For this book review, I am going to be talking about David Montejano’s book entitled Quixote’s Soldiers, A local history of the Chicano Movement, 1966-1981. The author’s purpose is very well explained and it is not hard to understand. The author clearly tries to explain different ideologies, individuals and organizations located in one of the Southwest’s major cities, San Antonio, Texas, during the late 1960s and early 190s. All these varieties mentioned above made possible that a movement was created called Chicano Movement, a group that David Montejano provides a deeply understanding and description of the movement during the reading of the book. Since, the city was governed by a tough Anglosocial elite that was firmly convinced in the way …show more content…
In order to write this book, the author clearly uses different manuscripts and papers that helped him to explain and show the situation of this social movement. He also uses and gets information from people that were living those situations, for instance in Chapter one, he mentions a note from Journalist Ruiz Ibañez: “Contrary to the common belief that those groups are composed of “punks” and hoodlums….”1. Related to him, he is an American historian and sociology that obtained his sociology and political science degrees in the University of Texas at Austin and Yale University, as well. Currently, he is a professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley and he is president of the Center for Latino Policy Research. He wrote not only Quixote’s Soldiers but also, Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836-1986. Definitively, the last book mentioned was his best publication which made him win awards from the American Historical …show more content…
Basically, what the authors tries to show is a strong abandonment of the government to the chronic gang violence and a big division of two group of people. “Sociologist Buford Farris likewise described the social relation between Anglos and Mexican Americans in the mid-sixties as a model of two almost separate systems”2. The division of these two group of people made that a small group of businessmen “controlled all commences and development”3. In the second part, the author gives a description of how the Chicano Movement starts getting Mexican American students and politically aware youth workers and to form the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO). Later, the women movement is going to be added to this group since they were not strong enough or they were not considered equal as the Chicanos. “That this was an evolution or development over time is clear”4. Definitively, the Chicanas rose enough to be considered within the group and played a really crucial role throughout MAYO. In the last part, what is explained is that since people from different barrios joined this Chicano Movement, street violence greatly
In Racial Fault Lines: The Historical Origins of White Supremacy in California, Tomas Almaguer (2009) describes how race and racism coincides to facilitate the birth of white supremacy in California during the late nineteenth century. The idea of racial formation allowed groups to establish their power and privilege over defined racial lines. For each of the three racialized groups presented Chapter one combines the historical and sociological framework to describe the transformation of Mexican California. Through highlighting the historical accounts of racialized groups, fear of potential threats to white workers creates white supremacy. He continues by describing the peopling of Anglo-CA from 1848-1900 with the immigration of Irish, German,
In Leo R. Chavez’s ethnography, The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation, the claimed problem of Latino immigration, specifically Mexicans, is tackled using interviews, statistics, and other works of literature. Chavez’s ethnography not only discusses Latino immigration but Latino invasion, integration, organ transplants and even Latina fertilization. One of Chavez’s big topics is on how the media influences the public to believe that Latinos are planning an invasion or take-over in order to gain the land that was originally Mexico’s. The topic of Latina reproduction and fertilization comes up multiple times through Chavez’s ethnography. Another main topic that plays a part in Chavez’s argument is the Latino role in public marches and the citizenship aspect of their actions.
Student Name Tutor Course Date Significance of the Chicano Movement El Plan de Aztlan and Borderlands Literary Works Literary works, such as Borderlands by Anzaldúa and the El Plan de Aztlan manifesto were pivotal in conveying the demands and hopes of the Mexican-Americans in the Chicano Movement. In essence, El Plan de Aztlan was a blueprint on how the Chicanos could establish their own nation in the southwestern part of the America to facilitate self-determination, equal rights and opportunities, and to allow them to preserve their culture. The manifesto is a comprehensive delineation of the movement’s achievements, failures, challenges, and future expectations. The Borderlands/ La Frontera is a semi-autobiographical seminal book that focuses on the Mexican-American’s life experiences, including their language and identity.
Book Review of The Borderlands of Race Tough in the legal level Mexican-origin people was regarded as white people, who had the full citizen rights back to the 20th century, Mexican-origin people was actually treated as the second class citizen in America who didn’t have the full access to the citizenship. The author, Jennifer R. Nájera delivers an entertaining and thoughtful account of the evolvement of racial problems among Mexican-origin people in the South Texas. The book, The Borderlands of Race, is a historical ethnography that demonstrates the suffering and resistance of Mexican-origin people following a chronical order and analyzes the Mexican segregation in the South Texas. Using interviews and local archives together with arguments
In effect of African-Americans fighting for their civil rights, Mexican-Americans formed La Raza Unida when they saw that, “even the most disillusioned Mexican-American begin to dream large dreams again” (372). The civil rights movement for African-Americans helped opened the eyes of Mexican-Americans, and they soon realized that there was a disadvantaged minority. At this time period, they faced “the same level economically, but substantially below educationally” compared to African-Americans (372). “Mexican-Americans is not too much better off than the Negro” (372). After world war two, many Mexican-Americans wanted to be acknowledged for their sacrifice for serving their country.
A Line in the Sand: The Alamo in Blood and Memory was written by Randy Roberts and James S. Olson. This book is written in two major sections; the lead up to and including the battle in San Antonio at the Alamo and Goliad and then the aftermath and the effects it had on Americans, including the fight for control of the Alamo, which is commonly referred to as the “second battle of the Alamo” within the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. Many points of view are stated from different historian’s books and research for the same events showing how the presumed facts can be sked based on an individual’s own bias and beliefs.
In the 1960’s, the United States went through a period of clarity and diversity in thought, analysis and action for people from Mexico or those who practiced the Mexican culture. Issues of deep resonance and problems both Mexican and American communities faced were brought to light through different platforms that include multiple socio-political mobilizations, art, and music all throughout the country (Cockcroft, 1993). This later ensued into battles of cultural reclamation and self-determination that combined into a national consciousness called the Chicano Movement. The Chicano Art Movement represents the attempts made by Mexican-American artists in establishing a unique artistic identity in the United States. Most of the Chicanos belonged
“ The high school walkouts and demands by high school and college students for curricular reform and the establishment of Chicano studies program” 12. They were a group of students which wanted change in their education. The way in which we see things or make a change can have an influence. The political activism influenced the work of Chicano artists because it allowed
Always Running Final Paper Today it isn’t difficult for a Chicanx or other minority to get a degree or create a prosperous life for themselves through hard work, but back in the mid-1900s, that was not the case. The American Southwest in the mid-1900s was not the most inviting or friendliest place for Mexicans and Chicanos. Many were born into extreme poverty or already came impoverished, many were degraded and sometimes dehumanized by racism, and many felt like they did not belong in the land of the free. Often times, young Mexicans and Chicanos had no choice. They had to resort to roaming the streets, doing drugs, committing crimes, and joining gangs in order to feel like they belonged and to give meaning to their lives.
The Chicano movement derives from early oppression of Mexicans. Robert Rodrigo, author of “The Origins and History of the Chicano Movement” acknowledges that, “At the end of the Mexican American war in 1848, Mexico lost half of its territory to the United States and its Mexican residents became ‘strangers in their own lands.’” In stating this fact, Rodrigo exemplifies the United States’ relations with Mexico, that, ultimately, led to their oppression. Moreover, these early relations led to social injustice for the Mexican community. Carlos Muñoz, author of The Chicano Movement: Mexican American History and the Struggle for Equality reports, “As a conquered people, beginning with the Texas-Mexico War of 1836 and the U.S. Mexico War of 1846-48, they have
Unity for Chicanos came in the form of an idea, of a dream, called El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán (The Spiritual Plan of Aztlán). ‘Plan of Aztlán’ became one the Chicanos signature ideas, this ‘Plan’ “sought to connect Chicanos to their indigenous past while… reminding them of the colonial implications of the Mexican-American war.” The ‘Plan’ become a method through which Mexican-Americans could be united through their shared ancestry and culture. Simultaneously, the Young Lords pushed for unity through a much more radical avenue. The Lords aimed to liberate their fellow Puerto Ricans and thus “rejected the established norms and American values…
This is because the movement itself began as a search for identity in a nation where Chicanos where once classified as White, but never received any of the rights associated with it and where later reclassified as Hispanic. It is also because what was once considered Mexican culture is no more as it has been taken, manipulated, and killed by the Anglos in their conquest. In “I am Joaquin” we see this concept throughout the work in a variety of forms that range from what Mexicans are to the concept of being Chicano. One major example of the search for Identity in the work is shown in the beginning with the paradox question where many young Chicanos are forced to choose between cultural life in poverty or stability at the price of their culture. Basically it states that they must choose between embracing their heritage at the cost of stability or to reject it and conform to the Anglo world and have a chance to be successful.
The immigrants entering the United States throughout its history have always had a profound effect on American culture. However, the identity of immigrant groups has been fundamentally challenged and shaped as they attempt to integrate into U.S. society. The influx of Mexicans into the United States has become a controversial political issue that necessitates a comprehensive understanding of their cultural themes and sense of identity. The film Mi Familia (or My Family) covers the journey and experiences of one Mexican-American (or “Chicano”) family from Mexico as they start a new life in the United States. Throughout the course of the film, the same essential conflicts and themes that epitomize Chicano identity in other works of literature
In the book Sleuthing the Alamo, by historian James E. Crisp we are faced with some surprising truths about the Texas Revolution as he draws attention to many facilities that have been said to be truths over the years. These facts are often covered by tales of racism and political correctness. Over the course of this engrossing interpretation of the Texas Revolution this historian works like a detective to bring light to the more difficult truths behind all the tales that many believe. I believe James E. Crisp’s thesis to be fairly straightforward. This historian wishes to bring truth to the light.
“Aztlan, Cibola and Frontier New Spain” is a chapter in Between the Conquests written by John R. Chavez. In this chapter Chavez states how Chicano and other indigenous American ancestors had migrated and how the migration help form an important part of the Chicanos image of themselves as a natives of the south. “The Racial Politics behind the Settlement of New Mexico” is the second chapter by Martha Menchaca.