La Octava Parte

Gonzales worked to spread his message, and in 1968, he took it to those who could do the most with it, the Chicano youth. Gonzales organized the first national Chicano youth conference. This conference came at a critical time, many WWII era Chicanos were using their GI Bill to receive an education, and as many educated, college aged youths were being drafted to the Vietnam War. He spoke to these people about being proud of who they were, as individuals and as a people. But most importantly, Gonzales gave them the tools to make changes within their own societies. He gave them the motivation to use their education, creativity, and energy to fight for their cause, for their people. By doing so, he created a new generation of activists, ready to take up the Chicano movement.

La Novena Parte

While the youth were protesting the war, many older Chicanos were trying to gain fair work conditions. Cesar Chavez was the influential man who led this front of the Chicano movement. Starting in the 1950s, he founded the United Farm Workers (UFW) to promote better work conditions and higher pay for migrant workers. Chavez eventually went on to lead a march of farm workers to Sacramento California to demand higher wages, and a subsequent grape strike in 1965 that lasted five years, gaining national attention, and resulting in a bargaining agreement. He continued to support farm workers’ rights throughout the decades, organizing strikes and forcing bargains. He promoted support for the entire Chicano movement, especially encouraging the youth to get involved, and supporting voting drives to involved as many Chicanos as possible in the political process.

La Décima Parte

El Movimiento. The Movement. The Chicano Movement did much more than change a few laws, or provide better treatment for its people. It inspired confidence in its own people that they had value, that their race and culture were one to be proud of. It showed the rest of America that Mexican-Americans were not the stereotypical lazy Indian peasant, but rather a smart, thoughtful, proud people, who demanded the same rights as everyone else. The Chicano Movement mirrored the African-American Civil Rights movement in many ways, yet it has its own accomplishments, its own defeats, and its own, remarkable story.

La Última Parte

Bibliography:

1. Englekirk, Allan, and Marguerite Marín. "Mexican Americans." Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America. Ed. Jeffrey Lehman. Vol. 2. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2000. 33 pp. 3 vols. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. Manlius Pebble Hill School. 20 Jan. 2009 http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS

2. Mariscal, Jorge. "Left turns in the Chicano movement, 1965-1975." Monthly Review 54.3 (July-August 2002): 59(10). Business and Company ASAP. Gale. Manlius Pebble Hill School. 23 Jan. 2009
http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS

3. Rosales, Francisco A. “Chicano!: The History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement” Houston: Arte Publico Press, 1997.