The Chicano Civil Rights Movement

Rodolfo Gonzalez was a poet. He used poetry as a writing tool to communicate the unfair treatment of Chicanos. One of his poems is about Chicano history and identity. It includes the following lines: “The Treaty of Hidalgo has been broken and is but another treacherous promise/My land is lost and stolen/My culture has been raped? La raza! Méjicano! Español! Latino! Chicano! Or whatever I call myself, I look the same.” His ideas in these words echo the thoughts that many Chicanos had at the time. These ideas initiated actions that included events such as the Boycott of Grapes of 1965. Chicano grape pickers, led by Cesar Chavez, went on strike because they were being treated poorly and paid little. Cesar Chavez even went on a 25-day hunger strike. During this time he was contacted by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a well known activist for equal rights. Martin expressed his support of nonviolence to help make change.

Reies Lopez Tijerina was one of the most influential voices of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. Tijerina was born September 23rd in Fall City, Texas. At the age of four, Tijerina was already working in the fields with his parents. His young mind was like a sponge, absorbing the stories of Texas ranger’s unjustified assaults on Mexicans, and the near lynching of his grandfather. These horrors led to Tijerina’s political and cultural awareness. In 1957 Reies fled to New Mexico, accused of being the getaway driver in a failed attempt to free his brother from jail. But Tijerina remained resilient. In 1959, a mere two years later, Reies Lopez Tijerina gathered families who had been mistreated by the United States to appeal to the Mexican government, to communicate the injustices. By appealing to the Mexican government, Tijerina and his supporters hoped to convince them to petition the United Nations to force the U.S to comply with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The group was largely unsuccessful, but this only made Tijerina work even harder for his community’s rights. In another act of defiance, Tijerina established La Alianza Federal de Mercedes (Federal Alliance of Land Grants). Just the 1st convention included more than 800 people, showing just how many people felt the need to ensure fair treatment. The Federal Alliance of Land Grants gained national awareness in October 1966, when the alliance members inhabited the Echo Amphitheater. The Echo Amphitheater, a natural rock formation, rests on San Joaquín land, hence why the group renamed the Amphitheater “The Republic of San Joaquín.” The La Alianza Federal de Mercedes even went through such measures as to arrest two “trespassing” forest rangers. Because the Alliance could not afford to fund a trial, La Alianza decided to challenge the government with the question of who owned the land. Tijerina was subsequently jailed for this participation in these events. Upon his release, Tijerina was prohibited from any leadership role among La Alianza. Reies Tijerina lost many of his supporters, but he continued his involvement in social justice. Reies Lopez Tijeriana died January 19, 2015 in El Paso, Texas.