Chicanismo

The central aspect of Chicanismo is the identification of Chicanos with their Indigenous American roots to create an affinity with the notion that they are native to the land rather than immigrants.

[1] Chicanismo also rejects Americanization and assimilation as a form of cultural destruction of the Chicano people, fostering notions of Brown Pride.

Sponsored by Corky Gonzales' organization, Crusade for Justice, the conference brought together the different populations of Chicanos involved in the movement.

It was also a goal for Gonzales to help connect the college educated students to the rural youth involved in the movement at the conference.

This was important for Gonzales because he had observed many students had been leaving the community without coming back, and he wanted to facilitate relationships between the college educated and other Chicano youth.

The poem questioned the role Chicanos played in the American system and called for them derive strength through denouncing economic assimilation: And now!

I must choose between the paradox of victory of the spirit, despite physical hunger, or to exist in the grasp of American social neurosis, sterilization of the soul and a full stomach.

[6] This portion of the poem represents Chicanos' eagerness to sacrifice their physical bodies for the regeneration of the soul and provided Chicanismo with a sense of necessity and vigor.

He believed the labor movement should transcend racial boundaries but his fight revolved around agricultural workers and Mexican-Americans made up a huge amount of that particular group.

Even more notable than these acts however, was the large organized boycott that the Chávez led UFW imposed on California grape growers.

Whether he was comfortable with the dynamic or not, Chávez had a direct tie to the Chicano movement solely off the sheer number of workers that identified as such.

He would champion ancestral ties and religious icons as well as plan protests and boycotts on specific days that were symbolic in the minds of Mexican-Americans and their fight for justice.

He was known for his use of non-violent tactics and is still viewed today as one of the most important human rights activists of the 20th century in the U.S. José Ángel Gutiérrez (1940–) is an attorney and professor at the University of Texas at Arlington.

The Raza Unida Party was a Mexican-American political group that organized in order to support certain candidates up for election in Texas, California, and other southwestern states.

He distributed a number of popular publications, one of which being a small, shoddily printed paperback; titled "A Gringo Manual on How to Handle Mexicans."

José Ángel Gutiérrez said that Tijerina captured the imagination of all those involved in the Chicano movement and convinced them of their ties to U.S. land.

Tijerina's actions allowed Chicanos to become true believers in what the movement was fighting for, especially after his incarceration made him into a type of martyr.

Dolores Huerta (1930–) is a Chicana feminist that worked directly with César Chávez and was a prominent leader of the United Farm Workers.

In 1955, she began her calling as an activist by "helping Frank Ross to start the Stockton Chapter of the Community Service Organization, which fought for economic improvements for Hispanics.

'The CSO battled segregation and police brutality, led voter registration drives, pushed for improved public services and fought to enact new legislation.

Her prominence in the movement helped inspire a new generation of women that were suffocating from oppression and had not realized their problems were wide spread.

Huerta was one of the first notable Chicana activists and she became a symbol to Mexican-American women across the U.S. Mirta Vidal was a born in Argentina and migrated to the U.S. in her youth.

[9] Vidal's "New Voice of La Raza: Chicanas Speak Out" provides an example of what is known today as intersectionality, an important concept within feminism.

[11] It was based in ideas of community organization, nationalism in the form of cultural affirmation, and it also placed symbolic importance on ancestral ties to Meso-America.

Reforms the movement called for included restoration of land grants, farm workers' rights, and access to better educational opportunities.

Another extremely important event for the movement was the National Chicano Youth Liberation Conference first organized by Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales.

The document names their seven organizational goals as: unity in the minds of the people in the liberation of La Raza; economic control of their own lives and communities without exploitation; education that was relative to the Chicano; institutions that serve the people on a basis of restitution for past actions; self-defense that relies on the combined strength of the community; use of cultural values to strengthen the moral backbone of the movement; and political liberation through independent action.

The document also entails actions to be made that included informing the public, performing large demonstrations and walkouts, and creating political parties and using participatory democracy.

It was a movement based in Cultural affirmation and artistic expression was the premium method for Chicanos to go about this celebration of heritage and liberty.

Many Chicano artists focused on representations of "el barrio" and they sought to connect to their audience by championing their daily struggles.