Transcript Hispanic Americans Struggle for Civil Rights

Ongoing Struggle for Civil
Rights
What groups have formed in response to civil
rights? How do they gain attention?
What are important cases that have gained
this group civil rights?
Background
• Hispanics (Latino/as) largest growing group in
the U.S.
• Immigration to the U.S. since late 1800s
– 1910 Mexican Revolution
– 1916 New Mexico first bilingual state
• League of United Latin American Citizens
(LULAC) formed 1929
– Largest group in the U.S., one in each state
• Exploitation of group as “cheap labor”
– Migratory farm workers in SW (Mexican); Puerto
Ricans to NY
– Segregated neighborhoods celebrate home culture
and religion
Push for Rights
• Hernandez v. Texas (1954): discrimination
based on class and ethnicity banned
– Entitled to juries that have members of the same
ethnicity
• 1962: United Farm Workers Union formed
– Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta
– Becomes largest farm worker’s union; boycotts and
strikes
• National Council of La Raza uses non-violent
methods to gain attention
– Alter political and social climate—Miami, FL
Use of Litigation
• Mexican American Legal Defense and
Educational Fund (MALDEF) founded 1968
– Help of NAACP LDF; $2.2 million from Ford
Foundation
• Expansion of voting rights and other
opportunities
– First efforts to provide more for schools, challenge
election rules, employment
– Affirmative action—policies designed to give special
attention or compensation to members of a previously
disadvantaged group
– Health care
– DREAM Act and Immigration (pro) and Immigration
(anti)
“In summary, the number of unauthorized
immigrants living in the United States in
January 2010 was 10.8 million—the same
as in January 2009—but down from 11.8
million in January 2007. Between 2000
and 2010, the unauthorized population
grew by 27 percent. Of all unauthorized
immigrants living in the United States in
2010, 39 percent entered in 2000 or later,
and 62 per-cent were from Mexico.” --DHS
Plight of Native Americans
• Historical Native American treatment by the
government
– 1830, Jackson’s Indian Removal Act forces NA off of
their ancestral lands onto “reservations”
– Bureau of Indian Affairs established 1824
– 1866/1871 recognition of NA as American citizens
– Late 19th/early 20th century policy to assimilate NA
children into “civilized society” in boarding schools
• Young Native Americans today