LibGuides: Chicana(o) & Latina(o) Studies: CLS 1200 Chicanas/os Latinas/os, Gender, and Class in the US Experience: Home

Chicanas/os Latinas/os, Gender, and Class in the US Experience

Watts Riots/Rebellion 50th Anniversary Commemorative Mural. Photo Courtesy of SPARC.

This guide will present the historical development of Chicanas/os/xs and Latinas/os/xs living in Los Angeles from the 1900s to the early 21st century. Students will begin to familiarize themselves with the diversity and complexity of the Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x experience and will be introduced to major historical forces and issues central to that experience including settler colonialism, racial capitalism, urban renewal, immigration, and globalization, as well as the creative ways they have responded to social structures.

Here are some resources that will guide students through this introductory course.

[Video] Chicano! History of the Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement
This documentary captures the history of the Mexican-American civil rights movement and examines both individuals and issues which formed the movement from 1965-1975.
Chicano Moratorium Zine
In August of 2020, the Los Angeles Times published a series of stories, videos, graphics and archival materials on the Chicano Moratorium. This series of anti-Vietnam War activism ended with a rally in East Los Angeles on Aug. 29, 1970, that attracted over 20,000 attendees. It started in peace but turned into the biggest, bloodiest disturbance in Los Angeles since Watts five years earlier and led to the death of three people, including pioneering Times columnist Ruben Salazar.
Video: Race:The Power of an Illusion
This video critically examines the idea of race, challenges the idea of race as biology, and traces our current notions to the 19th century. It also demonstrates how race nevertheless has a continuing impact through institutions and social policies.
Harvest of Empire
This documentary examines the role that U.S. economic and military interests played in triggering an unprecedented wave of migration that is transforming our nation’s cultural and economic landscape.
Article: Activists reunite to remember campaign against Prop. 187, California's anti-illegal immigrant initiative
This article captures the testimonios of immigration activists who were fighting against Prop. 187 in California. Prop. 187 was a 1994 voter-led initiative to rewrite California’s Constitution to deny social services and education benefits to immigrants. After it passed, most of the initiatives were blocked by the courts. Nevertheless, the effects of Prop. 187 are still being felt today.
Teaching Central America
This website provides educational support for the study of Central America in K-12 schools. Students can learn about the region, which has many ties to the United States through foreign policy, immigration, commerce, and culture.
The case of Luisa Moreno | National Museum of American History
This written piece is dedicated to the legacy of Luisa Moreno, a labor organizer who organized Latina and African American women's cigar rollers in Florida, and by 1938 she was a representative of the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America (UCAPAWA-CIO).
CARECEN 2004 |Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC)
This article documents the relationship between the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) and the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) of Los Angeles, which partnered to create a significant public work about the migration of Central Americans into the Pico-Union district of Los Angeles.

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Created in 2022 by Rosa Maldonado, Chicana(o) & Latina(o) Studies Master's Student