement broadened Chicano political consciousness, their identities in relation to the larger society, and encouraged them to focus their efforts in politics.

There are also cases involving Central American activists and the police that sparked activism within the greater Chicano Movement. One case is that of Los Siete de la Raza and their altercation with two policemen in San Francisco's Mission District in 1969.

Art of the Movement was the burgeoning of Chicano art fueled by heightened political activism and energized cultural pride. Chicano visual art, music, literature, dance, theater and other forms of expression have flourished. During the 20th century, an emergence of Chicano expression developed into a full-scale Chicano Art Movement. Chicanos developed a wealth of cultural expression through such media as painting, drawing, sculpture and printmaking. Similarly, novels, poetry, short stories, essays and plays have flowed from the pens of contemporary Chicano writers.

Operating within the Chicano art movement is the concept "rasquachismo," which comes from the Spanish term "rasquache." This term is used to describe something that is of lower quality or status and is often correlated with groups in a society that fit this description and have to become resourceful to get by. Chicano artists being resourceful can be seen when artists cut up tin cans and flatten them out into rectangles to use as canvases. In addition to its influence in the visual arts, the concept "rasquachismo" informs Chicano performing arts. El Teatro Campesino's La Carpa de los Rasquachis is a play written by Luis Valdez in 1972, which tells the story of a farmworker that has migrated to the United States from Mexico; this play teaches the audience to look for ways to be resourceful.

Chicano Art developed around the 1960s during the Chicano Liberation Movement. In its beginning stages, Chicano art was distinguished by the expression through public art forms. Many artists saw the need for self-representation because the media was trying to suppress their voices. Chicano artists during this time used visual arts, such as posters and murals in the streets, as a form of communication to spread the word of political events affecting Chicano culture; UFW strikes, student walkouts, and anti-war rallies were a few of the main topics depicted in such art. Artists like Andrew Zermeño reused certain symbols recognizable from Mexican culture, such as skeletons and the Virgen de Guadalupe, in their own art to create a sense of solidarity between other oppressed groups in the United States and globally. In 1972, the group ASCO, founded by Gronk, Willie Herrón, and Patssi Valdez, created conceptual art forms to engage in Chicano social protests; the group utilized the streets of California to display their bodies as murals to draw attention from different audiences.

Chicano artists created a bi-cultural style that included US and Mexican influences. The Mexican style can be found by their use of bright colors and expressionism. The art has a very powerful regionalist factor that influences its work. Examples of Chicano muralism can be found in California at the historic Estrada Courts Housing Projects in Boyle Heights. Another example is La Marcha Por La Humanidad, which is housed at the University of Houston.

Chicano performing arts also began developing in the 1960s with the creation of bilingual Chicano theater, playwriting, comedy, and dance. Recreating Mexican performances and staying in line with the "rasquachismo" concept, Chicanos performed skits about inequalities faced by people within their culture on the back of trucks. The group ASCO also participated in the performing art form by having "guerrilla" performances in the streets. This art form spread to the spoken word in 1992 when a collection of Chicana spoken word was recorded on compact disc. Chicano comedians have also been publicly known since the 1980s, and in 1995, the first televised Chicano comedy series was produced by Culture Clash. Photography was another form of art that aided in the Chicano Movement's progress.

About 20 years after the Chicano Movement, Chicano artists were affected by political priorities and societal values, and they were also becoming more accepted by society. They were becoming more interested making pieces for the museums and such, which caused Chicano art to become more commercialized, and less concerned with political protest.

Chicano art has continued to expand and adapt since the Chicano Movement. Today the Millennial Chicano generation has begun to redefine the Chicano art space with modernized forms of self-expression, although some artists still try to preserve the traditional Chicano art forms. As the community of Chicano artists expands and diversifies, Chicano art can no longer fit under just one aesthetic. The younger generation takes advantage of technology to create art and draws inspiration from other cultural art forms, such as Japanese anime and hip hop. Chicano art is now defined by the experimentation of self-expression, rather than producing art for social protests.

The Chicano press disseminated Chicano history, literature, and current news. The press created a link between the core and the periphery to create a national Chicano identity and community. The Chicano Press Association (CPA) created in 1969 was significant to the development of this national ethos. The CPA argued that an active press was foundational to the liberation of Chicano people, and represented about twenty newspapers, mostly in California but also throughout the Southwest.

Chicanos at many colleges campuses also created their own student newspapers, but many ceased publication within a year or two, or merged with other larger publications. Organizations such as the Brown Berets and MECHA also established their own independent newspapers. Chicano communities published newspapers like El Grito del Norte from Denver and Caracol from San Antonio, Texas.

Over 300 newspapers and periodicals in both large and small communities have been linked to the Movement.

Many in the Chicano Movement were influenced by their Catholic identities. Cesar Chávez heavily relied on Catholic influence and practices. Fasting was common by many activists though who would only break their fasts to consume communion. The Virgin of Guadalupe was also used as a symbol of inspiration during many protests. The Chicano Movement was often inspired by their religious convictions to continue the tradition of commitment to social change and asserting their rights. There was also influence from indigenous forms of religion combined with Catholic beliefs. Altars would be set up by the matriarchs of families that often included both Catholic symbols and indigenous religious symbols. Both Catholic beliefs and the inclusion of indigenous religious practices were influenced many in the Chicano Movement to continue their protests and fight to equality.

The concept of Aztlán as the place of origin of the pre-Columbian Mexican civilization became a symbol for various Mexican nationalist and indigenous movements.

The name Aztlán was first taken up by a group of Chicano independence activists led by Oscar Zeta Acosta during the Chicano movement of the 1960s and 1970s. They used the name "Aztlán" to refer to the lands of Northern Mexico that were annexed by the United States as a result of the Mexican-American War. Combined with the claim of some historical linguists and anthropologists that the original homeland of the Aztecan peoples was located in the southwestern United States even though these lands were historically the homeland of many American Indian tribes (e.g. Navajo, Hopi, Apache, Comanche, Shoshone, Mojave, Zuni and many others). Aztlán in this sense became a "symbol" for mestizo activists who believed they have a legal and primordial right to the land. Some scholars argue that Aztlan was located within Mexico proper. Groups who have used the name "Aztlán" in this manner include Plan Espiritual de Aztlán, MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, "Chicano Student Movement of Aztlán").

Many in the Chicano Movement attribute poet Alurista for popularizing the term Aztlán in a poem presented during the Chicano Youth Liberation Conference in Denver, Colorado, March 1969.

Gómez-Quiñones, Juan, and Irene Vásquez. Making Aztlán: Ideology and Culture of the Chicana and Chicano Movement, 1966-1977 (University of New Mexico Press, 2014)

Meier, Matt S., and Margo Gutiérrez. Encyclopedia of the Mexican American civil rights movement (Greenwood, 2000) online

Orozco, Cynthia E. No Mexicans, women, or dogs allowed: The rise of the Mexican American civil rights movement (University of Texas Press, 2010) online

Rosales, F. Arturo. Chicano! The history of the Mexican American civil rights movement (Arte Público Press, 1997); online

Beltrán, Cristina. The Trouble with Unity. Latino Politics and the Creation of Identity (Oxford University Press, 2010). ISBN 9780195375916

Sánchez, George I (2006). "Ideology, and Whiteness in the Making of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement, 1930-1960". Journal of Southern History. 72 (3): 569-604. doi:10.2307/27649149. JSTOR 27649149.

Heins, Marjorie (1972). Strictly Ghetto Property; the Story of Los Siete de la Raza. Marjorie Heins. ISBN 978-0-87867-012-3.

Ferreira, Jason. (2004). "All Power to the People: A Comparative History of Third World Radicalism in San Francisco, 1968-1974". American Quarterly, 56(4).

Carlsson, Chris (2020). "Dissenters and Demonstrations, Radicals and Repression". Hidden San Francisco: A Guide to Lost Landscapes, Unsung Heroes and Radical Histories. Pluto Press. pp. 175-252. doi:10.2307/j.ctvx077t5.9. ISBN 978-0-7453-4094-4. JSTOR j.ctvx077t5.9. S2CID 241558527.

Pulido, Laura (2006). Black, Brown, Yellow, and Left: Radical Activism in Los Angeles. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-24520-4.

Santibanez, Ludwig and Santibanez, James (eds.). (1971). The Chicanos: Mexican American Voices. No Edition Stated. Penguin Books.ISBN 0140213562

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The Chicano Movement, also referred to as El Movimiento, was a social and political movement in the United States that worked to embrace a Chicano/a identity and worldview that combated structural racism, encouraged cultural revitalization, and achieved community empowerment by rejecting assimilation.

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Chicano, feminine form Chicana, identifier for people of Mexican descent born in the United States. The term came into popular use by Mexican Americans as a symbol of pride during the Chicano Movement of the 1960s.

The Chicano community created a strong political and cultural presence in response to years of social oppression and discrimination in a predominantly Caucasian American society. Like most historically disenfranchised groups in the United States, some Mexican Americans have taken the term Chicano, previously considered a pejorative word, and used it to empower themselves.

Today, the term Chicano is an essential component of the community's revitalization and renewed sense of hope and pride. Regaining and regenerating the term Chicano, and having Chicanismo (an identity embracing the political consciousness of the Mexicans' history in the United States), was the first step toward releasing the psychological barriers in the minds of many Mexican Americans. Initially, Chicana/o was used to refer to all people of Mexican origin. Since the 20th century, the term has referred to people of Mexican descent born in the United States. The term Chicana has feminist connotations resulting from its use by Mexican American female activists determined to raise consciousness about women's rights within the Chicana/o community and to raise political awareness of those outside the Chicana/o community. In fact, during the Chicano Movement ( El Movimiento) of the 1960s and 1970s, Chicanos established a strong political presence and agenda in the United States through the leadership of Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales, Cesar Chavez, and Dolores Huerta. All three individuals gave strength to men and women in the community to fight for equality and demand social justice.

The Chicano Movement, political unrest, community disturbances, and a focus on ethnic conflict raised the consciousness of "Brown pride," "Chicano power," and Chicanismo. Chicano power signified that the community would no longer tolerate the injustices imposed by Caucasian society. Chicana/os demanded a change in the social and political climate in the United States and considered anything less inadequate. These ideologies became threatening to Caucasian society, but Chicana/os maintained momentum and encouraged others to regain what had been lost and to assert their civil liberties and rights as people who deserve social equality.

Chicana/os represent a large percentage of the population in the states of California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Colorado. Though the population continues to grow, many question the factors that hinder the social mobility of this group. After careful review of this group's social status, scholars have argued that Chicana/os continue to encounter similar problems to those faced before 1980. Today, Chicana/os continue to face poverty, crime, violence, poor health care access, lack of health insurance, underrepresentation in U.S. politics, and discrimination in schools.

A group's success in society is highly dependent on its perceived social status. Hence, the way Chicana/os are perceived in the United States plays an important role in psychological and social factors within the community. Eurocentric values and cultural norms have placed Chicana/os at a level in society where upward mobility has become extremely difficult and, at times, impossible. The social and cultural disconnection of Chicana/os from Caucasian American society often shapes two distinct cultural experiences. In particular, Chicana/os or Mexican Americans live within what many have called "the space" or "the hyphen." The dual moniker Mexican American suggests that Chicana/os straddle two worlds. Further reinforcing their cultural incongruity, many Chicana/os' experience of prejudice, racism, and mainstream attitudes remind them that although Mexico may not be their homeland, America does not always feel like home either. The irony, however, is that the Southwest region of the United States was once part of Mexico; the dominant sentiment in the community is that "we didn't cross the border, the border crossed us."

The questions of what constitutes an American and what role American culture has in a new group of Nuevo Mexicanos-Chicana/os-are important ones. Within this social framework, we can begin to understand the psychological and social impact these perspectives have on the community. In particular, the manifestations of acculturative distress, ethnic identity confusion, and marginalization begin to take shape.

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Chicano, identifier for people of Mexican descent born in the United States. The term came into popular use by Mexican Americans as a symbol of pride during the Chicano Movement of the 1960s. The Chicano community created a strong political and cultural presence in response to years of social

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Feb., 1969: Following the lead of UW UMAS, Chicano students organize themselves to form a chapter of the Mexican American Student Association(MASA) at Yakima Valley College.

Feb. 17, 1969: The UW Grape Boycott Committee is victorious as the HUB officially halts the sale of grapes. The boycott makes the University of Washington the first campus in the United States to remove grapes entirely from its eating facilities.

1969: The first MASA chapter is formed by Chicano students at Washington State University.

Spring, 1969: Eloy Apodaca, A Chicano student at the University of Washington, is elected to the ASUW Board of Control.

May 5, 1969: UW UMAS submits a proposal to the Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences for the creation of a Chicano Educational Development Project which would be a precursor to El Centro De Estudios Chicanos at UW

Fall, 1969: UW UMAS changes its name to Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan.

1970: The Seattle and Yakima Brown Beret Chapters attract over 200 members.

1970: The Farm Workers Family Health Center is founded in Toppenish through the acquisition of federal funding by the UFW Co-op.

1968-70: Brown Berets in the Yakima Valley organized marches to protest the racist and insensitive practices of staff at the welfare office in Yakima.

1970: 'El Año del Mexicano' is formed through several organizations interested in the political development of the Chicano Community.

1970: Whatcom Chicano Concilio is founded in Lynden, Washington.

1970: Women form 'Chicanas de Aztlan' at WSU.

1970: The University of Washington implements a Chicano Studies Program.

1970: A subgroup within MEChA, 'Las Chicanas' forms at UW

1970: Hop Strikes spread throughout the Yakima Valley

1970: The Brown Beret Chapter in the in the Yakima Valley becomes inactive after a key leader loses credibility in the Chicano Community. Despite severing ties to the former leader, the group loses credibility because of past association and disbands.

1970: Chicano students at the University of Washington create the Chicano Graduate and Professional Student Association.

May 5, 1970: Thousands of Students at the University of Washington take to the streets a day after the Kent State shootings. They then move on Interstate-5 and march to downtown Seattle, making the demonstration the first ever highway march in the United States.

1971: The 'Aztlan' mural is painted at the University of Washington's Ethnic Cultural Center complex by UW Chicano art student, Emilio Aguayo. Upon completion, it is one of the first murals to emerge out of the Chicano Muralist Movement in the Pacific Northwest.

1972: The Brown Berets coordinate La Raza Unida Party efforts in the Yakima Valley and in Seattle.

1972: The Bailadores de Bronze are formed at the University of Washington. The purpose of the organization is to share cultural dance, music and Mexican traditions with communities all over the Northwest.

Apr. 28-30, 1972: Students organize the first statewide MEChA Conference in Washington at Yakima Valley College. The outcome of the conference then results in the creation of a statewide board authorized to inform all MEChA Chapters in Washington about activities at the state level

May 2, 1972: Over 40 UW MEChA Members attend a reception by the Rainier Brewing company and read a statement declaring a boycott or Rainier Beer products and its subsidiaries for labor violations.

1975

1975: The Concilio for the Spanish Speaking is established in Seattle. The purpose is in uniting organizations and groups that serve Spanish speaking communities and are organized for charitable, health and welfare purposes.

Jan. 1975: El Teatro Quetzalcoatl is formed at the University of Washington.

May 6, 1975: The UW fires two Chicano administrators for their participation in activities protesting the UW's hiring practices. As the week progresses, Chicano Staff and Faculty resign in solidarity, leaving the future of the Chicano Studies Program with an uncertain future.

May 13. 1975: Nearly 2000 students converge on the administration building at the University of Washington. UW MEChA and the ASUW called for a two-day boycott of classes to protest the hiring practices of the University's affirmative action program.

May 21, 1975: The Department of Health, Education and Welfare notifies the UW that it will investigate racial discrimination charges brought against the institution with the dissolvement of Chicano Studies and Chicano EOP.

1977: After much controversy, a mural painted by world renowned Irish Mexican Muralist, Pablo O'Higgins, is installed in the second floor of Kane Hall at the University of Washington, upon suggestion of El Centro de La Raza and UW MEChA. Originally painted in 1945 by O'Higgins for the Union Hall of the Shipscalers, Dry-dock and Miscellaneous Boatyard Workers Union, Local 541 in Seattle, the painting is removed after the Union Hall is razed in 1955 and would remain in storage at the UW until its restoration two decades later.

1978: UW MEChA occupies the Chicano Division of the Educational Opportunity Program and organizes a 'sick-out' with counselors to protest the reorganization of the EOP program at UW.

1978: Consejo a private, not for profit organization, is founded in Seattle to provide culturally competent mental health and family support services that target the Chicano/Latino community in Western Washington.

1979

RADIO KDNA is established as a Spanish language, public radio station in Granger. The station works to provide music, information and other radio based initiatives and has long been recognized nationally for its progressive programming.

1983

El Centro de La Raza sends a delegation and a crew from KING-TV on a fact-finding mission to Nicaragua. The Sandinista government hosts the delegation for a week as the group talks to people in the towns affected by attacks by counterrevolutionary groups.

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Feb., 1969: Following the lead of UW UMAS, Chicano students organize themselves to form a chapter of the Mexican American Student Association(MASA) at Yakima Valley College. Feb. 17, 1969: The UW Grape Boycott Committee is victorious as the HUB officially halts the sale of grapes.

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Understanding the History and Goals of the Chicano Movement

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Learn about how Latinos fought to be heard during the period of activism in the Civil Rights era during the 1960s, now known as the Chicano Movement.

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Where was it focused and was there a focus on a specific region of the country?

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Where was it focused and was there a focus on a specific region of the country?

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It was focused more on the Western and Midwestern parts of the united states like California and Texas.

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When did this movement take place? Is it still continuing? 

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When did this movement take place? Is it still continuing? 

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It took place from 1960 to 1985. It's still around ,however, it has transformed into modern activism that involves using more and more technology to achieve new goals.

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It was about combating discrimination and racism against Mexican Americans, increasing the unity in the culture, and guaranteeing equal labor and political rights.

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The goals were to have land restored to them(which they believed to be part of their ancestral homeland), to secure rights for farmworkers through the use of labor unions, and gain education reforms.

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- Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzalez
- Cesar Chavez
- Dolores Huerta

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Many were inspired by the success of the African American Civil Rights movement and wanted to stop the second-class citizen treatment they faced as well as gain back land that they were promised they would receive from the American government after the Mexican-American War.

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Initially the response to the movement by both state and federal governments was very negative and violent. They were heavily under surveillance, constantly infiltrated and repressed by government informants. Sites for protests became very violent with participants often being the victims of police brutality. The government did pass legislation that did help Mexican Americans. For example:

- Hernandez v. Texas asserted that all nationalities and ethnicities in the U.S. had equal citizenship rights under the 14th amendment.

- Mendez vs. Westminster stated that segregation of Mexican American children was unconstitutional and harmful to the assimilation of Mexican Americans into the U.S.

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The movement was overall very successful as it drew greater attention to the issues many Latin and Mexican American faced on a daily basis and gave them better access to educational tools and material as well as more job and political opportunities. One drawback, though was the rise in militancy to achieve the goals of the movement several organizations used, which led to violent encounters with law enforcement.

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1962: Cesar Chavez established the United Farm Workers Organizing Comittee, an organization created to spread awareness about agricultural labor and harmful farming practices through strikes and boycotts.

1966: Rodolfo Gonzalez founds the Crusade for Justice, which aimed to protest against police brutality of Mexican Americans, racism in the media, and employment discrimination.

1968: the Young Chicanos for Community Action transforms into the Brown Berets, after being harassed by sheriffs in L.A. The organization was modeled after the very militant Black Panther group of the African American Civil Rights Movement. It was focused primarily on police brutality but also protested against education, housing, and job discrimination.

-Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund was founded. This group aimed to defend the rights of Latin and Mexican Americans. It also brought cases into court and also trained Mexican Americans to become lawyers.

1969: Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales organized the second Chicano Youth Liberation Conference to discuss issues regarding discrimination pointed towards Mexican Americans' and injustices faced on a daily basis.

1970: Cesar Chavez's grape strike ends in victory, as grape growers consent to pro-Chicano reforms.