Chicano Movement

The Chicano movement can be divided into four overlapping spheres—economic, political, cultural, and social—representing the demands for justice and equality at the heart of the movement. The one struggle that touched the individual lives of most Chicanos was the fight for economic justice. While their labor was important and necessary for the US economy, their inclusion into the larger national collective was continually forestalled and undermined. Considered an invisible labor pool even today, Chicanos who work in the fields are subjected to discriminatory practices deemed illegal by US law yet commonly exercised without repercussions.

Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta led the struggle against such economic discrimination by founding the National Farm Workers Association, later known as the United Farm Workers, in 1962. Together, they helped attain higher wages and better working conditions for farmworkers across California. Chavez in particular emerged as a national icon for farmworker rights, gaining notoriety through his nonviolent approach to political protest, a strategy learned from figures like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Famous for his self-sacrifice and spiritual hunger fasts used to promote nonviolence, peace, and hope.

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