Opening Up the Textbook – Chicano Youth & the Politics of Protest Directions: Use the sources provided to complete the graphic organizer below.

Source According to this source how were

Chicano Youth involved in the movement

for civil rights?

What specific information is included? How does this source SUPPORT or

CHALLENGE the description from the

textbook? Explain your answer.

Textbook Excerpt

(Ch. 26, Hispanic

Americans Organize)

Mexican American

Youth Organization

(MAYO) Membership

Requirements

Student Demands

Chicano Student

Movement

newspaper

Lost Angeles Times

article: Frivolous to

Fundamental

Mi Abuelita Mural by

Judith Baca and Las

Vistas Nuevas

Las Vistas Nuevas

A Brief History of

Chicano Murals

Question: How would the textbook need to be revised to reflect what you learned about the involvement of Chicano Youth in the

movement for civil rights?

The American Republic Since 1877, New York : Glencoe McGraw-Hill, ©2003.

The American Republic Since 1877, New York : Glencoe McGraw-Hill, ©2003.

Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) Membership Requirements

MAYO document, no date, José Ángel Gutiérrez files, Crystal City, Texas, 1973, In Armando Navarro, Mexican American Youth Organization: Avant Garde of the Chicano Movement (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995), p. 250.

Chicano Student Movement newspaper

Chicano Student Movement newspaper, March 1968, from the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research

FRIVOLOUS TO FUNDAMENTAL: Demands Made by East Side High School Students Listed McCURDY, JACK Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File); Mar 17, 1968; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times (1881-1988) pg. 1 See attached pdf for full article

Mi Abuelita Mural

“Mi Abuelita,” painted in1970 (in the Hollenbeck Park Band Shell)

by Judy Baca and the Las Vistas Nueva crew

Las Vistas Nuevas

In the summer of 1970, artist Judith Baca decided to create a mural in Boyle Heights as a way for people to positively

feel the neighborhood was theirs. She recruited twenty members from four different gangs, and the group decided on

the name Las Vistas Nuevas ("New Views"). The mural they would create would show images that would be familiar to

the Mexican-Americans who were living in the neighborhood. "I wanted to use public space to create a public voice for,

and a public consciousness about people who are, in fact, the majority of the population but who are not represented in

any visual way.”

Their first project was on three walls of an outdoor stage in Hollenbeck Park. Mi Abuelita ("My Grandmother") was a

mural that depicted a Mexican-American grandmother with her arms outstretched as if to give a hug. "This work

recognized the primary position of the matriarch in Mexican families. It also marked the first step in the development of

a unique collective process that employs art to mediate between rival gang members competing for public space and

public identity."

This project was difficult - every day, problems arose with gang members who were not on the mural team and didn't

like what Baca was doing. They would attempt to interfere with the project by threatening team members and

vandalizing the work site. Local police did not like the idea of rival gang members working together, fearing it would

spark gang violence.

Despite all these troubles, Baca wanted to finish the project. She had lookouts who would signal the mural team if rival

gang members were headed toward the work site, or if the police were coming. One day a city official came to the park

because he had been getting complaints about the project. After seeing the progress done and team members working

so well with each other, he gave Baca permission from the city to complete the mural. "The city was amazed at the work

I was doing, making murals with kids who scared directors out of neighborhood centers."

- Adapted from Judy Baca, Hispanic American Biographies

A Brief History of Chicano Murals

The Chicano/a Movement, influenced by the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's, grew out of alliances between

farmworkers struggling to unionize, landowners fighting to retain land, urban working classes in the Southwest and

Midwest, and student activists demanding better representation in school curriculum and adequate education.

As the student movement grew, art, newspapers, and magazines with art work flourished. Activism emphasized poster-

making and mural painting to disseminate information and to communicate demands to the masses, literate and non-

literate. Activist student organizations and academic departments began getting commissions for murals on campuses.

The creation of murals in the barrio came about as a direct reaction to the social, economic, and political conditions

forced onto the Chicano community.

Chicano/a artists produced art in the streets as an alternative to art in traditional art galleries, which did not attract the

larger community and which, at the time, did not exhibit Chicano art. Public murals became popularized because they

were accessible and belonged to everyone in the community. Mural art in the Chicano community quickly became a way

to capture a people's history and visually represent people's struggles for better futures. Heavily influenced by the Black

Power Movement, Chicano muralism sought to demonstrate pride, cultivate an awareness of cultural identity, and

empower the community. A young person walking down his/her neighborhood street was able to "read" a mural, taking

away from it knowledge of his/her culture, history, and community struggles.

- Social and Public Art Resource Center, Los Angeles, CA

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

FRIVOLOUS TO FUNDAMENTAL: Demands Made by East Side High School Students Listed East Side High Sc...McCURDY, JACKLos Angeles Times (1923-Current File); Mar 17, 1968; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times (1881-1988)pg. 1

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

Student Demands (plain text)

Blow Outs were staged by us, Chicano students, in the East Los Angeles High Schools protesting the obvious lack of

action on the part of the LA School Board in bringing ELA schools up to par with those in other areas of the city. We,

young Chicanos, not only protested but at the same time offered proposals for much needed reforms. Just what did we

propose?

To begin with, we want assurance that any student or teacher who took part in the BLOW OUTS --- WILL NOT be

reprimanded or suspended in any manner. You know the right to protest and demonstrate against injustice is

guaranteed to all by the constitution.

We want immediate steps taken to implement bilingual and bicultural education for Chicanos. WE WANT TO BRING OUR

CARNALES HOME. Teachers, administrators, and staff should be educated; they should know our language (Spanish),

and understand the history, traditions and contributions of the Mexican culture. HOW CAN THEY EXPECT TO TEACH US IF

THEY DO NOT KNOW US? We also want the school books revised to reflect the contributions of Mexicans and Mexican-

Americans to the U.S. society, and to make us aware of the injustices that we, Chicanos, as a people have suffered in a

“gabacho” dominated society. Furthermore, we want any member of the school system who displays prejudice or fails

to recognize, understand, and appreciate us, our culture, or our heritage removed from ELA schools.

Classes should be smaller in size, say about 20 students to 1 teacher, to insure more effectiveness. We want new

teachers and administrators to live in the community their first year and that parents from the community be trained as

teacher’s aides. We want assurances, that a teacher who may disagree politically or philosophically with administrators

will not be dismissed or transferred because of it. The school belongs to the community and as such should be made

available for community activities under supervision of Parents’ Councils.

There should be a manager in charge of janitorial work and maintenance details and the performance of such duties

should be restricted to employees hired for that purpose. IN OTHER WORDS NO MORE STUDENTS DOING JANITORIAL

WORK.

And more than this, we want RIGHTS--RIGHTS--STUDENT RIGHTS--OUR RIGHTS. We want a free speech area plus the

right to have speakers of our own choice at our club meetings. Being civic minded citizens we want to know what the

right to have access to all types of literature and to be able to bring it on campus.

The type of dress that we wear should not be dictated to us by “gabachos,” but it should be a group of Chicano parents

and students who establish dress and grooming standards for Chicano students in Chicano schools.

Getting down to facilities, WE WANT THE BUILDINGS OPEN TO STUDENTS AT ALL TIMES, especially the HEADS. Yeah, we

want access to the Heads at all times….When you get right down to it, WE ONLY DEMAND WHAT OTHERS HAVE. Things

like lighting at all ELA football fields, swimming pools. Sport events are an important part of school activity and we want

FREE ADMISSION for all students. We, CHICANO STUDENTS, BLEW OUT in protest. Our proposals have been made. The

big question is will the School Board take positive action. If so, WHEN?

IF NOT------------BLOW OUTS---BABY---BLOW OUTS!!!