The Struggle for Civil Rights

Americas Defense

Hispanics in Americas Defense
Fi
Medal of  Honor Recipients,  

Hero Street
Stands alone in U.S. Military History
Bataan, WWII
 

Defense of America
Hispanics 20 % of
Vietnam casulties,
while only 4.5 % of
the population 

Laws targeting Hispanics
from 1800s to present:.

Constitution Mandates Spanish in Schools

NM Constitution Defined

Guadalupe-Hidalgo
Unabridged

Grants Claims

Culture of  the Southwest

Culture of  California

Most Important Document for Hispanics

Bi-lingual Education

Hispanics lost 75% Property Rights

U.S-Mexico
Border Tribes

Canada/Mexico

Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales, son of migrant sugar beet workers, in Denver, Colorado. Hewas a golden gloves champion in the featherweight division. In 1957 he became the firstChicano district captain for the Democratic party in Denver. Corky knew the attempts schools made to make him lose his identity - examples - changing his name from Rodolfo to Rudolph or Rudy and being punished for speaking Spanish. In 1966 He founded the Crusade  for Justice which included a school, a curio shop, a book store and a social center. 

The school was named Tlatelolco, La Plaza de las Tres Culturas, preschool to college. It is still in existence; Published El Gallo, La Voz de La Justicia. On June 29, 1968 Corky headed a march on police headquarters to protest officer Theodore Zavashlak's shooting and killing of 15 year old Joseph Archuleta. In 1969 when students marched out of West Side High School because Chicanos were being given an inferior education, Corky marched with the parents. He was arrested but acquitted. In 1969, he called the First Annual Chicano Youth Conference at Denver. He was instrumental in establishing La Raza Unida party in Colorado which ran candidates for local offices on 11-4-70. I Am Joaquin, by Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales, is considered an epic poem, the most inspiring piece of movement literature written in the 1960's. The impact was immeasurable. It was Mexican History all wrapped up into one poem, full of truth, despair and finally hope. It expressed the inner turmoil of being Mestizo, both tyrant and slave.

"Manifest Destiny"  The concept justified westward expansion and ramifications, including the Mexican War, the persecution of the Indians and American Hispanics.