Social Movements and Trends
His/145
May 29 2012
In the rare occasions when the U.S looks at unions, the media tends to view social movements as the creation of strong leaders. The view of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers is one of the most evident events of all. Cesar Chavez the famous activist would have been 85 years old today. After his death in 1993 an abundance of coverage assumed that the Unite Farm Workers would not survive the tragedy. The Chicano movement began during the Civil Rights era with three main goals which included the restoration of land, rights for farm workers and developments in education. Prior to the 1960’s Latinos had no influence when it came to the national political arena. There was a complete turnaround in the 1960’s when the Mexican American Political Association worked to elect President John F. Kennedy, creating Latinos as a significant voting alliance. After Kennedy won the election he showed his appreciation towards the Latino community by assigning Hispanics to posts in his administration and he also took in consideration the concerns of the Hispanic community. Latinos, mainly Mexican Americans began demanding and were very persisting towards the reforms made in labor and education to meet their needs. Under the leadership of Cesar Chavez, the Chicano movement in the 1960's used economic pressure rather than violence to pursue civil rights for Mexican-Americans. The fight during the 1960’s to secure unionization for farm workers is the most well-known battle for Mexican Americans. Chicanos were active members of the Mexican-American community who wanted Mexican-Americans to be proud of their cultural heritage. Cesar Chavez was inspired by Ghandi and looked for ways to find non-violent methods, including strikes by farm workers and a general boycott of grapes to obtain economic and political power. In 1965 a national boycott on grapes began started by Cesar Chavez. In 1968 grape pickers went on strike and Chavez went on a 25 day hunger strike. During the peak of their fight senator Robert F. Kennedy stopped by to show his support as he visited farm workers. Because they had more broad-based support, Chicanos also received the help of powerful political allies. In 1970 farm workers achieved success, in that same year grape growers signed an agreement acknowledging UFW as a union. Students played an important role in the Chicano fight for justice. Members of the group United Mexican American Students and Mexican American Youth Association staged walkouts from schools in Denver and Los Angeles in 1968 to protest high dropout rates among Chicano students and the banning of speaking Spanish and issues related to them. Within the next decade the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and the U.S Supreme Court stated it unlawful and unfair to keep students from getting an education if they could not speak English. In 1974 the Congress passed the Equal Opportunity Act which put in effect more bilingual education programs in public schools.
The Chicano activism in 1968 not only led to educational reforms, it also created the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, which started a goal of protecting the civil rights of Hispanics. This was the first organization to be dedicated to this particular cause. Within the next year hundreds of Chicano activist joined together for the first National Chicano Conference in Denver. They considered the name of the conference very significant as it marked the term “Chicano” in replacement of “Mexican”. The concept of unified Chicano people also took part when political party La Raza Unida came together to bring up issues of importance to Hispanics to the head of national politics. Other groups included in the part taking were the Brown Berets and the Young Lords, which were made up of Puerto Ricans in Chicago and New York.
Chicanos are now the largest racial minority in the U.S, the influence that Latinos have as a voting community in very evident. Although Hispanics have a lot more political power than they did during the Civil Rights Era, they also have new challenges. Their most important ones would be Immigration and education reforms. Because of the need of such issues, today’s generation of Chicanos will most likely create some notable activist of its own. Cesar Chavez’s dedication to improving conditions and pay for farm workers is the fuel for the ongoing Chicano movement.

Works Cited www.albany.edu/jmmh www.incolor.inetnebr.com www.albany.edu www.proquest.com