World War II

World War II

Labour shortage prompts the U.S. Government to create an agreement with Mexican Government which allows

the supply of temporary workers for American agricultural work, known as “braceros”

1940's and 50's

Zoot Suit Riots

American G.I. Forum organized by Mexican American veterans when a funeral home in Three Rivers, Texas, refuses to bury a Mexican American soldier killed in the

Pacific during WWII

Landmark Hernandez v Texas. Courts acknowledge that Hispanic Americans are not being treated as “whites.”

Operation Wetback deports 3.8 million persons of Mexican descent. Only a fraction of this number are

allowed deportation hearings

1962

César Chávez

• leads the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee in California

1963

Reis López Tijerina

• incorporates La Alianza Federal de los Mercedes (The Federal Alliance of Land Grants)

1965

Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales is appointed director of Denver's War on Poverty Program

September 15: The National Farm Workers Association (César Chávez and Dolores Huerta) meet in a Delano church hall and vote to join the Agricultural Workers

Organizing Committee strike.

Nov. / Dec: Chávez's National Farm Workers Association begins the grape boycott, targeting Schenley

Industries and DiGiorgio Corp

1966

Rodolfo Acuña starts teaching the first Mexican American history class in Los Angeles

March - April: César Chávez and the NFWA march from Delano to Sacramento, taking 25 days and arriving on

Easter Sunday

April:“Corky” Gonzales is fired from the Neighbourhood Youth Corps directorship. He subsequently founds the

Crusade for Justice in Denver.

June: The first Alianza public protest takes place: a three day march from Aluquerque to Santa Fe to make

demands to the governor.

1966

Tijerina and 350 members of La Alianza occupy Kit Carson National Forest Camp Echo Amphitheater on

behalf of the “Pueblo de San Joaquín de Chama.”

UFW wins a contract at DiGiorgio Corp

1967

The Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) is formed on college campuses in Texas.

United Mexican American Students (UMAS) is formed which represents seven colleges and universities in

California

1967

UFW wins contracts with Gallo, Almaden, Franzia, Paul Mason, Golberg, the Novitiate of Los Gatos and Perelli-

Minetti

Alianza Federal de Mercedes changes its name to Alianza Federal de Pueblos Libres and Tijerina organizes its convention in Albuquerque when the idea for La Raza

Unida is discussed.

Brown Berets self-defense group is formed by David Sánchez. The Berets begin a series of pickets in front of

sheriffs' offices and police stations.

1968

• Sal Castro joins the walk out of more than 1,000 students of Abraham Lincoln High School, L.A.

• Students, parents, teachers and Brown Berets picket the Board of Directors to reinstate Sal Castro.

1968

César Chávez begins a 25-day fast in penitence for farm workers' moral problems and talk of violence.

César Chávez breaks his fast in Delano public park with 4,000 supporters, including Robert Kennedy at his side.

1968

April: 700 Chicano students walk out of Lanier High School in San Antonio. 600 More walk out from

Edgewood High School

April: Denver Chicanos begin a boycott of Coors for discriminatory hiring

June: José Sánchez, 19, is the first Chicano to publicly resist the military draft.

1968

United Mexican American Students (UMAS) and the Black Student Union (BSU) unite.

1969

The First National Chicano Youth Liberation Conference is sponsored by the Crusade for Justice

Three day conference in Santa Barbara by Chicano Coordinating Council of Higher Education to provide curricular changes and services to Chicano students.

Students statewide change their name to El Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, or MEChA

1969 – 1975

1974: The Southwest Voter Registration Education Project is established. Willie Velásquez, a former

member of MAYO and La Raza Unida, becomes its director.

1975: The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is extended to Hispanic Americans