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I Am Joaquin Essay

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Henry Duong Chicano 10a Professor: Robert Chao Romero TA: Roseanna Simons Section 1N Final Essay The Chicano Revolution Chicano social identity, as expressed in “I Am Joaquin,” was path breaking for its time. Written by Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales this famous epic poem helped many Mexicans during the tough times of assimilating to American culture during the Chicano movement of the 1960s in the United States. During this time many Mexican American immigrants were faced with unequal rights and injustice. They weren’t allowed equal opportunity as whites. Now, 50 years later, we are still faced with the many same issues of immigration, social farm workers, and American assimilation. People still struggle to obtain their rights and are fighting …show more content…

This poem “I Am Joaquin” helped establish the term “Chicano” and helped the concept of Chicanoism. Prior to the 1960s the term “Chicanos” was not used, but through this poem it was able to establish this Chicano identity. It helped bring this identity together and people began to call themselves as Chicano/as. (Lecture 10/8) Roldofo Gonzales insisted that we as Mexican Americans needed to stand up and work for justice. He believed that this culture would survive if people fought for what they believed and demanded acceptance. Mexican-American activists in the 1960s began to appropriate this term and used it as an identity. They belonged to a certain group and that was …show more content…

The Chicana Feminist movement was born as a reaction to the sexism of the Chicano Movement. Women were not seen as the real political subjects of the movement but as auxiliary members (Blackwell, 65). They were relegated to supporting roles in as cooks and secretaries and often their ideas were dismissed. Many women were told that “their responsibility is to love, work, pray, and help… the male is their leader, he is iron, not mush.” (Ruiz, 109) Women were also discouraged from taking leadership roles and were told to wait to fight for their cause at a later time for fear of dividing the Chicano movement. (Ruiz,

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