The Chicano Movement - Historical Context

Saphire Miramontes
Dr. Brown
English 306
15 April 2016

The Chicano Movement meets Tucson

Historical Context

In order to understand what the Chicano Movement is, we must first define the word “Chicano” on its own. Historically the word Chicano, during the 1960s “[…] elevated from its 1920s denotation of working-class Mexican immigrants, and from the slang of the 1940s and 1950s when it was substituted for Mexicano, to symbolize the realization of a newfound and unique identity” (Rosales 82). Though many people at the time argued that the word was demeaning to Mexican people; others like Las Adelitas (female camp followers and soldiers during the Mexican Revolution) opposed this claim. They argued, “We always referred to ourselves as Chicanos… We gave it to ourselves, the Anglos did not…” (Rosales 83). Las Adelitas were suggesting that the Chicano community embrace their cultural identity to reclaim the word and any negative connotation it may have carried in the past.

The need for this new identity is a result of constant pressure for Chicanos to assimilate to American culture and society. As time progressed into the 1970s, more and more Chicanos were educating themselves to be aware of the intentions of Americans that took interest in incorporating Chicano history into American text books (MacDonald and Hoffman). This quickly became a hot topic for Chicanos because many of the younger generations were facing racism and discrimination in schools during the segregation period (Gonzalez 30). According to Gonzalez (1990), based on the ideologies of educators and school administrators, “[…] Americanization was the prime objective of the education of Mexican children” (30). The concept behind that mentality was to acculturate the Mexican children so that they would not challenge American beliefs, expectations, and success.
Once younger generations of Chicanos used their identity to fight for their place in schools, it was like taking one step forward and two steps back for them. As described by author Gilbert Gonzalez (1990):

Americanization teachers viewed immigrant communities as threats to the well-being of society. The immigrants and their cultures became the locus of destabilizing influences in society for supporters of Americanization. With such negative frame of mind toward the immigrant community, these practitioners launched Americanization programs throughout the Southwest (35).

From this moment in the 1970s, the Chicano Movement began to flourish with more emphasis on the aspect of Chicano education and Mexican American Studies (MAS) opportunities. In Aguirre’s work Colonialism and the Chicano Community (1974), he mentions that “It is also a well-known fact that schools in the barrios tend to be inadequate both faculty and teaching wise. A recent State Supreme court decision found that schools in the poorer districts which provide inferior education violate the child’s constitutional rights to equal education” (20). Chicano students were being deprived of resources that would help them be successful as scholars in comparison to students of other races.

Moving forward to the 1980s until now, the new mentality of Chicanos in education is suddenly enamored by the idea that “The Chicano Movement has brought too many of us together, and we have become too strong to be completely silenced or dismissed” (Hammerback, Jensen, and Gutierrez 171). Thus, upon this 32 year progression of the Chicano Movement in education, a temporary halt transpired because of the radical decision made by a Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) Administrator to remove MAS from curriculum and class lists for high school students in Tucson, Arizona. As researchers, Meier and Stewart (1991) put it, “…the American educational system has tried to Americanize Hispanics, thus undercutting support for their language and culture. The final and most important similarity is that educational policies affecting Hispanic students reflect the realities of the political system” (83). Having to fight against a system created to destroy them, Chicano students had now gained a new drive to end the oppression set upon them indefinitely.

The Tucson Unified School District MAS protest developed from the decision of the state superintendent at the time named Tom Horne and later carried on by his successor, John Huppenthal, in the year 2012 to eliminate MAS programs from all high schools in their district (Cabrera). According to journal author, Melinda Anderson (2016), during Huppenthal’s district campaign for TUSD he stated his desire to, “‘stop la raza’ […] — that is, the people of Mexican descent in Arizona” from succeeding at all costs. Following his victory of being elected into his position as a TUSD Administrator, Huppenthal was now working towards his goal to eliminate the MAS program as it was a threat to the “Anglo” students (Cammarota). However, many of these Anglo students never reported any threat or racial provoking from their Chicano peers.

The main speakers of the Tucson Unified School District MAS protest were a student led group known as UNIDOS (United Non-Discriminatory Individuals Demanding Our Studies, established in 2012) and their counter-part being the TUSD administrators (Planas). In regards to Leland Griffin’s work The Rhetoric of Historical Movement (1952), a protest moves generally in three stages: inception, crisis, consummation. Rhetorical inception can be described as the time in which a protest or movement is at its beginning. Crisis, can be described as the battle between the protestor and their opposing side. Finally, the rhetorical consummation is the final stage in which all has been resolved or finalized.

Further, a large focus will be placed on the rhetorical acts of the UNIDOS students to raise awareness of the educational injustice that is occurring in their school district. Therefore, placing the Mexican American Studies protest development past the inception stage and resting on the stage of crisis. As a result of their constitutional rights being violated, Tucson Unified School District’s Chicano students are protesting the historical context of marginalization and Americanization forced upon them by their school administrators. This protest is part of the larger Chicano Movement because it is working to empower the Chicano community, as well as gain equal treatment and opportunity specifically for Chicano students. Historically, the Chicano Movement goes to show how Chicanos have been disadvantaged in America because of their deep connection to their rich heritage; when in reality, much of American society stems from a variety of diverse cultures. 

Works Cited

Primary Sources
Cabrera, Nolan L., Elisa L. Meza, and Roberto Rodriguez. "The Fight for Mexican
American Studies in Tucson." NACLA. NACLA, Nov.-Dec. 2011. Web. 31 Mar.
2016.

Secondary Sources
Aguirre, Manuel E. Colonialism and the Chicano Community. San José, CA: Marfel
Associates, 1974. Print.

Anderson, Melinda D. "The Ongoing Battle Over Ethnic Studies." The Atlantic. Atlantic
Media Company, 7 Mar. 2016. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.

Cammarota, Julio. "Challenging Colorblindness In Arizona: Latina/O Students’
Counter-Narratives Of Race And Racism." Multicultural Perspectives 16.2
(2014): 79-85. Academic Search Complete. Web. 30 Mar. 2016

Gonzalez, Gilbert G. Chicano Education in the Era of Segregation. Philadelphia: Balch   Institute, 1990. Print.

Griffin, Leland. "The Rhetoric of Historical Movements." Readings in the Rhetoric of Social
Protest. Browne, Stephen Howard, and Charles E. Morris, eds. State College, Pa Strata Publishing, Inc. Print.

Hammerback, John C., Richard J. Jensen, and José Angel. Gutiérrez. A War of Words:
Chicano Protest in the 1960s and 1970s. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1985. Print.

MacDonald, Victoria-María, and Benjamin Polk Hoffman. "'Compromising La Causa?':
The Ford Foundation And Chicano Intellectual Nationalism In The Creation Of
Chicano History, 1963-1977." History Of Education Quarterly 52.2 (2012):
251-281. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.

Meier, Kenneth J., and Joseph Stewart. The Politics of Hispanic Education: Un Paso
Pa'Lante y Dos Pa'Tras. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.

Planas, Roque. "Why ‘Book Ban' Is The Right Term For What Arizona Did To
Mexican-American Studies." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 26
Sept. 2014. Web. 30 Mar. 2016

Rosales, Francisco A. Dictionary of Latino Civil Rights History. Houston, TX: Arte
Público, 2006. Print.