Sadwal Patel
Dr. Maria Ramos
INTL 2000 V0802
07-29-2023
Chicano Student Movement / Walk Out
The Chicano Movement, also referred to as El Movimiento, was a social and political movement in the United States that worked to embrace a Chicano/a identity and worldview that combated structural racism, encouraged cultural revitalization, and achieved community empowerment by rejecting assimilation. Chicanos also expressed solidarity and defined their culture through the development of Chicano art during El Movimiento, and stood firm in preserving their religion. (Wikipedia contributors). The Chicano Movement was influenced by and entwined with the Black Power movement, and both movements held similar objectives of community empowerment and liberation
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The key years of the movement are between 1965 and 1975 . . . Why begin in 1965? That year marked the beginning of the famous grape strike in California’s Central Valley (San Joaquin Valley) led by César Chávez, Dolores Huerta, and the farm workers to establish a union for farm workers that would not only bring them much-deserved wage and benefit increases, but a sense of dignity for their labor and for themselves . In 1967, after school administrators ignored the students’ pleas for help, Castro began to organize the students to go on strike and walk out of classes. He hoped to involve as many Chicano students as he could in multiple schools, and former pupils were enlisted to help plan the walkouts. The group came up with a list of demands, which included bilingual education, the teaching of Mexican American culture and history, and the hiring of more Latino teachers and administrators. The students planned the East Los Angeles walkouts for the morning of March 6, 1968. However, an unscheduled walkout of Wilson High School students, protesting the cancellation of a play, took place on March 1. Then, on March 5, some 2,000 students from Garfield High School staged a walkout. By the next day students in multiple schools began walkouts. Some school administrators unsuccessfully tried to prevent students from leaving by barring the doors. Police arriving at the scene used intimidation and violence. Between 15,000 and 20,000 students from seven high schools eventually participated in the walkouts, which continued for about a week. Many parents and other community members went to the schools to show support (The Editors of Encyclopedia