The Chicano movement The Chicano Movement emerged during the Civil Rights Era and mainly consisted of three parts: The Land Grant Struggle Farm Worker's Rights The Student Movement Nevertheless, before the movement, Hispanics already achieved several preliminary accomplishments. Starting off in 1947, the case Mendez v. Westminster Supreme Court prohibited the segregation of Latino students from white students. Seven years later, in 1954, the court decided in Brown v. Board of Education that a “separate but equal” policy in school is a violation of the Constitution and therefore not practicable. Also in 1954, the case Hernandez v. Texas determined that the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed equal protection to all racial groups including Mexican-Americans (cf. Nittle 2015). With that in mind, Mexican-Americans in the 1960s and 70s started to question the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ceded Mexican territory to the United States and ended the Mexican-American War. According to the treaty, Mexicans in the transferred land would keep their property; however, many lost their land because the U.S. did not fully comply with the agreement (cf. Ramirez N.d.). In New Mexico a group emerged, led by Reies López Tijerina, that aimed to restore the land grants claiming that this was …show more content…
This conference marks the replacement of labels such as “Mexicans” or “Hispanics” by the term Chicano (cf. Nittle 2015). There are basically two, unverified, theories were the word Chicano comes from. Some believe it has its roots from the Nahuatl term “Meshico” which later evolved into the word Mexico. Nahuatl is the language that has been spoken central Mexico, mainly by the Aztecs. Others believe it is just a variation from the word “Mexicano” (cf. Planas 2012). Anyway one regards it, Mexican-Americans used it to embrace their Mexican heritage, connoting it with a sense of pride and defiance against discriminating