Chicanas’ Involvement

On left: Chicanas Sylvia Gutierrez and Adelita Medina distributing copies of El Grito del Norte in Las Vegas, New Mexico during the early 1970s ; On right: the front cover of “La Batalla Esta Aqui,” (the battle is here) written by Chicana activists Nina Genera and Lea Ybarra. The illustration was done by Chicano Movement artist Malaquias Montoya.

Dolores Huerta and the UFW

Dolores Huerta during the Delano Grape Strike (1965-1970) and

marching with supporters in Chicago in 1971.

Chicanas’ Experiences of Sexism and Gender Roles Brown Berets of East Los

Angeles (photo on upper left) At first the Berets inspired

women, but later they experienced subordination.

Women left the Brown Berets and formed another group, Las Adelitas de Aztlan. (photo on lower left)

Former Beret women used the skills, political beliefs and relationship with other Chicanas to build their own organization they could control and remake the meaning of the Chicano Movement.

Areas of Contestation for Chicanas What is the

history of Chicana and Mexican women’s involvement in social change?

How does “Chicano Culture” define the roles of women?

What is characteristic of the Chicano family? This couple timed their wedding so they could emerge from

the ceremony and join the Chicano Moratorium march on August 29, 1970. In this way they combined a traditional

ideal with their involvement in the Chicano Movement.

Relationship to Second Wave Feminism White women were not immune from

racism just because they were feminists.

“Feminist-Baiting”: Feminism as an “Anglo-trip”

“La Adelita”: Women’s empowerment as inherent to Chicano history

On the left: A Chicana Brown Beret whose dress evokes “la Adelita” from the Mexican Revolution. On the right: An article which describes Chicanas who challenged what they saw as a the lack of representation of women of color during the International Women’s Year Conference in Mexico City in 1975.

Loyalists, Feminists and “La Mujer” 1971 Conferencia de

Mujeres Por La Raza in Houston, Texas

Split occurred, conference continued with two separate groups

Cover of the Program Booklet for the Conference

Special Issues for Chicanas Sterilization Welfare Education Employment

From upper middle clockwise: Chicana picketing with a sign that questions the imprisonment of local men during the Tierra Amarilla incident; 1977 article from the Modesto Bee regarding sterilization abuse; Guadalupe Briseno and Martha del Real chained together to the main gate of their workplace striking for recognition of a union of Floral Workers in 1968, Brighton, Colorado; Mary Sailas trying to prevent deputy sheriff from cutting chain on same picket line.

Further Reading Arredondo, Gabriela, ed. Chicana Feminisms: A Critical Reader. Durham N.C.: Duke University

Press, 2003.Cotera, Martha P. Diosa Y Hembra: The History and Heritage of Chicanas in the U. S. Austin,

Tex: Information Systems Development, 1976.Garcia, Alma. ed. Chicana Feminist Thought: The Basic Historical Writings. New York:

Routledge, 1997.Gutiérrez, Elena R. Fertile Matters: The Politics of Mexican-Origin Women's Reproduction.

Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008.Longeaux y Vásquez, Enriqueta. Enriqueta Vasquez and the Chicano Movement: Writings from

El Grito Del Norte. Houston, Tex: Arte Público Press, 2006.Martínez, Elizabeth Sutherland. 500 Years of Chicana Women's History = 500 Años De La

Mujer Chicana. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press, 2008.Medina, Lara. Las Hermanas: Chicana/Latina Religious-Political Activism in the U.S. Catholic

Church. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004.Niemann, Yolanda Flores, ed. Chicana Leadership: The Frontiers Reader. Lincoln: University

of Nebraska Press, 2002.Roth, Benita. Separate Roads to Feminism: Black, Chicana, and White Feminist Movements in

America's Second Wave. Cambridge. UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.Ruíz, Vicki. From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America. New

York: Oxford University Press, 1998. -----, ed. Las Obreras: Chicana Politics of Work and Family. Los Angeles: UCLA Chicano

Studies Research Center Publications, 2000.