One of the major goals of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement was for Chicano students to receive fair treatment in American Schools. There were multiple court cases that communicated to our government how existing practices needed to be changed. The 1947 Mendez vs. Westminster Supreme Court Case was an effort to establish this fair treatment for Chicano school children. The result of this case was the prohibition of the segregation of Chicano school children from white school children. Additionally, there was the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education case in which the US Supreme court determined that the “separate but equal” policy occurring in schools across the nation was a violation of the Constitution. Another feat was the 1954 Hernandez vs. Texas case. The Supreme Court ruled that the 14th Amendment guaranteed equal rights and protection to all racial groups, not just blacks and whites. These were important steps toward ensuring an equal and fair education for Chicano students, but change was slow.  

By the 1960’s many Chicano students were frustrated by the discrimination still happening in the schools. Students and teachers wanted to peacefully communicate their frustrations. Many school walkouts started occurring, particularly in Los Angeles. The most famous group of walkouts were the East L.A walkouts. These walkouts began on May 5, 1968. Thousands of Mexican-American students walked out of their schools, protesting the discriminatory education. Many of the walkouts were led by Sal Castro, a Mexican-American educator. They were meant to protest problems like eccentric school curriculums, the ban of speaking Spanish on campus, high dropout rates among Chicano students, as well as other issues. While the walkouts brought attention to a lot of the racism going on in schools, as well as bringing small reforms, the problems were not largely resolved until about 40 years later.

Clip From The PBS Program "The Chicano Rights Movement" which aired on March 3, 2018