MEXICANOS- THE CHICANO MOVEMENT

By Ian Turpen

-The Mexican movement in the mid-sixties- Origins of the Chicano movement- The Chicano student movement

The Mexicano movement of the Mid-Sixties

The total Mexicano population in 1960, according to Grebler and his colleagues, who interpreted and adjusted the official census figures was 3,842,000

Due to the educational deficiencies, most mexicanos were employed as semiskilled workers in low wage or marginal jobs

This caused them to be considered secondary labor market, due to this they were at the bottom of the earnings’ list

Origins of the Chicano Movement

Socioeconomic conditions of the Mexicano community were not notably worst in the early sixties, than they had been in the past

Demographers indicated that study progress had been made, despite widespread hostility, overt forms of racism were fading

Discrimination was less than before too, thanks to the Mexican-American generation

A lot of this is in thanks to the Cold War and its cause for conformity, also the Mexicano participation in Vietnam

The Chicano Student Movement

In 1970, the Chicano movement was increasingly dominated by Chicano young people; students in high schools and universities

The reason was de facto segregation, racist instructors and the tracking system and institutions of higher learning, and adequate recruitment and funding

The opportunity arose in a conference held in April 1969 at UC Santa Barbara by Chicano Coordinating Committee on Higher Education, the three day meeting in Santa Barbara had two meaningful results

1) Plan de Santa Barbara; a program of educational reform calling for the institutions of Chicano study programs

2) The Establishment of El Movimiento Estudiantil de Aztlan; an organization intended to supersede all other student groups by uniting them under the banner of cultural nationalism