 |
 |
 |
 |
|
of the Chicano Movement Some mark the beginning of the Chicano resistant movement when Columbus was met by a fusillade of arrows in his first attempt to land in the Americas. Others set its beginning at the time of the defense of Tenochtitlan in 1521 (now Mexico City) -- pitting the Cuauhtemoc-led forces against the Spanish invaders. Others set it at the end of the Mexican American War in 1848, when Mexico lost half of it's territory to the United States and its Mexican residents became "strangers in their own lands." The modern Chicano political movement, most scholars agree, began during the mid 1960s -- a time coinciding with the Black power movement. "It was a time of decolonization struggles around the world and global revolution," says educator, Elizabeth Martinez, author of various books, including "500 Years of Chicano History." In the 1960s, the Chicano movement was both a civil/human rights struggle and a movement for liberation. In this realm, universities became one of the focal points of protest in the movement .Some of the principal demands were to open up of the doors of universities to people of color and the establishment of Chicano studies -- which was envisioned through "El Plan de Santa Barbara" -- as a place where the intellectual work of the movement could take place, at the service of the Chicano community. Ada Sosa-Riddell, director of the Chicana/Latina Center, University of California at Davis, says that Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA) and Chicano studies represent two of the long-lasting legacies of the Chicano movement. However, with the advent of the anti-affirmative action mood of the country -- we may well see the death of ethnic studies, she says. "But you can't destroy Chicano studies, she says. "You would have to burn the literature."
|
|
|
 |
For more information, contact: |
