Years of Conflict and Growth 1965-1995 By: Tyra, Naomi, Abigail, - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Years of Conflict and Growth 1965-1995 By: Tyra, Naomi, Abigail, and Sergio

Civil rights and civil disobedience

César Chávez and Dolores Huerta found the UFW (Tyra) César Chávez and Dolores Huerta organized ❖ mostly Hispanic and Filipino migrant laborers by Creating the National Farm Workers Association, later renamed the United Farm Workers Association. The UFW struggled hard to improve working ❖ conditions, wages, and housing for migrants and their families. In its greatest triumph, the UFW organized a ❖ five-year national grape boycott against large Dolores Huerta César Chávez grape growers until the growers recognized the UFWA and signed contracts that helped improve https://www.yo utube.com/wat workers’ lives and labor. ch?v=YzMepB The UFW used marches, strikes, and other ❖ zH3pM&list=P boycotts to secure additional workers’ rights and LhB2qce6o6dn benefits. c_Q3YdcTqnZ BDO1uXEXPv &t=8s&index= 14

Reasons for loss of land grants (Tyra) New Mexicans were required to prove ownership of their land grants before the ❖ American Court of Private Land Claims. Many land-grant heirs could not prove their land ownership because they could ❖ not produce required land-grant documents. As valuable as these papers were, they were often lost or destroyed over time. ❖ Many land-grant heirs could not prove the size of their grants because the grants ❖ had been given in earlier times where their ancestors had no access to modern surveying techniques. Some owners weren’t able to pay property taxes under the American rule. ❖ Other individuals lost their land because they had to pay off debts to local ❖ merchants. Community grants were sometimes lost when they were sold to ❖ land-development companies

Reies López Tijerina and La Alianza Federal de Mercedes (Tyra) Reies López Tijerina listened to New Mexicans describing the ❖ loss of their land grants and vowed to keep them. At first Lopez Tijerina used peaceful methods to rally his ❖ followers and gain public support On February 2, 1963, he organized La Alianza Federal de ❖ Mercedes (Federal Alliance of Land Grants). Unfortunately, López Tijerina and La Alianza soon turned to ❖ more drastic, violent methods of protest. On June 10, the police arrested López Tijerina, after causing ❖ the largest manhunt in New Mexico history. López Tijerina faced several trials, and was found guilty. ❖ Reies López Tijerina He was sentenced to two years in federal prison for his first ❖ sentence. López Tijerina was later found guilty on other state charges, ❖ and served additional prison time.

Chicano politics (Tyra) Many Hispanic youths sought change, starting on their own college campuses in New ❖ Mexico. Activists demanded that their schools recruit Hispanic administrators, and offer classes on ❖ Hispanic history and culture. Calling themselves Chicanos, protesters were especially active at New Mexico Highlands ❖ University and the University of New Mexico. Dr. Frank Ángel was hired to lead Highlands in 1971, becoming the first native-born ❖ Hispanic to serve as a university president in the United States. At UNM, a Chicano Studies program was established in 1971 and additional Hispanic ❖ faculty were hired. Jerry Apodaca was elected as the first Hispanic governor of New Mexico. ❖ Joseph Montoya represented New Mexico in the U.S. House of Representatives from ❖ 1961-1965 and in the Senate from 1965-1977.

Tragedy in Gallup, 1973 (Tyra) Tension was especially great in Gallup where Navajos often faced discrimination by local businesses and ❖ residents. They felt particularly exploited by bars and liquor stores that sold them alcohol, adding to the tragic ❖ problem of alcoholism in the tribe. Native American activists focused their wrath on the mayor, Emmett García, who sold liquor to Navajos ❖ at his Gallup Inn yet offered no effective treatment for alcoholism in his role as the city’s leader. Navajo students at the University of New Mexico were especially upset when Mayor García was ❖ appointed to serve on the UNM Board of Regents. Native American students such as Larry Casuse, voiced their opposition to García’s selection at a highly ❖ charged board of regents meeting. Frustrated that García’s nomiation was not withdrawn, Casuse and a fellow Navajo kidnapped García ❖ from Gallup’s city hall on March 1,1973. Marching GarcÍa through town at gunpoint, Casuse and his friend forced the mayor into a local sporting ❖ goods store. Gallup police soon surrounded the store, and a shoot-out ensued. ❖ García escaped, Casuse’s companion surrendered, but Casuse was shot and killed. ❖

Blue lake victory, 1970 (Abby) Despite early 20th century promises the northern pueblo’s rights to Blue ❖ Lake were not adequately protected. New campgrounds, water contamination, and the construction of new ❖ roads around Blue Lake only worsened the situation. Taos Pueblo leaders performed a series of nonviolent political strategies. ❖ Flyers were handed out to the tourists visiting the pueblo explaining the ❖ issue of blue Lake and urged tourists to write to their senators in support of the Taos Pueblo’s claim to Blue Lake. Pueblo leaders published a pamphlet called “The Blue Lake Appeal” in ❖ 1965. It was sent to newspapers, politicians, churches and other organizations. The pamphlet generated support for Taos Pueblo from across the country. Pueblo leaders Paul Bernal and Juan de Jesús Romero went to ❖ Washington DC to appear before congressional committees to speak on the issue of Blue Lake. President Nixon signed the law giving Taos Pueblo sole possession of ❖ Blue Lake on December 15,1970.

Movie about Blue Lake Bobbie Kilberg: The Return of Taos Pueblo's Sacred Blue Lake ...

Hate crimes (Abby) After the 1973 death of Larry Cause hate crimes ❖ began occurring around Gallup and in Farmington. Five Navajo men were robbed , tortured an mudrdered ❖ in Farmington. ONly three of the five murders were ever solved and the teenaged boys found guilty were given short prison sentences. Native American were outraged by the short ❖ sentences and staged protests and boycotts in the Spring of 1974. The protesters demanded an end to police brutality, ❖ fair treatment from local merchants and the closing of bars and liquor stores that targeted Navajos.

Women and the Equal rights Amendment (ERA) (Abby) In the early 1970s women began to organize to gain additional rights for themselves. ❖ Their main concerns had to do with workplace inequality which included hiring, promotion ❖ and equal pay. An Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was passed by congress in 1972 and sent to the states ❖ for acceptance or rejection. If thirty-eight states accepted the ERA i=within seven years it would be added to the US constitution. New Mexico was one of 35 states in support of the ERA. Feminists used peaceful methods to show their support of the ERA while conservatives often ❖ resorted to scare tactics to deter states from approving the ERA. Some claimed that the passage of the ERA would lead to women be included in the draft or ❖ that unisex bathrooms would be required in the workplace. The ERA never passed on a national level but is law in twenty states including New Mexico. ❖

Map (Abby) Albuquerque Carlsbad Grants Rio Rancho Roswell Tierra Amarilla Vaughn

Song: corrido de Dolores Huerta (Abby)

New Mexico in the later Cold War

Vietnam War (Naomi) Vietnam was split into two, the north and the south. The ❖ north was controlled by a communist government. While the south was controlled by a government that United States and its allies supported. Trying to reunite both sections stalled since “communist ❖ forces mounted ever-greater attacks against French military positions in the South” this made the French withdraw from the war in the mid-!950’s United States sent military advisors to train the ❖ Vietnamese soldiers. They believed if Vietnam fell into communism, so will all of Southeast Asia (domino theory).

U.S commitment in Vietnam (Naomi) By mid-1960’s the war in Vietnam grew larger. South Vietnam ❖ was unable to fight off communist aggression by themselves so they asked the United States for additional aid (money, soldiers, and matériel). The United States did as they requested, sending more than half a million troops in just a single year in 1969. The U.S. passed a new conscription law; drafted nearly 2 million ❖ men, between the ages 19-25 for 8 years (1965-1973). Daniel Fernandez; born in Albuquerque and moved to Los Lunas. ❖ He volunteered to serve the U.S. army. Once he finished his basic training, they sent him into combat in Vietnam. On February 18, 1966, died from sacrificing himself by throwing himself on a grenade to save his army patrol.