Introduction to the Chicano Movement
Grade:
9th - 11th grade
Subject:
Chicano/Mexican-American Studies.
Time Frame:
This lesson will cover a 90 minute class session. If more time is needed than it will progress into another 90 minute session.
Focus:
To introduce students to the Chicano Movement through pictures from the 1960s and 1970s. Students will acquire an understanding of what the Chicano Movement consisted of, the issues that sparked the Chicano Movement, the people who participated and the events that occurred during the Chicano Movement. Students will learn how to analyze and interpret photographs and make inferences. Students will demonstrate what they learned and express it in some form of writing.
Standards Addressed :
READING & WRITING STANDARD 4:
Students apply thinking skills to their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing.
HISTORY STANDARD 1:
1.1 Students know the general chronological order of events and people in history.
2. 1 Students know how to formulate questions and hypotheses regarding what happened in the past and to obtain and analyze historical data to answer questions and test hypotheses.
2. 2 Students know how to interpret and evaluate primary and secondary sources of historical information.
2. 3 Students apply knowledge of the past to analyze present-day issues and events from multiple, historically objective perspectives.
HISTORY STANDARD 3: Students understand that societies are diverse and have changed over time.
3. 2 Students understand the history of social organization* in various societies.
HISTORY STANDARD 4:
4. 2 Students understand how economic factors have influenced historical events.
HISTORY STANDARD 5:
5. 3 Students know how political power has been acquired, maintained, used, and/or lost throughout history.
Standards Assessed:
READING & WRITING
STANDARD 2: Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences.
STANDARD 3: Students write and speak using conventional grammar, usage, sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.
STANDARD 4: Students apply thinking skills to their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing.
Assessment:
Students will choose one of the following as a writing assignment. The final product must be at least 1 page in length. Students have 1 week to turn in the typed assignment.
Responses/Reflection Sheet: Students are guided by writing prompts that elicit their thoughts on the pictures they analyzed. The student's grade is based on the rubric provided.
Letter: Students take on the role of one of the participants in the pictures. They are writing a letter to a friend or family member about what took place at the event and what they personally saw, heard and did. The student's grade is based on the rubric provided.
Reporter: Students take on the roll of a reporter reporting on one of the events in the picture. The student's grade is based on the rubric provided.
Materials/Teacher Preparation:
*Photos from the Chicano Movement era, 1960s & 1970s, with background information included on the back(for a good selection of photos to print out, see Collections: DPL Western History and Genealogy Photo Collection, below.)- tape up on the walls, windows and doors around the room. Each picture should be numbered.
*Chart Paper or transparencies and an overhead projector
*Photo Analysis Worksheet, Writing Assignment Sheet, rubric for response/reflection and letter, rubric for reporter article (1 copy of each per student)
* Martinez, Elizabeth, ed.(1991). 500 Anos del Pueblo Chicano 500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures .Albuquerque, N.M.:SouthWest Organizing Project (check with interlibrary loan if you don't have a copy).
Possible Procedures:
- Prior Knowledge: Before beginning this lesson, students will need some background knowledge on activities of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. They will need to know about different leaders and groups during the Civil Rights Movement like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Cesar Chavez. This will help them understand how the Civil Rights Movement sparked the Chicano Movement.
- Students are given approximately 10 minutes to view 29 pictures from various events of the 1960s and 1970s during the Chicano Movement. These pictures are taped to the walls, windows, and doors around the classroom. Each of these is numbered. Each one has the background information written on the backside but students are not to know this in the beginning.
- Students chose one picture from those posted to use to fill out the Photo Analysis Worksheet. This should take 20 to 25 minutes. If there are less than 15 students in the classroom each student can fill out 2 Photo Analysis Worksheets (copied back to back) for 2 different pictures. Students should write the number of the picture they are analyzing on the top of their Photo Analysis Worksheet.
- Students share details and thoughts from their Photo Analysis Worksheet with the class.
- Teacher compiles information students come up with on chart paper or on a transparency.
- Teacher makes 3 lists on 3 different pieces of chart paper/transparencies:
- Chart/Transparency 1 -Who was involved in the Chicano Movement and how did they make themselves known/heard?
- Chart/Transparency 2 - What sparked the Chicano Movement?
- Chart/Transparency 3 - What things did people want to change through the Chicano Movement?
- Students share from their Photo Analysis Worksheet by putting the information onto one of the appropriate chart papers. This should take 30 minutes.
- Students take notes from the 3 chart papers/transparencies.
- Teacher explains and clarifies important facts from each chart paper/transparency. Teacher allows for discussion and questions. This should take 15 minutes.
- Teacher encourages students to also examine the pictures from the Chicano Movement in the book '500 Anos del Pueblo 500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures'. Two copies of the book are available in the classroom.
- Teacher gives about 5 minutes for students to go back to the picture they analyzed and read the background information on the backside of the picture.
- Students choose one writing assignment from three possible writing assignments. Teacher uses remaining class time to go over, explain each assignment. This should take the remaining class time, approximately 10-15 minutes. Students have one week to turn in their typed papers.
Collections: DPL Western History and Genealogy Photo Collection
1-Hispano Youths in Berets. http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021596+X-21596
2-Members of the Crusade for Justice picket Denver post office http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021585+X-21585
3-Albert Gurule - La Raza candidate for gov addresses audience of 200 in Ft. Collins
http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021593+X-21593
4-Monte Perez, Chicano leader http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021638+X-21638
5-Unidentified woman finishes defiant message http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021606+X-21606
6-Chicano spokesmen give complaints of police action surrounding arrests http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021597+X-21597
7-An Aztec warrior and maiden http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021605+X-21605
8-Special English class sponsored by United Mexican-American Students at CU http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021633+X-21633
9-During protest over apprehension of Spanish American in Denver bus bombing case / photo by Howard Brock -Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colorado. http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021598+X-21598
10-During war protest in front of Capitol "Corky" Gonzalezis far left under banner http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021576+X-21576
11-Large crowd at press conference http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021604+X-21604
12-Mexican National Day [graphic] / photo by Mel Schieltz http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021577+X-21577
13-Crusade for Justice - marchers leave Crusade headquaters
http://photoswest.org/cgibin/imager?10021595+X-215
14-Students, Colorado State University [graphic] / photo by CSU Information.
http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10010916+X-10916
15-Denver minority groups and race relations http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10028761+X-28761
16-employee at Centro Cultural hangs paintings for centro art exhibit http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021587+X-21587
17-Demonstrators http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021624+X-21624
18-Three men, one on telephone http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021625+X-21625
19-Braceros at Ft. Lupton unemployment office http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?11000819+Z-819
20-Mex. workers on truck farm between Ft. Garland & Blanca, Colo. http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021607+X-21607
21-Two women and two men http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021612+X-21612
22-Chicano student http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021637+X-21637
23- untitled http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021636+X-21636
24-Young Hispanic woman http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021574+X-21574
25-Mexican American family http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021620+X-21620
26-Unidentified woman http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021616+X-21616
27-Chicano leaders http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021615+X-21615
28-Weeding sugar beet fields near Brighton http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021639+X-21639
29-Members of the Crusade for Justice picket Denver post http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?10021585+X-21585
-Jacqueline Falcon, Manual High School, Denver Colorado
