hispanic rights Flashcards
Hispanic rights
most hispanics resided in southern states (agricultural labour)
latin americans had to live with restriction of Jim crow laws (social segregation)
poor living standards
tended to be employed on casual basis
found it difficult to enter education past secondary education
1975 - voting rights act extension provides language assistance at polling stations and extend rights to Native Americans, Asian Americans and Hispanic Americans
Issues - land
border changes following American- Mexican war in 19th century
meaning Mexico lost land and the controversial state of ‘New Mexico’ founded
issue of land rights over new state became focus
Issues - workers’ rights
farmer workers subject to poor living and working conditions
especially those part of the Bracero programme (mexican immigration programme ran by the US 1942-64)
Mexicans signed contacts to work with guaranteed level of housing and working conditions (4.6 million)
workers had no unions or rights
Issues - discrimination
racial discrimination was common
derogatory terms such as ‘wetback’
lived in areas called ‘barrios’ - worst and poorest areas in town
Issues - deportation
from 1953 onwards - US government deported millions of people due to operation Wetback (1953-58)
was a government drive to find and return Mexican immigrants to Mexico
fighting for rights - NFWA (1962)
national farm workers association set up by Cesar Chavez
hoped to establish a union that would provide support (e.g., credit union where people could borrow money)
membership grew
1962 - 200
1965 - 1200
La Huelga campaign (Delano grape strike) 1965
launched by NFWA, began strike in vineyards in California
strike lasted 5 years involving 10,000 strikers
firms refused to negotiate, and bosses evicted workers and recruited strike breakers (workers not part of union)
NFWA and AWOC
agricultural workers organising committee merge
become United Farm Workers (UFW)
1970 UFW
by 1970, became united front for Hispanics and forced Delano grape producers to introduce a minimum wage in line with national average
forced the passing of the California Agricultural Labour relations act (1975)
California Agricultural Labour Relations act (1975)
agricultural unions gained legal rights and firms were required to negotiate by law
Cesar Chavez
1962 - NFWA
1968 - 25-day hunger fast (joined by Robert Kennedy for the end of fast) to reaffirm the unions commitment to peaceful protest
1972 - fasts in Arizona against its farm labour laws
organised strikes, marches, and protests
travelled widely speaking to large rallies in cities such as LA
Brown Berets
young, militant organisation set up in 1967 in east LA
wore uniforms (like black panthers)
campaigned against police brutality and led school walk out
by 1968 there were members in most urban centres with a Hispanic population
1968 - over 10,000 students walk out of mainly Mexican schools in East LA
1971 - march 1000 miles from Calexico to Sacramento to protest against police brutality and all forms of discrimination
Reies Lopez Tijerina
organised protests about Mexican land rights in New Mexico
started with legal protests that seemed to go nowhere - and instead held marches, mass demonstrations and camo-ins on national forest land
worked together with black power leaders
1967 - led group of protesters to county courthouse to make a citizen’s arrest of an abusive district attorney - concluded in a gun battle and hostages being held
gains of the movement
law changes for specific groups of hispanic people
1966 - Cuban American adjustment act (all Cubans living in America for longer than a year given permanent residency)
1973 - equal provision of education case in supreme court (led to 1974 equal opportunities act providing more bilingual teachings in school)
1975 - voting rights act extension provided language assistance as polling stations and extended rights to Hispanics and Native Americans
Limitations of movement
never achieved publicity or success of the black civil rights movement
federal government less sympathetic towards hispanic americans as they had less voting power (6% of the US population)
movement fragmented as it consisted of many different groups that were divided on political and cultural lines (e.g., Mexican and Puerto Ricans)
legal acceptance slow coming - supreme court rules Hispanic people as equal citizens 1954
land issues raised by protesters still not settled
