ABSTRACT
CHICANA MOVEMENTS: FRESNO CHICANA WRITINGS, IDENTITY, AND ACTIVISM, 1965-1975
During the 1960s and 1970s, Chicanas/os at Fresno State College formed part of the larger Chicano movement aimed at obtaining civil rights for individuals of Mexican descent living within the United States. Between 1965 and 1975, Chicanas/os enrolled at Fresno State College realized the importance of forming student organizations within higher education in order to advocate for better resources, demand fair treatment, and foster a sense of community. Chicanas/os concentrated their efforts and organized to create the Chicano student newspaper, La Voz de Aztlán. Through their writings in La
Voz, Chicanas/os identified racial and socioeconomic challenges in their community and wrote extensively on the discrimination they faced within public education systems. Chicanas specifically, used La Voz as the avenue by which to voice and develop their identities as Chicanas and activists within the movement. Chicana writings within La Voz demonstrate how they reflected, constructed, and expressed their activist identities, which, in turn, informed their modes of resistance. As this thesis illustrates, Fresno
Chicanas formed part of the larger translocal network of women organizing within the
Chicano movement, and demonstrates how their identities, which were unique to Fresno, guided their activism on campus and in the barrio. Modern Chicana/o historiography overlooks women in Fresno, but when examined closely, they form an important link to the larger narrative and deepen our understanding of how Chicana movements shaped the larger movement.
Rocío Solís Hernández May 2020
CHICANA MOVEMENTS: FRESNO CHICANA WRITINGS, IDENTITY, AND ACTIVISM, 1965-1975
by Rocío Solís Hernández
A thesis
submitted in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts in History
in the College of Social Sciences California State University, Fresno
May 2020 APPROVED
For the Department of History:
We, the undersigned, certify that the thesis of the following student meets the required standards of scholarship, format, and style of the university and the student's graduate degree program for the awarding of the master's degree.
Rocío Solís Hernández Thesis Author
Lori Clune (Chair) History
Elvia Rodríguez History
Maritere López History
For the University Graduate Committee:
Dean, Division of Graduate Studies AUTHORIZATION FOR REPRODUCTION
OF MASTER’S THESIS
X I grant permission for the reproduction of this thesis in part or in its entirety without further authorization from me, on the condition that the person or agency requesting reproduction absorbs the cost and provides proper acknowledgment of authorship.
Permission to reproduce this thesis in part or in its entirety must be obtained from me.
Signature of thesis author: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Early on in my life I learned of the importance of collective work. Growing up in an immigrant family in California, I understood that working together was a vital aspect of creating things anew. These lessons shaped my approach to life and this thesis is an example of the joint effort to trace and tell a story. Individuals inspired, encouraged, and guided me through this process. They offered their stories, time, and labor and brought this thesis to fruition. This thesis, then, is a culmination of all of that.
At the center are the stories of the women who lived through this and whose writings and testmonios made this work possible. I would like to thank Lea Ybarra and
Guadalupe Olgin for sharing their life stories of the Chicano movement with me. As they offered their testimonios and reflections, they inspired with their fierce sense of social justice and their deep love for their people. I want to thank them, and all the Chicanas who penned their stories, for sharing these parts of their lives with me.
I would like to thank my thesis committee for guiding me through this process.
Dr. Lori Clune and Dr. Elvia Rodríguez who acted as co-chairs and worked with me on this thesis since its early stages. I thank them for their wisdom, thought-provoking questions, and advice on how to organize and strengthen my ideas and writing. I would like to thank Dr. Maritere López, whom I am forever indebted to for her mentorship throughout the years, and especially on this thesis. There are certain individuals I have met that have greatly shaped who I am and changed the course of my life, and Dr. López is one of them. She always challenged me to think critically and engage with the sources; she has been instrumental in helping me develop and express my ideas through writing; and she always set high expectations for me and refused to accept anything but my best work. She encouraged me to explore and travel the world and pursue a graduate degree, the first in the history of my family to do so. She never shied away from a challenging v v situation and always offered advice on how to navigate higher education. In the very first course I took with her as an undergrad, she told us, “If you are willing to put in the work,
I will bend over backwards to help you.” I want to say thank you to Dr. López for keeping that promise. All three committee members were instrumental to completing this thesis, as they offered their wisdom, labor, and guidance. All errors are my own.
At California State University, Fresno, I am grateful for the research support I received. Thank you to the College of Social Science, Dean Michelle DenBeste, and the Oral History Summer Institute for providing me with the methods and resources necessary to carry out this research. I would like to thank the Henry Madden Library, the
Special Collections Research Center, and at Cal State LA, the John F. Kennedy Memorial
Library, and their Special Collections & Archives. All generously provided the sources and space needed to conduct this research. I would like to thank the History Department at California State University, Fresno. Over the course of my time at Fresno State I had the opportunity to learn from some of the best scholars and educators in our field. I would like to thank our Graduate Program Coordinator, Dr. Brad Jones whom I had the opportunity to work with as an Instructional Assistant. I learned a lot from his teaching philosophies and methods, and these lessons I carry with me as I prepare for my own career.
A special thanks to my supportive friends and family. To my best friend Harley Hall, I am so thankful for your friendship and all the hours we spent in the library stressing, laughing, and writing papers. I cherish your company and am so glad I went through this program with such a smart and kind friend. To my primas, who are too many to list by name, thank you for offering your empowering words of encouragement and care. Knowing that I had an entire community of women who believed in me provided me with the motivation and courage to see this program and thesis through. Thank you to my partner, Michael Rettig, who read countless drafts of this thesis and always helped me vi vi find ways to strengthen my work. Thank you for your patience, keen eye to detail, and for never growing tired of listening to me talk about my research. I could not have asked for a better or more supportive partner.
To my parents, Ana María and Rodolfo Hernández, nunca habrá las palabras suficientes para explicar lo tanto que los amo y aprecio. Por toda mi vida me han soportado en cada locura, me han guiado por un buen camino, y siempre me han hecho sentir que todo es posible conque le eche ganas. Es una bendición tenerlos como padres y nunca me olvidare de sus sacrificios y esfuerzos. Inculcaron en mi la confianza y determinación para enfrentar cualquier obstáculo directamente y es por eso que no me se rajar. Ojalá los he hecho orgullosos de mí. Con toda mi admiración y cariño, a ustedes les dedico esta tesis. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page
LIST OF FIGURES ...... viii
INTRODUCTION...... 1
CHAPTER 1: AN EVOLVING, COLLECTIVE CHICANA/O CONSCIOUSNESS...... 16
CHAPTER 2: BECOMING CHICANA...... 36
CHAPTER 3: BECOMING A CHICANA ACTIVIST ...... 52
CONCLUSION ...... 71
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 75
LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure 1. Chicano students respond in the newspapers Pensamientos column. La Voz de Aztlán, April 1971...... 26
Figure 2. Fresno Chicana responses for Pensamientos column. La Voz de Aztlán, November 1970...... 43
Figure 3. Las Adelitas announce their first meeting. Photo courtesy of California State University, Los Angeles, John F. Kennedy Memorial Library, Special Collections and Archives...... 59
Figure 4. Fresno Chicanas announce creation of Las Adelitas de Aztlán at Fresno State College. La Voz de Aztlán, October 1969...... 62
Figure 5. Fresno Chicanas preparing material for a Third World Woman’s Symposium...... 65
Figure 6. Fresno Adelitas marching with Fresno’s MEChA chapter. Printed on the front page of the student newspaper. La Voz de Aztlán, 1970...... 69
INTRODUCTION
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, countries around the globe experienced an eruption of student protests. During these protests, individuals challenged existing political institutions and proposed new solutions for social change. Within the United
States, a youth counterculture emerged and demanded an end to racial discrimination within the country’s borders and to imperialist policies abroad. No doubt, the 1960s and
1970s marked a great political and social shift from previous decades. As part of a global and national trend of social mobilization, Chicanas/os rallied to demand social justice, civil rights, and self-determination. Scholars mark this as the origins of the Chicano movement.1 As racial and cultural tensions within the United States intensified, people of
Mexican descent organized and mobilized to combat an oppressive Anglo American culture. Mexican Americans and Chicanos living in California’s Central Valley, in unison with civil rights efforts throughout the state and country, intensified their organizing efforts to address their specific demands for social change.2 Students at Fresno State
1Vicki L. Ruíz, From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 103; Marc Simon Rodríguez, Rethinking the Chicano Movement, (New York: Routledge, 2015), 12; Gilbert. G. González and Raúl Fernández, “Alternative Approaches to Chicano History” in Major Problems in Mexican American History, (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999), 6 -7; Maylei Blackwell, ¡Chicana Power!: Contested Histories of Feminism in the Chicano Movement, (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011), 61; Mario T. García, The Chicano Generation: Testimonios of The Movement, (Oakland: University of California Press, 2015), 11 – 12; Alex M. Saragoza, “Recent Approaches to Chicano History” in Major Problems in Mexican American History, (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999), 13; Alma M. García, “The Development of Chicana Feminist Discourse, 1970-1980” in Gender & Society 3, no 2 (1989): 218; Lorena Oropeza, ¡Raza Si! ¡Guerra No!: Chicana Protest and Patriotism during the Viet Nam War Era (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2005), 49.
2 The term Chicano has a variation of spellings and each marks the shifts in the movement’s ideology and inclusivity; there is Chican@, Chicanx, and Xicanx. For the study at hand, I utilize Chicana and Chicano, as these terms indicate the early stages of the movement and its ideology regarding gender and sexuality. More importantly, they are the terms activists used to identify themselves as people of Mexican descent. Further, and following historian Marc Simon Rodríguez, the work at hand utilizes the terms Chicana and Chicano to identify individuals who actively participated during the movement years. 2 2
College voiced their concerns on campus and appealed directly to campus leadership to put an end to the discrimination and to remedy the lack of support many minority students faced.
To address specifically the many challenges students of Mexican descent faced on college campuses, Chicanas/os across the nation established student, faculty, and staff organizations to fight against racist policies and discriminatory practices. At Fresno State
College, such organizations included El Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA, est. 1968), Trabajadores de la Raza (est. 1969), and Chicano Faculty and Staff
(est. 1971). Throughout the 1960s, students, faculty, and staff held conferences and hosted civil rights leaders on campuses. These efforts eventually brought programs such as La Raza Studies to Fresno State College and allowed Chicanas/os a formal place within higher education. Indeed, the Chicano movement gained much momentum throughout the 1960s that carried on into the early 1970s. In the struggle to combat a dominant Anglo American culture, Chicanas/os created a subaltern identity and culture. Chicanas/os adopted an ideology and identity that allowed them to connect to their precolonial history and define themselves on their own terms. This new Chicano identity took on a masculine nature. To justify this gendering,
Chicanos argued that, in order to combat “the brutal ‘gringo’, Chicanos needed to organize and mobilize militantly in both barrios and campuses.3 Publications throughout the movement years utilized masculine language to communicate their revolutionary visions, and Chicanos embraced Chicano nationalism with its ideas of carnalismo and
Chicanas/os used the term to distinguish themselves from the broader Mexican American community. They argued they formed part of a new group of individuals who embraced their Mexican heritage and demanded their rightful place in American society, instead of assimilating fully to the dominate Anglo American culture, (Rodríguez, Rethinking the Chicano Movement, 2 – 3).
3 Gonzales, Rodolfo and Alberto Urista [Alaurista, pseud.] “El plan espiritual de Aztlán.” El grito del Norte (Alburquerque, New Mexico), vol. II, no. 9 (July 6, 1969): 5. 3 3 machismo, that is, brotherhood and manhood. For example, when students, faculty, and staff met in April 1969 and formally established MEChA, their manifesto, El Plan de
Santa Barbara: A Chicano Plan for Higher Education, outlined collective efforts to reform higher education. As it states, “M.E.Ch.A., then, is more than a name; it is a spirit of unity, of brotherhood, and a resolve to undertake a struggle for liberation in a society where justice is but a word. M.E.Ch.A is a means to an end.”4 Further, the manifesto declared that “the Chicano acts with confidence and with a range of alternatives in the political world. He is capable of developing an effective ideology through action.”5 The masculine gendering of the movement was also reflected in Fresno, where Chicanos published in the Chicano campus newspaper, “The brotherhood unites us, our mutual love makes us a rising power against the gringo oppressor that exploits our people and destroys our dignity and culture.”6
These publications followed the long-standing tradition of masculinizing revolutions through language to organize and mobilize communities. In this way, activists ensured Chicano men assumed leadership roles and spearheaded the movement, el movimiento. Furthermore, movement activists modeled their organizing efforts after traditional family dynamics, dividing responsibilities within the movement along gender lines. In consequence, women’s work in the movement was undervalued. As Anna
NietoGomez, a leading scholar of Chicana feminist theory, notes in her work, the labor Chicanas did, such as registering people to vote and taking them to the polls, went overlooked. She states, “it went unnoticed because the work was viewed as an extension
4 Chicano Coordinating Council, El Plan de Santa Barbara: A Chicano Plan for Higher Education, (Oakland: La Causa Publications, 1969), 54.
5 Chicano Coordinating Council, El Plan de Santa Barbara, 50 – 51.
6 “Spiritual Plan of Aztlán,” La Voz de Aztlán, 5 May 1969. 4 4 of men’s work and a natural part of what women do to serve men.”7 It was in this way that Chicanas’ roles within el movimiento were devalued—in consequence until recently also being overlooked in, and sometimes altogether absent from, the historical record.
Recent scholarship has made tremendous strides in uncovering Chicanas’ vital role within the Chicano movement. Scholars such as Maylei Blackwell, Lorena Oropeza,
Dionne Espinoza, Alma García, and Anna NietoGomez offer important studies that recuperate the much-neglected and underrepresented Chicana history. Collectively, scholars of Chicana history challenge conventional male-centered historiography and, in doing so, expand understandings of activism and identity. Their work, by widening the scope of social movement historiography to include previously marginalized histories of women of color, uncovers forms of labor that proved critical for the success of the
Chicano movement throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
In her work ¡Raza Si! ¡Guerra No!: Chicana Protest and Patriotism during the Viet Nam War Era, historian Lorena Oropeza documents and examines the link between
Chicano anti-war efforts and the development of their cultural identity throughout the
1960s and 1970s. Oropeza illustrates how Chicanos utilized demonstrative politics and their cultural identity to organize and challenge their long history against an exploitative state. She argues that the war in Viet Nam fundamentally shaped the Chicano movement’s challenge to redefine the role of Mexican Americans and Chicanos within the larger American society.8 Oropeza concludes that by protesting the war and leading the largest anti-war protest by a minority group in the United States, activists placed the
Chicano movement on a national stage and forced the nation to acknowledge the
7 Anna NietoGomez, “Francisca Flores, The League of Mexican American Women, and the Comisión Femenil Mexican Nacional, 1958-1975” in Chicana Movidas: New Narratives of Activism and Feminism in the Movement Era, ed. Dionne Espinoza et al (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2018), 36.
8 Oropeza, ¡Raza Si! ¡Guerra No!, 5. 5 5 community’s mistreatment and exploitation. Oropeza begins the important task that demonstrates how Chicanas/os during the 1960s and 1970s organized under a collective identity to push for civil rights.
Further linking the development of a Chicano identity to issues of gender specifically, in her groundbreaking work, ¡Chicana Power! Contested Histories of
Feminism in the Chicano Movement, Maylei Blackwell examines the inner workings of the Chicano movement and traces the development of Chicana feminism. Blackwell provides a new theoretical framework with which to examine the period, a framework that allows for better understandings of gender, sexuality, and the process of organizing within the movement. Blackwell based this new framework on “retrofitted memory”, “a practice whereby social actors read the interstices, gaps, and silences of existing historical narratives in order to retrofit, rework, and refashion older narratives to create new historical openings, political possibilities, and genealogies of resistance.”9 By reexamining conventional understandings of social movements and challenging masculine renderings of history through retrofitted memory, Blackwell undermines the historical epistemology that obscures the history of women of color. Moreover,
Blackwell challenges additive methods, which she calls the “add-and-stir” approach.10
According to Blackwell, additive methods superficially argue “Women were there, too,” but are not sufficient in outlining how women were critical to the movement’s success. Blackwell argues that this “add-and-stir” framework places women of colors’ contributions in the periphery of social movements and mischaracterizes the complexity of hierarchies of oppression.11 Her work expands historical understandings of the
9 Blackwell, ¡Chicana Power!, 102.
10 Blackwell, ¡Chicana Power!, 3 – 4. 11 Maylei Blackwell, ¡Chicana Power!: Contested Histories of Feminism in the Chicano Movement, (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011), 1-2. 6 6
Chicano movement during the 1960s and 1970s, and shifts the historiographical conversation to include women of color in social movements.
In the anthology, Chicana Movidas: New Narratives of Activism and Feminism in the Movement Era, Dionne Espinoza builds on Blackwell’s theoretical foundation and examines further the role of Chicanas during the movement years. Espinoza centers
Chicanas to uncover the many ways they engaged in movement politics and formed part of the intellectual and physical labor of el movimiento. By departing from the traditional Chicano narrative that centers men’s experiences and employing Blackwell’s retrofitted memory, Espinoza’s theoretical shift, what she calls a movida, elucidates how Chicanas moved and operated within and between male-dominated spaces. Espinoza concludes that
Chicanas created their own, specifically Chicana, praxis of resistance that outlined their
Chicana ideologies and strategies for organizing, and also challenged their subordinate positions within el movimiento.12 Further, Espinoza argues that when we shift from the male-centered and add-and-stir theoretical framework to include all of women’s labor throughout the movement years, it transforms the conceptual boundaries of movement historiography.13 According to Espinoza, conventional methods hinder understandings on the intersecting struggles Chicanas faced throughout the movement years because rather than reexamine the entire Chicano movement, the add-and-stir method places women’s participation as an extension of men’s work. Previous scholarship employing the add- and-stir method overlooked Chicanas’ voices and inferred they joined the movement well after it gained momentum, rather than demonstrating their presence at the onset.
As scholars of Chicana history challenge male-centered narratives of social movements and uncover women’s roles and contributions, they shed light on how
12 Dionne Espinoza, Chicana Movidas: New Narratives of Activism and Feminism in the Movement Era, (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2018), 2 -3. 13 Espinoza, Chicana Movidas, 6. 7 7
Chicanas confronted accusations of creating a divisive ideology within the Chicano movement. Even in the face of this discrimination and alienation within el movimiento,
Chicanas continued to reexamine the relationship between men and women. As scholar
Alma A. García argues, “Chicana feminism went beyond the limits of an exclusively racial theory of oppression that tended to overlook gender.”14 In doing so, Chicanas during the movement years exposed ideologies and forms of organization within the
Chicano movement that they argued did not value their contributions and labor. As García further notes, Chicana feminism informed the movement from early on, as they carved out a space for themselves in which to simultaneously critique and expand the movement.15 They demanded an end to practices that limited their participation within the movement and argued for Chicanas/os to analyze the multiple forms of oppression they faced, namely both race and gender. In this way, Chicana feminism transcended a singular approach to ending the subjection of Chicanas/os and expanded their praxis to include gender.16 However, Chicana feminists faced great resistance from Chicano men, and even some Chicanas, who argued that feminists were creating a divisive ideology.
Chicanas who believed racial oppression superseded all other forms of oppression labeled themselves as loyalists. Loyalists argued Chicana feminism was an individualistic pursuit, one that alienated the individual from their community. Loyalists argued further that feminism undermined core values, such as family and culture, and was therefore a selfish pursuit that could not liberate their community.17 They also argued that because
Chicana feminism did not align with core Chicano values, it was a white woman’s struggle and as such, a foreign concept that served selfish ends. Thus, in her work, García
14 García, “The Development of Chicana Feminist Discourse, 1970-1980”, 217-238.
15 García, “The Development of Chicana Feminist Discourse, 1970-1980”, 219. 16 García, “The Development of Chicana Feminist Discourse, 1970-1980”, 223. 17 García, “The Development of Chicana Feminist Discourse, 1970-1980”, 225 – 226. 8 8 illustrates how categories of “feminists v. loyalists” formed out of feminists’ challenges to their roles in the movement and in their relationships with Chicanos. However, within in the context of Chicana activism, categorizing women as “feminists v. loyalists” limits historians’ ability to grapple with Chicana identities during the movement years. This binary fails to reflect the complexity of Chicanas’ lived experiences, especially Chicanas who inhabited spaces that did not neatly fit either category. Therefore, breaking the binary of “feminist v. loyalist” is crucial to movement historiography and allows scholars to refocus our view to uncover the women who inhabited a middle ground.
Following Blackwell’s retrofitted memory and Espinoza’s theoretical movida allows access to previously overlooked histories of Chicanas during the Chicano movement. Moreover, García’s excavation of the relationships between activists allows us to more effectively trace Chicana identity and activism and have deeper understandings of the dynamics between activists. Altogether, they challenge hegemonic narratives by correcting histories that mischaracterize or overlook women of color and provide scholars with framework to better understand the movement and those who comprised it.
This new framework proves particularly fruitful in a reconsideration of el movimiento as it developed in college campuses across the nation. Chicanas entered college in the 1960s in larger numbers than ever before. Once there, they navigated a foreign, and often hostile, environment. As Chicanas spent more time in college classrooms, and as the Chicano movement gained national momentum, they formed both informal and formal groups on campuses. In interacting with each other, Chicanas began to understand they were not alone in their alienation or in their experience of race and gender discrimination within higher education. Many came quickly to recognize the growing need to combat these intersecting forms of oppression and began publishing and organizing on campus. Their efforts coalesced into a collective, evolving Chicana 9 9 feminist consciousness and praxis of resistance. However, lacking a unified and clearly defined Chicana feminism, they came to embrace a range of ideas and identities.
Importantly, even though heavily influenced by Chicana feminist theories, some
Chicanas did not readily identify themselves as feminists. In fact, many Chicanas understood that they fit fully neither in the masculine
Chicano movement nor in the national feminist one. Because they were women, Chicanas were excluded from leadership positions and assigned auxiliary roles that, they argued, denied them full participation in el movimiento.18 At the same time, as women of color, many Chicanas did not relate to the national Women’s Liberation movement. They argued that mainstream feminists were mainly white, middle-class, heterosexual women whose experiences differed greatly from theirs. Chicanas certainly found common ground with white feminists on issues relating to gender inequality and discrimination. However,
Chicanas did not join, or form coalitions with, white feminists because of white feminists’ inability, and often unwillingness, to address issues of racism and class.19 On the one hand, Chicanas demanded that Chicanos reanalyze the unequal gender dynamics within el movimiento and, on the other, they demanded that white feminists address issues of racism within mainstream feminism. When neither group met these demands, some Chicanas forged a new, third path to resistance within the Chicano movement—one that addressed the intersecting issues of race, class, and gender. Fresno Chicanas in the 1960s and 1970s also chose this path, as elucidated by their activism on the campus of
Fresno State College. Scholarship detailing Chicanas in Fresno is severely understudied in Chicano movement historiography. Scholars of Chicana history trace modes of communication and activism between women of color but focus mainly on urban areas in
18 Blackwell, ¡Chicana Power!, 65.
19 García, “The Development of Chicana Feminist Discourse”, 229. 10 10 southern California. Their work, like most work on Chicano movement history, only mentions Fresno State College and Fresno Chicanas in passing.20
In his work, The Slow Death of Fresno State, Kenneth Seib chronicles events that occurred at Fresno State College between 1965 and 1977.21 Utilizing newspapers, eyewitness accounts, and department and administrative reports, Seib details how Fresno
State College eventually became “a centralized power structure in the control of men who cherished neither academic freedom nor the free play of intellect.”22 Seib highlights the many points of contention between conservative college administrators and faculty members and minority students in La Raza Studies Department. He documents how matters intensified in the spring of 1970 and concludes that by 1978, Fresno State “had become an oligarchy with little faculty support and with the full consent of either a disinterested or cynical state chancellor’s office.”23 Within the context of a Cold War world and a Reagan California, college campuses across the nation and the state became sites of the war against communism, with campus administrators going to great lengths to contain what they perceived as communist and subversive behavior from students and faculty. In response, students contested the administration’s growing authoritarian power.
The Slow Death of Fresno State traces accurately the college’s faculty and student frustrations over unjust treatment.
20 Blackwell, Chicana Feminisms, 64; NietoGomez, “Francisca Flores, The League of Mexican American Women, and The Comisión Femenil Mexicana Nacional, 1958-1975,” 46 – 47; Oropeza, ¡Raza Si! ¡Guerra No!, 111; Sonia A. López, “The Role of the Chicana within the Student Movement,” in Chicana Feminist Thought: The Basic Historical Writings ed. Alma M. García (New York: Routledge, 1997) 106; Rodríguez, Rethinking the Chicano Movement, 103.
21 Kenneth A. Seib, The Slow Death of Fresno State: A California Campus under Reagan and Brown (Palo Alto: Ramparts Press, 1979).
22 Seib, The Slow Death of Fresno State, 12.
23 Seib, The Slow Death of Fresno State, 211-212. 11 11
In order to counter effectively a growing authoritarian and racist administration,
Chicanos at Fresno State College organized and mobilized on campus and within the larger Fresno community. Chicano students staged hunger strikes and “camp-ins” on campus to protest college administrators’ arbitrary and unjust treatment of student and faculty of color.24 On May 6, 1970, violence erupted between Chicano students and
“protective squads” from the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Physical
Education.25 Later that month, the administration fired and then refused to rehire eight Ethnic Studies faculty members – who constituted 60% of the black and brown faculty on campus – arguing that the department faculty approved the decision, which they apparently did not.26 Eventually, on September 9, 1970, administrators dismantled the
Ethnic Studies Program completely.27 The events at Fresno State College reflected events occurring throughout the state of California and the nation – the push for civil rights reform on the national stage and the farmworkers movement in California put political and administrative leaders on the defense to try and curtail any form of perceived threat to the status-quo. The turbulence at Fresno State College is part of the larger story about the actions taken against college students, namely Mexican Americans and Chicanas/os, throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
Chicano students at Fresno State College organized and mobilized to protest an administration that seemed set on diminishing their growing presence on campus. Chicanos penned and published open letters and articles in the student newspaper, shut
24 Seib, The Slow Death of Fresno State, 90.
25 Professors Cecil Coleman and Dick Murray organized students from the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Physical Education to form Protective Squads. Under the professor’s supervision, these students were specifically trained to break boycotts and intimidate demonstrators on campus.
26 Seib, The Slow Death of Fresno State, 90; 96-99.
27 Seib, The Slow Death of Fresno State, 120-121. 12 12 down busy streets in protest, led campus-wide boycotts, and came to physical altercations with “protective squads” on campus. However, Seib falls short in his final analysis of the student body. In regards to Fresno State students, he concludes that students were never truly radicalized, that they “never genuinely perceived their opportunities for change,” and that he hopes students one day turn from “apathetic classroom zombies to concerned citizens of a complex society.”28 Framed in this way, Seib disregards students’ organizing efforts to contest a growing authoritarian college administration. He accurately chronicles events on campus but ends his study by mischaracterizing students as apathetic and their efforts as minimal. Chicanas at Fresno State, along with their male counterparts, were the leading figures to demonstrate against a racist and discriminating administration.
The study at hand re-examines the events that occurred at Fresno State College between 1965 and 1975. By shifting the theoretical lens, departing from masculine interpretations of history and breaking from binary categorizations of identity, we begin to uncover the extent to which Chicanas were substantially involved in, and critical to, the Chicano movement in Fresno. By piecing together Chicana publications, materials from personal archives, and weaving together oral histories, the work at hand demonstrates how Chicanas shaped and led efforts to bring about social change on campus and within their communities. Chicanas living in California’s Central Valley mobilized and published materials detailing their activism, thus demonstrating how they formed the foundations of el movimiento. Further, the current work demonstrates that while Chicanas combated a dominant and oppressive Anglo American culture, they also challenged Chicanos to expand the movement’s platform to include issues regarding gender. Indeed, Chicanas at Fresno State College were not “apathetic classroom
28 Seib, The Slow Death of Fresno State, 216. 13 13 zombies.” On the contrary, Chicanas not only understood the multifaceted nature of their identity and were aware of the challenges it often posed, but also actively fought to curtail discriminatory policies and practices, even within the movement.
Chapter 1, “An Evolving, Collective Chicana/o Consciousness,” focuses on Chicana/o experiences in California’s public education system. As Chicanas/os entered college, they quickly realized they shared similar experiences of discrimination and neglect from administrators and educators. Students at Fresno State College established the Chicano student newspaper, La Voz de Aztlán, as a means to communicate these injustices and to detail ways to demand better resources for their communities. Their writings on education, health, culture, and politics demonstrate a developing collective consciousness. As students continued to organize, disagreements emerged between men and women regarding which issues deserved greater attention. Reflected in their political writings, these disagreements eventually led Chicana to form and incorporate their own feminist views into the movement’s platform.
Chapter 2, “Becoming Chicana,” explores Chicana writings in La Voz de Aztlán between 1969 and 1975, documenting transformations in Fresno Chicana identities. As
Chicanas put their ideas on paper, they reflected on the nature of their identities within both the movement and society. As Fresno Chicanas published materials of their own, they shaped the contours of a Chicana feminist identity unique to Fresno. Grounded in Michael D. Aguirre’s use of the term “becoming” to demonstrate the shift in Chicana consciousness towards becoming politically active, the work at hand utilizes the term to illustrate how Fresno Chicanas constructed their identities. As Chicanas interacted with both Chicanos and other women, they reflected on their roles within the movement in relation to men and their roles within feminist circles in relation to Anglo women.
Embedded in the locality, their writings and lived experiences produced an array of
Chicana identities specific to Fresno. What emerges, then, are a variety of Fresno 14 14
Chicana identities that demonstrate the nonbinary nature of the process of becoming
Chicana.
Finally, chapter 3, “Becoming a Chicana Activist” investigates the modes of organization and mobilization at Fresno State College. As Chicanas continued to write for the Chicano student newspaper and communicated with other women of color across the state and country, as their feminist consciousness evolved, and as their push to expand the movement’s platform met resistance, they formed a woman’s organization of their own. Fresno Chicanas, along with other women of color throughout the state, formed Las
Adelitas de Aztlán in 1969. The creation of this organization elucidates how Chicanas organized within el movimiento to expand its platform. Las Adelitas carved out space for women to develop their activism and assist the larger movement in bringing resources to their barrios. Fresno Chicana’s modes of mobilization illustrate that Chicanas understood the complex nature of their activist identities and chose to remain within the Chicano movement to promote their strategies for social change.
Notwithstanding the strides made in uncovering and complicating the history of women in el movimiento, scholars continue largely to overlook Chicanas living in
California’s Central Valley and their involvement in the Chicano movement. Adding
Fresno State College to the larger Chicano movement narrative and examining the intricacies of activism on campus illustrates how Chicanas in Fresno were part of larger social movements throughout the 1960s and 1970s. By analyzing their publications, we find that Chicanas in Fresno published works similar to those across the state and formed an important part of translocal communication networks. When we trace organizations such as Las Adelitas de Fresno, we uncover that Chicanas organized to include issues relevant to their lived experiences. Excavating and documenting stories provides us with opportunities to better understand the challenges Chicanas faced and how they operated between and within male-dominated spaces. Ultimately, we can put to rest narratives that 15 15 charge Chicanas with splitting up the movement, of being agringadas, vendidas, and
Malinches. Chicanas have long been the invisible subjects of collective social organizing and theorizing. When we refocus our approach to studying Chicana writings, identity, and activism, we can rethink and rework our understandings of how they operated within the movement and begin to view women of color as agents of social change in their own right.
CHAPTER 1: AN EVOLVING, COLLECTIVE CHICANA/O CONSCIOUSNESS
But being a Chicano is not wearing a button, it is a process, a sensitivity, an awareness, a consciousness, a dialogue with oneself and the world—a new, painful inner reality. It is, above all, a challenge to a person to make a complete reevaluation of himself. —Juanita Saragoza, La Voz, 1973
As the nation adjusted to new legislation ending formal segregation and discrimination, university admissions noticed a surge in student enrollment by 1965.
Students of color began enrolling at universities at higher rates than ever before. In California, legislators committed themselves to educating students who sought to obtain a bachelor’s degree from any one of their public universities. The Donahoe Act of 1960 restructured California education, as it established university expectations, outlined funding commitments, and defined new philosophical principles.29 These changes in policies and demographics also took place at Fresno State College. In 1967, the student population reached 9,000, 190 of whom were students of Mexican descent.30 By 1969, students of Mexican descent enrollment rose to 759 out of 13,000 students.31 Slowly, students of color increasingly filled college classrooms and had a presence on campus.
As Chicanas/os entered campuses throughout the 1960s and 1970s, they formed community networks that provided them with the means to navigate higher education in
29 Bady and Konczal, “From Master Plan to No Plan,” 12; In their work, Bady and Konczal note that the Master Plan was set in place to efficiently facilitate social mobility. In the plan, college-bound students who reached the top 12.5 percent of their graduating high school class could attend a University of California institution tuition-free. Furthermore, college-bound students who ranked in the top 33.3 percent could attend a California State University tuition-free. For community college transfers, they now had the opportunity to transfer to a UC or CSU campus and obtain a bachelor’s degree if they met the grade point requirement. In this way, California legislatures directed their efforts at reforming qualifications potential students had to meet in order to entice those Californians to attend a university who would otherwise not have. 30 Estudios de la Raza, “Three Years at Fresno State,” La Voz de Aztlán, 16 February 1970. 31 Estudios de la Raza, “Three Years at Fresno State,” La Voz de Aztlán, 16 February 1970. 17 17 an alienating and hostile campus environment. Across California, Chicana/o students created student newspapers as a means to both create a Chicana/o community on campuses and give it a voice. Chicanas/os at Fresno State College created La Voz de
Aztlán, in this way making Fresno Chicanos part of a growing trend of Chicanas/os publishing work detailing the historical events, social challenges, and cultural heritage specific to the Mexican American and Chicano community.32 It was through the operation and publication of newspapers that Chicanas/os played a critical role in outlining and producing collective knowledge for their communities. These publications and networks informed the way Chicanas/os constructed their identities and fostered an environment for women and men of color to develop strategies for their activism and to create counterpublics to address issues specific to their barrios. Further, Chicana/o print culture allowed Chicanas/os to create translocal communication networks throughout
California, connecting urban and rural communities. Chicanas/os in the 1960s created a new, collective sense of identity that emphasized pride in one’s ethnic and cultural background. Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales’s
1967 epic poem, I Am Joaquín, marked a cultural rebirth among Mexican American individuals and provided Chicanas/os with a cultural nationalism emphasizing brotherhood. Chicanismo, as this nationalism came to be known, allowed Mexican
Americans an identity with which to challenge historical narratives that placed them on the fringes of society. The epic poem located Chicanos geographically within the
American southwest as an exploited community within a colonized territory. The epic poem also created the notion of Aztlán. Geographically, Aztlán existed in the U.S.
32 Originally, Chicano’s titled their publication La Pluma Morena and it served as an ethnic supplement to the university’s newspaper, The Daily Collegian. La Pluma Morena printed its first issue on May 5, 1969 and it ran until October 1969. In November of that same year, students changed the publication to Chicano Liberation, but that was short-lived. By December 1969, they changed the title yet again. Student decided to change the publication and find a title that better captured the philosophies of the Chicano movement, and they settled on La Voz de Aztlán. The name is still in use today. 18 18 southwest; ideologically and politically it provided a rallying point between the different groups within the Chicano movement. The epic poem and the ideology behind
Chicanismo served as a way to unify Chicanos under one cultural and ideological banner.
Gonzales’ epic poem proved monumental in the way Chicanas/os thought about themselves as a people. Chicanas/os at the Denver Youth Liberation Conference in
March 1969 expanded on the new cultural identity first developed in I Am Joaquin, producing El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán, a document outlining a mestizo identity that united all brown people living in the American Southwest. This new mestizo identity, defined by carnalismo and cultural nationalism, became the driving philosophy behind the Chicano movement. Perhaps most importantly, El Plan reflected the growing, collective consciousness of Chicanas/os as a marginalized group, as well as their realization that, to address and correct their social condition within the United States, they needed to organize. Chicanas/os took to Gonzales’ 1967 epic poem of an ancestral homeland and the heroism of Chicanas/os surviving a colonized world and created narratives of their own that served similar purposes. Their epics and creation stories reflected their social and cultural realities and allowed them to construct and express themselves through writing.
In a 1973 piece, “Chicano version of creation,” a Fresno State College student imagined the origins of Chicanos. The student began the story with God as the creator who had to experiment to make the first humans because “he had no recipe.”33 According to the origin story, God made the first man out of clay and placed him in the oven, but God was too impatient and pulled the clay man out too soon. Because of this impatience, “the creature came out white, practically raw.”34 On the second try, God placed another man
33 “Chicano version of creation.” La Voz de Aztlán, 13 October 1973. 34 “Chicano version of creation.” La Voz de Aztlán, 13 October 1973. 19 19 into the oven but left them in the oven too long and “he got overdone,” but the writer notes that “God noticed a definite improvement.”35 So after trial and error, God finally timed it perfectly and pulled out a “beautiful golden brown creature” and said, “I shall call him Chicano.”36 The origin story provides insight to how Chicanos viewed themselves in relation to others. In this case, white men were “raw” and imperfect versions of humans. Interestingly, the writer also mentioned black individuals in the creation story and placed them above white men, but not on equal footing as “perfect” Chicanos. The Chicano author drew parallels between God experimenting to create the perfect being and ideas behind mestizaje.37 The creation story also had a gendered component. In the story, God created the perfect being: a brown male, and “God was happy.”38 This view of society and a Chicano’s position within it placed them in a position of authority over other men and women, and as favored by God. This creation story provides a window into how Chicano’s viewed their place within an Anglo American society. The writer made distinctions between different groups of people and illustrated how society was divided along racial lines. Perhaps unknowingly, he also demonstrated the Chicano community’s underlying view that men were favored, in this case by God, to be leaders. Chicanos carved out a place for themselves and constructed the movement’s collective identity, whether in the form of creation stories or epic poems like I Am Joaquín.
35 “Chicano version of creation.” La Voz de Aztlán, 13 October 1973. 36 “Chicano version of creation.” La Voz de Aztlán, 13 October 1973. 37 Mestizaje refers to the racial blending of indigenous Americans, Africans, and Europeans that occurred during the colonization period. The concept first emerged with José Vasconcelos and his publication of La raza cósmica. His publication celebrated Mexicans’ indigenous heritage while celebrating the creation of a new nation of mestizos who had European, African, and indigenous roots. 38 “Chicano version of creation.” La Voz de Aztlán, 13 October 1973. 20 20
In their first issue of La Voz, the editors at Fresno State College reprinted an excerpt from El Plan. Their chosen excerpt, which ends with “Within the whole world, before North America, amongst the continent of the bronze people, let us stand as one nation, as a union of free people; we are the salvation of the world,” highlights themes of colonization, brotherhood, and cultural heritage.39 In this way, Chicanas/os in Fresno also assumed the new national identity as outlined in El Plan Espiritual de Azltán, and linked Fresno to the larger Chicano community in the 1960s and 1970s. Chicanas/os on campuses across California established student newspapers that addressed issues specific to the Chicano community; in Fresno, Chicano students created La Voz de Aztlán in 1969.
La Voz de Aztlán published its first issue on campus on May 5, 1969. In it, students outlined the purpose of their periodical: to demonstrate “sensitivity, commitment, and fairness to all of its captive readers” in a way the college’s existing student newspaper, The Collegian, failed to do.40 Further, in the first issue the editors stated that Chicano students intended to utilize La Voz “to unite and not incite, to seek cooperation and not revenge, and to end racism and not enhance it,” and to work together because it “is the only real way we can seek and build a newer world.”41 La Voz would operate as an important venue in which Chicana/o students at Fresno State College could address and discuss issues specific to them and their barrios. Students published material that connected the college to their community by highlighting important issues and promoting community events, such as fundraisers, theater productions, job opportunities, and social events. La Voz also played a vital role in disseminating information and providing detailed analysis regarding culture, health, education, and forms of political activism at Fresno State College and the larger Fresno Chicana/o community.
39 “Spiritual Plan of Aztlán,” La Pluma Morena, 5 May 1969. 40 John F. Ramírez, “Chicano editorial,” La Pluma Morena, 5 May 1969. 41 Ramírez, “Chicano editorial,” La Pluma Morena, 5 May 1969. 21 21
Like their brethren across the nation, Fresno Chicanas/os went to great lengths to motivate other Chicanas/os to become more active in the barrios and to join the movement they ultimately believed would bring social justice and civil rights to the
Mexican American and Chicana/o people living in the United States. Highlighting the community focus and the collaborative nature of their activism, many of the early writings in La Voz do not list an author; the few that do list a male author or are printed under a collective identifier, such as “La Raza” or “La Causa.” This practice reflected the movement’s broader practice.
In the very first Chicano Editorial for La Voz, editor John F. Ramírez outlines this theme of collective identity and a collaborative approach to activism, stating, “When we individually or collectively speak in our paper we will most likely speak as our Chicano and Black cultures have taught us and made us feel . . . but yet far more importantly, we should and must speak as members of a far greater group – the human race.”42 Here, Ramírez, in efforts to garner support from Chicana/o readers, encouraged activists to unite and work together “no matter what color or culture.”43 By framing it this way,
Ramírez blurred the lines that allow for distinctions within the movement. For Ramírez, creating distinctions between the community of activists was a disservice to the movement because it fragmented support and weakened the group’s ability to challenge
Anglo American society seriously. Ramírez argued that, rather than point to differences between Chicanas/os in the community, they should identify commonalities and utilize them to inspire other Chicanas/os to mobilize and participate in the movement.
As scholar Marc Simon Rodríguez notes, Chicano publications created and explored individuals’ role within the Chicano movement and the community, and allowed
42 Ramírez, “Chicano editorial.” La Pluma Morena, 5 May 1969. 43 Ramírez, “Chicano editorial.” La Pluma Morena, 5 May 1969. 22 22 them to establish their own organizations.44 In their publications, Chicanos homogenized the movement and argued that Chicanos needed to unite in order to challenge existing socioeconomic and political structures that purposely excluded people of Mexican descent. It was with this logic that Chicanos placed race at the forefront of their struggle for justice. For Chicanos, society was divided along racial lines that prevented them and other people of color from obtaining resources for their communities. For Ramírez in
Fresno, the most effective way to address the issues communities of color faced was by uniting under a single racial banner, positioning themselves against an Anglo American society. To do so effectively, they created narratives that allowed them to rally behind an ideology and bring social change to their barrios.
Common stories of discrimination and unpreparedness united Chicanas/os as they encountered each other on college campuses. In addition to being sites of formal education, schools operate to socialize individuals in the dominate cultures social norms. As racism and classism are interwoven in the fabric of American society, Chicana/o students felt the impact of how these prejudices affected their learning experiences. At best, students of Mexican descent were neglected by their teachers, and at worst, they were actively discriminated against. Even at a young age, these students understood their disadvantaged positions in classrooms, their impersonal relationships with educators, and how the educational system failed to prepare them properly for higher education. Writings in Chicano student publications and testimonios speak directly of instances of prejudice and unfair treatment by teachers and administrators. They shed light on how, even before entering college, Chicanas/os were conscious of their social status. In Fresno, one such oral history, or testimonio, of lived prejudice in the public school system of California’s Central Valley comes from Lea Ybarra, a native of Sanger,
44 Marc Simon Rodríguez, Rethinking the Chicano Movement, (New York: Routledge, 2015), 118; 126. 23 23 twenty-five minutes southeast of Fresno State College. Throughout her early childhood,
Ybarra’s family migrated between California and Texas following the harvest. Her parents decided to settle when the children turned about seven-years-old because they wanted their children to attend school and have a stable living environment. Once the family settled in Sanger, Ybarra’s mother enrolled her at Wilson Elementary. Ybarra demonstrated how intelligent she was at a very young age, as she received excellent marks on her report cards. Her grades were so outstanding that, when her mother enrolled her at Wilson Elementary, the principal angrily exclaimed it was “impossible” for a
Mexican to achieve such high marks.45 By the time she reached middle school, Ybarra ranked third in her class. Ybarra noted that she received mixed support from her teachers throughout her experience in the public education system—some teachers were supportive, some were indifferent, while others were discouraging and unsupportive.46
The inconsistent support Ybarra received from educators was a common experience for students of Mexican descent, and continued into their high school and college experience.
Encountering a lack of academic assistance and encouragement, many of these students did not pursue higher education. Even when there was institutional support, educators and administrators often purposefully discouraged students of color to enroll in college, a fact reflected in the low Chicano enrollment rates at college and university campuses throughout the 1960s and 1970s. While Ybarra recounted positive experiences with teachers who supported and encouraged her to continue her studies, she also recalled negative experiences that could have changed the trajectory of her education and life. For instance, her Civics teacher assigned seating based on how well students performed on exams, placing high scoring
45 Lea Ybarra, interview with author, 15 June 2019. 46 Lea Ybarra, interview with author, 15 June 2019. 24 24 students in the front and low performing students towards the back of the classroom.
Ybarra noticed that “the poor Chicano kids, the guys, were always in the back.”47 She later realized that these practices were meant to harm Chicanos’ self-esteem and self- worth. In another instance, Ybarra recalled, a teacher was irritated that Ybarra always scored high on exams and sat at the front of the class. One day, the teacher purposefully knocked over books in front of the class and demanded that Ybarra pick them up off the floor. When Ybarra refused, the teacher said to her, “Even the mighty fall.”48 In recalling that incident and other similar ones, Ybarra reflected, “I don’t think we internalized what that meant… We knew we were Mexican, we knew we had less money than the White kids who were bussed in from Sunnyside, and the Armenian kids. But I don’t think it
[racism] was a concept that we were truly conscious of. But still the issue of fairness was something that was so obvious.”49 Here, Ybarra demonstrated that even though she and many Chicanas/os did not have the words to describe their experiences yet, they understood that teachers treated them differently than their Anglo American peers. They also understood that their treatment was unfair.
In addition to many teachers’ lack of support and active discouragement, Ybarra also discovered a lack of institutional support for Chicanas/os in school, which increased the barriers they faced when trying to pursue higher education. All throughout her public education Ybarra ranked among the top three of her class. After graduating from high school, knowing she met all the qualifications in order to apply, Ybarra planned to attend college. In the application process, however, she met much resistance from her high school counselor and almost missed the opportunity to apply to Fresno State College. Unfortunately for Ybarra, her guidance counselor was none other than the same Civics
47 Lea Ybarra, interview with author, 15 June 2019. 48 Lea Ybarra, interview with author, 16 April 2019. 49 Lea Ybarra, interview with author, 15 June 2019. 25 25 teacher who had demanded she pick up the books off the floor and overtly discriminated against Mexican and Chicana/o students. When Ybarra went to pick up a college application from the counselor’s office, the only place where she could access one, the counselor refused to give her one. To justify the denial, the counselor stated, “even though you get A’s in high school, you’re going to get C’s and D’s in college.”50 Ybarra left the counselor’s office without a college application. Aware of the counselor’s discrimination against Ybarra, however, a close friend gave Ybarra her own application and asked the counselor for a second one, claiming she had simply lost the first one.51
Ybarra graduated from Sanger High School in 1965 and began her college career at
Fresno State College that fall.
Ybarra’s testimonio demonstrates the discrimination she faced in the educational system and her initial lack of a vocabulary to describe it. However, once in college, those who like Ybarra managed to circumvent the barriers of public secondary education gained the language necessary to effectively communicate the racism and classism they faced. When La Voz surveyed Fresno Chicana/o students about their experiences in public education, they pointed to the educational system’s inaptitude to meet their needs as non-Anglo students. As student Bob Hernández (Figure 1) stated, “With the exception of a few, many Chicanitos are labelled as ‘slow learners’ by slanted intelligence examinations and by teachers lacking in understanding.”52 Chicana Delma García (Figure 1) stated, “Since early experience in grammar school the Chicano student is made to feel inferior. He goes to school with this feeling and finally come [sic] to accept it.”53
As Chicana/o students enrolled and attended college, they quickly realized they had not
50 Lea Ybarra, interview with author, 16 April 2019. 51 Lea Ybarra, interview with author, 16 April 2019. 52 Bob Hernández, “Pensamientos,” La Voz de Aztlán, 19 April 1971. 53 Delma García, “Pensamientos,” La Voz de Aztlán, 19 April 1971. 26 26 received the necessary support in order to succeed in higher education. This, they argued, resulted from the California public school’s system inability, and sometimes unwillingness, to properly educate and prepare students of color.
Figure 1. Chicano student Bob Hernández and Chicana student Delma García respond in the newspapers Pensamientos column. La Voz de Aztlán, April 1971.
They also came to identify other aspects of their lives in which they were neglected and discriminated against. As Chicanas/os met on campus, they stressed the importance of addressing these barriers, and turned to writing to express their concerns and identify challenges. Communicating with their larger community through their writings, published or not, they came to recognize their common experiences, a recognition that fueled their commitment to the Chicano movement.
Fresno Chicanas/os in La Voz argued that the one issue that needed immediate remedy was education. They argued that their unequal access to education posed socioeconomic challenges to them and their communities by denying them equal 27 27 educational and career opportunities. They demanded an equitable education so as to improve their individual lives and grant them socioeconomic mobility, and to also to improve their barrios. Student Cynthia Ramírez wrote a piece regarding the California educational system’s failure to provide many students an equitable education. In her article, “¡Ya Basta Con Los … Educational Inadequacies!,” Ramírez highlighted that issues of race and class dictated the quality of education one received. She stated, “the entire educational system caters to the upper middle class Anglos and almost refuses to recognize the needs of minority groups.”54 Chicanas/os were aware of how their socioeconomic position placed them at a disadvantage, in this case within education. In arguing for better assistance, Chicanas/os identified the root problems: language barriers, lack of financial support, and Anglo American ignorance about minority communities.
More importantly, Ramírez promoted a bilingual education in schools and barrios to bridge gaps between cultures and to be more representative of social realities. Chicanas/os writing in La Voz outlined the benefits of a bilingual education throughout the 1960s and 1970s. In “Bilingual education makes barrios more beautiful,” a Fresno State student wrote that the provision of a bilingual education would not only connect different people, but also improve barrios by allowing community members to participate in policy making, and in implementing and administering better community programs.55 In schools, access to a bilingual education meant that school districts would hire educators and counselors who had similar cultural and social backgrounds to the students they were teaching and counseling. Bilingual education, which activists argued should include Mexican American and Chicano history, would also reform racist and classist school curricula. The objective in demanding a bilingual education in schools,
54 Cynthia Ramírez, “¡Ya Basta Con Los … Educational Inadequacies!” La Voz de Aztlán, 5 May 1969. 55 “Bilingual Education makes barrios more beautiful,” La Voz de Aztlán, 18 October 1971. 28 28 then, was to create and foster environments for students of color to excel, providing them with resources they otherwise lacked. The Fresno State student concluded, “Bilingual education means new roles, new perceptions, and new attitudes.”56
Students at Fresno State College also addressed issues of health. In “Health remains biggest problem,” a Fresno State student identified the poor health and lack of medical assistance in the Mexican American and Chicano community as having the potential to “destroy the heart and soul of our people.”57 Pointing to one major issue within medical practices, the writer explained that in addition to being treated with
“degrading impersonality” by doctors, patients were unable to communicate with medical professions due to language and cultural barriers.58 This often turned doctor visits into a negative experience, and Mexican and Chicana/o patients became disenchanted by and distrustful of the few available medical programs. To remedy this, the writer stressed the importance of Chicanas/os pursuing a medical education, concluding: “the professions of health represent achievements which can ultimately serve to perpetuate our self- determination.”59
Articles like these demonstrate the level of understanding Fresno Chicanas/os had regarding the challenges people of Mexican descent faced, and their writings proposed strategies to remedy issues. To invest in their barrios, Chicanas/os pointed to successful programs such as classes to help establish credit unions and provide industry training. Fresno Chicanas/os argued that educating the Chicano community on practical services would allow individuals better control over their own finances and careers, as well as
56 “Bilingual Education makes barrios more beautiful,” La Voz de Aztlán, 18 October 1971. 57 “Health remains biggest problem,” La Voz de Aztlán, 27 October 1972. 58 “Health remains biggest problem,” La Voz de Aztlán, 27 October 1972. 59 “Health remains biggest problem,” La Voz de Aztlán, 27 October 1972. 29 29 teach them to administer these services in their barrios.60 These services ranged from cinematography classes, to afterschool tutoring programs, to theater productions.
Ultimately, people living in the barrios would have more control over which programs benefit them most and how to best allocate funds within their community. More than providing education in English and Spanish, Fresno Chicanas/os argued that a bilingual education would improve the standard of living for those in the barrio and break cycles of poverty and discrimination by providing Chicanas/os in the barrios with the knowledge needed to navigate American economics and society. As they further argued, having access to equitable health services and to Chicana/o medical professionals to fulfill the community’s health needs was a priority. Contrary to Kenneth Seib’s characterization of
Fresno State students as “classroom zombies” unaware of the political happenings on campus and in their communities, then, the writings discussed above elucidate a growing
Fresno Chicano/a consciousness, as well as an evolving activism focused on not only identifying discrimination, but also offering possible solutions to address it.
As Chicanas/os continued to enroll at Fresno State College well into the 1970s, they pressed forward with their organizing efforts. Through the Chicano student newspaper, they found an important avenue by which to communicate their histories, ideas, and organizing strategies. In this way, student writings created nuances and detailed strategies on how to collectively organize more effectively and engage more activists. Rather than painting activists within the movement with a broad brush, Chicana students like Solís and Saragoza theorized the gradations of organizing in their writings and constantly questioned and redefined each individual’s role within the Chicano movement and the larger Chicano community.
60 “Bilingual Education makes barrios more beautiful,” La Voz de Aztlán, 18 October 1971. 30 30
While in the initial stages of publishing a campus newspaper, articles did not identify an author, but by 1974 Chicanas/os claimed credit for their work in the newspaper. In one of her early writings, “Chicano political consciousness, attitude changing,” Solís traced the long history of Mexican American and Chicano political participation in California’s Central Valley.61 She directly challenged those who argued that Chicanas/os had remained relatively passive throughout the movement years, going further to dispel of mischaracterizations by journalists, reporters, and even other Chicanas/os. She challenged the image news reports painted of Chicanos as a “Sleeping
Giant.” The image and symbolism of a “Sleeping Giant” allowed critics to explain the lack of representation of Chicanas/os at the voting polls, and Chicana/o activists argued that when the Giant awoke, it had the numerical power to change California politics and give power to the Mexican American and Chicano community. Solís argued this narrative undermined a long history of Chicana/o activism in California, and pointed to the heightened Chicano consciousness that drastically increased in the 1960s.62 In this way,
Solís acknowledged previous efforts by California farmworkers from the 1940s and demonstrated that el movimiento, as they understood it in 1974, gained greater momentum and expanded its scope when Chicanos entered higher education under the
Johnson administrations implementation of federal social programs. Rather than viewing the Chicana/o community as a Sleeping Giant who is unaware of the power it yields, Solís argues that the average Chicana/o student is aware of their role in history, in their community, and on campus, and she acknowledges their collective power to push for civil rights.
61 Grace Solís, “Chicano political consciousness, attitude changing,” La Voz de Aztlán, 13 December 1974. 62 Solís, “Chicano political consciousness, attitude changing,” La Voz de Aztlán, 13 December 1974. 31 31
In a three-part series published in 1973, Chicana Juanita Saragoza examined
Chicana/o activism at Fresno State College. She identified issues with the movement’s organizing and methods of mobilizing activists and challenged Chicanas/os to reevaluate and redirect efforts to engage more students. In the series’ first article, Saragoza detailed reasons why many Chicana/o students at Fresno State College remained passive amid a struggle for resources on campus. Saragoza acknowledged the fact that many students worked full-time jobs outside of school and highlighted that lack of coordination between Chicana/o student groups on campus made organizing difficult. However, she also insisted that the problem was more complex. In part, Saragoza argued that hyper-vigilant
Chicano activists exaggerated the picture of passivity by labelling those not fully emerged in the movement as sellouts (vendidos) and White-wanna-be’s (coconuts).63 She criticized hyper-vigilant Chicanos for forgetting their own journey to political activism and for “conveniently overlooking a time when they were in the process of defining what being Chicano meant to them.” She further argued that labelling politically-passive
Chicanas/os as vendidos was “simplistic” and “did not consider the social, political, and economic factors” that shaped individuals in any given environment.64 She concluded her first series article by stating, “We Chicanos who are attempting to make change can no longer afford the luxury of flinging epithets or neglecting the growing number of Chicano students who are not involved.”65 Saragoza did not shy away from reflecting upon or critiquing the inner workings and interactions of Chicanas/os within the movement on campus.
63 Juanita Saragoza, “Chicano students have low profile, complex problems at CSUF,” La Voz de Aztlán, 28 February 1973. 64 Saragoza, “Chicano students have low profile, complex problems at CSUF,” La Voz de Aztlán, 28 February 1973. 65 Saragoza, “Chicano students have low profile, complex problems at CSUF,” La Voz de Aztlán, 28 February 1973. 32 32
Further investigating the seeming passivity of many Chicanas/os on campus, in her second article Saragoza discussed how Anglo American culture had manipulated people’s opinions of the Chicano movement and portrayed activists as “radicals,”
“militant,” and “violent,” thus politically socializing people to disassociate themselves from the movement. 66 These prejudiced attitudes towards and mischaracterizations of activists, Saragoza further argued, created an ultimatum for young Chicanas/os to either join the movement and be one of the “violent” activists, or work through the system like a good citizen and bring resources to their barrios. Within the context of Reagan’s
California, students of color from poor neighborhoods directly felt the effects of budget cuts to education throughout the 1960s. As Saragoza pointed out, even the most optimistic Chicana/o could not hope to achieve much success at social reform through the
Reagan administration, but students were not willing to risk associating themselves with a movement that the dominant American society perceived as irrational and violent.67 Saragoza illustrated the lack of alternative forms of resistance and concluded that this binary form of organizing is detrimental to moment objectives. She concluded by observing how the politically-passive Chicana/o student “exists in a twilight zone, caught between the exposed and naked corruption of this country and a distorted view of the
Movement.”68 In this way, Saragoza complicated understandings of the relationship between the Chicano individual and Anglo American society. In the final article of her three-part series, Saragoza analyzed the intrarelationships between “instant Chicanos” and “veteranos.” She warned against
66 Juanita Saragoza, “Where should Chicano students pledge their allegiance?” La Voz de Aztlán, 14 March 1973. 67 Saragoza, “Where should Chicano students pledge their allegiance?” La Voz de Aztlán, 14 March 1973. 68 Saragoza, “Where should Chicano students pledge their allegiance?” La Voz de Aztlán, 14 March 1973. 33 33 veteran Chicano activists being too quick to ridicule or discredit new participants’ efforts to express their newfound political awareness.69 Further, Saragoza suggested movement veterans meet new activists with patience, not expecting them to “make an immediate political metamorphosis.”70 She concluded by adding to the chorus of Chicana/o student voices that advocated for more Chicana/o counselors and advisors in higher education, a more welcoming environment for new Chicana/o students eager to join student organizations, and creating dialogue among Chicanas/os in order to organize and mobilize more effectively within the movement. In addition to her three-part series challenging already-active Chicano students to offer alternative ways of engaging non- active Chicanas/os, Juanita Saragoza published work speaking to the politically-passive
Chicana/o and critiquing La Raza Studies students at Fresno State College.
Juanita Saragoza’s three-part publication focused on why Chicanas/os on campus remained passive on campus organizing and expanded her scope of desired involvement by encouraging faculty and staff from La Raza Studies department to join efforts in reaching out to non-involved Chicana/o students. According to Saragoza, one problem occurred when some Chicana/o students questioned the department’s legitimacy rather than utilize it as a powerful tool for recruitment and motivation.71 Since La Raza Studies professors deviated from traditional structures of instruction and challenged dominant narratives, Saragoza argued that it led students to question the validity of the methods and material professors taught in class.72 Their search for validity that traditional teaching methods provided, Saragoza assessed, was a disservice to Chicana/o students because it left them expecting their classes and professors to be “super-Chicano,” and when “no
69 Juanita Saragoza, “Students grow politically,” La Voz de Aztlán, 28 March 1973. 70 Saragoza, “Students grow politically,” La Voz de Aztlán, 28 March 1973. 71 Juanita Saragoza, “Student defends La Raza studies,” La Voz de Aztlán, 11 April 1973. 72 Saragoza, “Student defends La Raza studies,” La Voz de Aztlán, 11 April 1973. 34 34 instant magic occurs, they feel cheated.”73 Ironically, students held La Raza Studies professors to a higher standard of knowledge and left them less room for error, even while simultaneously thinking Raza classes were not as legitimate as their other traditional courses. This led to the second issue: students’ thinking that La Raza classes were “a bunch of rhetoric and bullshit.”74 As a result, Saragoza argued that students, particularly politically-passive Chicana/o students, disregarded La Raza Studies as academically inferior and a “waste of time,” leaving enrollment low and participation in organizing slow.75 However, Saragoza acknowledged the faculty’s attempts to change student’s perceptions of the department, their organizing efforts, and the history of their culture and community.
Between 1969 and 1975, Chicana/o students at Fresno State College periodically published work detailing their visions for the Chicano movement. Similar to other sites of resistance in California, Central Valley activists wrote and reprinted in the student newspaper material from other college and university campuses. By 1969 and well into the 1970s, La Voz de Aztlán served as the nexus between campus and the community, and proved to be a vital platform for Chicana/o students to develop and disseminate collective knowledge for their communities. Students published work addressing topics and issues specific to the Mexican American, Chicana/o, and Spanish-speaking communities. Their writings on culture, history, education, health, and political activism demonstrate their self-awareness. Student articles in La Voz demonstrate that students were aware of their disadvantaged positions, both in college and in society at large. As Lea Ybarra’s testimonio illustrates, individuals of Mexican descent clearly identified moments in which they were treated differently and, although they could not grasp the full extent of
73 Saragoza, “Student defends La Raza studies,” La Voz de Aztlán, 11 April 1973. 74 Saragoza, “Student defends La Raza studies,” La Voz de Aztlán, 11 April 1973. 75 Saragoza, “Student defends La Raza studies,” La Voz de Aztlán, 11 April 1973. 35 35 the institutional and cultural discrimination they experienced, they knew their experiences were unlike those of their Anglo American peers. In contrast to mischaracterizations of them as “apathetic classroom zombies,” their writings between
1969 and 1975, and their testimonios thereafter, clearly elucidate that, contrary to Seib’s assessment, Chicana/o students at Fresno State College understood they were citizens of a complex society.76 Moreover, they frequently self-assessed in order to redefine themselves and their revolutionary agenda. In surveying writings within the student newspaper from 1969 to 1975, patterns emerge that provide an opportunity for analysis on how gender shaped activists’ views of themselves within el movimiento.
76 Seib, The Slow Death of Fresno State, 216.
CHAPTER 2: BECOMING CHICANA
The Chicana writer, by the fact that she is even writing in today’s society, is making a revolutionary act. . . In the act of writing, the Chicana is saying “No,” and by doing so she becomes the revolutionary, a source of change, and a real force for humanization. -Rita Sánchez, La Voz, 1977
The Chicana feminist has been calling attention to her socioeconomic oppression as a Chicano and as a woman since 1968. The Chicana feminist has called attention to how racism, sexism, and sexist racism are used to maintain the Chicana woman’s social and economic oppression. . . The Chicana feminist has had to struggle to develop and maintain her identity in spite of the paternal and material tendencies of two social movements to absorb her into their general movements as their own rank and file. –Anna NietoGomez, Encuentro Femenil, 1974
Students at Fresno State College published their work in the Chicano student newspaper, La Voz de Aztlán, and marked the beginnings of their activist presence on campus in 1969. Through their use of the student newspaper, Chicanas/os formed and fostered new methodologies of resistance and identity, and La Voz proved to be the rallying point among students on campus. Following articles, such as those in La Voz between 1969 and 1975, allows scholars to outline the shifts in thought and attitudes between individuals in the movement and their relationship with Anglo American society. When observed more closely, the writings provide insight on views Chicanas/os held about themselves and about their relation to others. More than just a place to announce and document social and political happenings on campus, La Voz provided individuals the space to present, examine, and debate their Chicana/o identities.
Regarding women within el movimiento specifically, what emerges from these writings, is a set of diverse Chicana views about women’s roles both as individuals and within the movement. Further, these writings illustrate Fresno Chicanas’ understanding of the multifaceted nature of their identities. Rather than neatly fitting into binary 37 37 categorizations of feminist v. anti-feminist, as most scholarship on Chicana history attempts to present them, Fresno Chicanas both embraced their feminist and activist identities, and simultaneously defended their traditional roles as Chicana mothers, wives, and daughters. Women’s contributions, especially Chicana’s involvement during the Chicano movement, have been largely ignored within the larger narrative of social protests in the
United States. When we focus our attention on central California, Chicanas in Fresno are further understudied. Any historical analysis that does not account for Fresno Chicana’s voices and stories limits our understandings of social movements within California during the 1960s and 1970s. In published work, the additive method creates space for them by adding a chapter to a book, or extra footnotes at the bottom of the page. In shifting our theoretical framework, Chicana writings complicate our understandings of
Chicana identities and allow scholars to move beyond binary forms of categorization.77 As the Chicano movement began a cultural revitalization for individuals of Mexican descent living in the United States, women in the movement brought with them their lived experiences and shaped early conversations regarding the intersections of race, class, and gender. As their writings and testimonios demonstrate, Fresno Chicanas constantly reflected on and redefined their roles both within the larger Anglo American society and within the Chicano movement. In his 1967 epic poem, I Am Joaquín, Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales created a new identity for individuals of Mexican descent living within the United States, outlining appropriate attributes and roles for men and women. According to the poem, men are “proud and noble,” and “a tornado at full strength,” ideal leading figures of the Chicano
77 Scholars Gabriela Arredondo and Aida Hurtado identify a “third space” which allowed Chicanas to contest their overlooked and undervalued forms of activism, and which established their agency within the movement, Chicana Feminisms, 2. 38 38 movement.”78 Chicanas are “black-shawled Faithful women,” self-sacrificing and faithful to men and their people.79 The image of a suffering woman informed Chicanos’ political organization and led to the movement taking on traditional gender dynamics, with the men as leaders and women in supporting roles.80 Following this pattern, Fresno Chicano writings from 1969 to 1975 glorified Chicanas as strong and self-sacrificing women, while encouraging Chicanos to defend Chicanas against racism, but not against sexism, thus constraining Chicanas to their traditional roles. Chicanos at Fresno State College created art and printed poems in the student publication, La Voz de Aztlán, to express their admiration and appreciation for Chicanas.
For example, in his poem, “Chicana,” student Jesus de la Mancha cast Chicanas in a hyperfeminine light, depicting them as “sensual,” “tender,” “compassionate,” and
“violently humble,” with “a face that has enslaved men.”81 De la Mancha highlighted attributes he viewed as admirable and he used them to describe the ideal Chicana. In their writings for La Voz, Fresno men described Chicanas as a source of inspiration: pure and just, they aid men in need. In his poem, “Adelita,” Fresno State student Enrique Florez wrote, “Men have turned to you/ in hunger and thirst/ and have been satisfied.”82
Although intended to demonstrate only their high regard for Chicanas, Fresno Chicano writings restricted women to their traditional roles, allowing them to thrive only within their secondary roles to men.
78 Rodolfo Gonzales, I Am Joaquín: An Epic Poem, 1967. 79 Gonzales, I Am Joaquín: An Epic Poem, 1967.
80 Alma M. García, “The Development of Chicana Feminist Discourse, 1970-1980,” Gender and Society 3, no. 2 (1989) 222; Blackwell, ¡Chicana Power!, 112.
81 De la Mancha, “Chicana,” La Pluma Morena, 20 October 1969.
82 Enrique Florez, “Adelita,” La Voz de Aztlán, 1972. 39 39
Fresno men’s notions of the “Ideal Chicana” fall in line with the larger social movements’ tendency to portray women as secondary to men. According to Fresno State
Chicanos’ writings, in order for Chicano culture to remain intact, Chicanas needed to work within their traditional auxiliary roles and continue to “mystify and captivate,/ Through natural brown radiance.”83 Since the movement’s inception, though, some
Chicanas questioned how their male counterparts viewed them and undervalued their contributions to el movimiento. Within the larger movement, some Chicanas challenged the long history of their subordination within the larger American society and the identities men imposed on them. They challenged visions of the “Ideal Chicana” because it romanticized their subordination to men and unequal status within the community.
When Chicanas questioned these projected identities that reflected patriarchal values and divided responsibilities with the movement along gendered lines, they were quickly silenced both by men and other women within the movement.84 According to scholar Maylei Blackwell, silencing mechanisms appeared in four major accusations: 1) Chicanas were whitewashed, agringadas, or race traitors; 2) they were sellouts, vendidas, and divisive; 3) they were sexually deviant or lesbians; and 4) they were inauthentic Chicanas and antagonistic to Chicano culture.85 In response, Chicanas published work to highlight their struggles and counter the accusations above, as well as to expand the movement’s platform to include issues of gender inequality.
83 De la Mancha, “Chicana,” La Pluma Morena, 20 October 1969.
84 Lorena Oropeza, ¡Raza Sí! ¡Guerra No!: Chicana Protests and Patriotism during the Viet Nam War Era, (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2005), 110; Marc Simon Rodríguez, Rethinking the Chicano Movement, (New York: Routledge, 2015), 12; Elvia Rodríguez, “Covering the Chicano Movement: Examining Chicano Activism through Chicano, American, African American, and Spanish- language Periodicals, 1965-1973,” PhD diss. University of California, Riverside, 2013, 201; Blackwell, ¡Chicana Power!, 30. 85 Blackwell, ¡Chicana Power!, 30 – 31. 40 40
In 1971, Chicana students at California State University, Long Beach published three editions of a Chicana feminist newspaper. Taking their name from a 1910 Mexican revolutionary woman’s organization, Las Hijas de Cuauhtémoc, this publication marked a shift in Chicana writings on identity, as it specifically developed Chicana feminist theories and practices.86 Las Hijas produced writings that shed light on issues over divisions of labor and prescribed gender roles, which they argued limited Chicanas’ full participation in the fight for civil rights. One of the publication’s founding members, Anna NietoGomez, became also one of the leading figures of a group of Chicanas who recognized the intersection of race, class, and gender in the oppression they experienced.
Las Hijas came to be a space for Long Beach Chicanas to develop a feminist consciousness within the context of their participation within el movimiento, especially as they sought to participate more fully in the Chicano movement on college campuses. In her “Somos Las Chicanas De Aztlán,” NietoGomez claimed equal work for men and women in the movement, asserting:
We Las Chicanas de Aztlan Pledge our work and our fight For relevant education And for the abolishment of the injustices to our people
Mano en mano/ Hand in hand El hombre y la mujer/ man and woman To look within you To look at each other “Somos una nacion/ “We are one nation Somos Aztlan.”/ We are Aztlan.87
86 Maylei Blackwell, “Contested Histories: Las Hijas de Cuauhtémoc, Chicana Feminisms, and Print Culture in the Chicano Movement, 1968 – 1973,” in Chicana Feminisms, ed. Gabriela F. Arredondo (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press), 59 – 61.
87 NietoGomez, “Somos Las Chicanas De Aztlán,” Chicano Liberation, 1969; Translations by author. 41 41
Thus, as early as 1969, Chicanas like NietoGomez outlined for themselves a full, collaborative role within the movement, rather than a partial or secondary one. They belonged to the nation of Aztlán and they focused their efforts on reforming educational institutions, spread awareness of Chicana/o history and culture, and worked equally alongside men to fight injustices against the Chicana/o community.
Writers in Las Hijas wrote extensively and persuasively, their ideas spreading widely throughout the American southwest as part of a translocal communication network. NietoGomez’s piece, for example, was reprinted on the front page of Fresno
State College’s La Voz in 1969.88 Likely influenced by Las Hijas, in the ensuing years
Chicanas at Fresno State College came to use their own writings as a means to foster discussion on issues relevant to Chicanas/os, as well as to constantly redefine themselves and reevaluate their roles within the movement. In the process of sustained critical reevaluation, Fresno Chicanas created evolving, often-contradicting versions of themselves. These changing identities and roles complicate the binary picture of Chicanas as feminists or anti-feminists, elucidating how Fresno Chicanas managed to incorporate newer feminist ideas of gender equality while retaining their traditional, supportive roles, thus creating a new version of feminism unique to Fresno.
Often, La Voz surveyed Chicana/o students on campus and printed their responses in their Pensamientos column. In a 1970 survey, staff writers asked Chicanas on campus, “As a chicana [sic], what are your views on the Women’s Lib Movement?” Fresno
Chicana Magdalena Jasso stated, “I think women should play a more important role in our society than the common domestic one. We need to bring forth our knowledge and skills and combine them constructively with men’s. I do feel, however, that men should
88 Anna NietoGomez, “Somos Las Chicanas De Aztlán,” Chicano Liberation, 1969. 42 42 have some superiority and that the role of “Man of the House” should not fade out.”89
Another student, Martha Martínez, echoed this sentiment, “I believe in equal employment opportunities for both men and women. I’ve seen women perform an outstanding job— just as men would—so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be paid top wages also. But I also strongly believe a woman’s most important job is to take care of her husband and children and that her place is in the home.”90 Further, students Nina Quintana and
Rosalina Moreno commented, “As Chicanas, we don’t find it necessary to prove to society what we are—we know where we stand with our men.” 91 Lastly, Rosalina
Moreno responded, “I believe women are as intelligent and hard working as men, therefore, they should not be deprived of many of the privileges which are exercised by men.”92 Thus, when asked about the Women’s Liberation Movement and ideas regarding gender equality, Fresno Chicanas’ responses were neither simple nor straightforward, reflecting both constant introspective work and a weaving of new notions of feminism with the traditional roles of women (Figure 2). Fresno Chicanas, in their responses, disrupt binary identities in that they simultaneously challenge prejudices and discrimination based on their sex, while willingly acknowledging males as “Man of the
House” and accepting that “her place is in the home.”93 These women elucidate that becoming a Chicana was a process. When placed within this framework, what at first seem to be contradictory responses become instead windows into their evolving
89 Magdalena Jasso, “Pensamientos,” La Voz de Aztlán, 2 November 1970.
90 Martha Martínez, “Pensamientos,” La Voz de Aztlán, 2 November 1970.
91 Nina Quintana, “Pensamientos,” La Voz de Aztlán, 2 November 1970.
92 Rosalinda Moreno, “Pensamientos,” La Voz de Aztlán, 2 November 1970.
93 Jasso, “Pensamientos,” La Voz de Aztlán, 2 November 1970; Martínez, “Pensamientos,” La Voz de Aztlán, 2 November 1970. 43 43 identities. That is, writings published in La Voz as early as 1970 demonstrate women’s practice of self-reflection, as they navigated the intersections of race, class, and gender.
Figure 2. Fresno Chicana responses for Pensamientos column. La Voz de Aztlán, November 1970.
In her 1971 poem, “Who am I?” student Sandi Hernández wrote about her journey to becoming Chicana and finding a place within her community. Her poem began by detailing that, within Anglo American society in the United States, she was “so lost in this world of hate,” with no knowledge of her history or sense of self, instead being 44 44 defined by erroneous and unbearable stereotypes.94 She was, as she described it, “fed up with being categorized…. I HURT, I’M TIRED.”95 Hernández then found her place within the Chicano community, which helped her find both her history and her self. She came to accept fully and celebrate her identity as Chicana: “brown and so full of pride/ I love my people/ In only them, can I fully confide.”96 Claiming a place in the Chicano community, she embraced neither white culture nor other minority groups. She understood that she formed part of a group of people who had a specific history and faced unique challenges, stating how Chicanas/os were “simple and yet so complex” and
“warm, yet so very strong.”97 In her writing, Hernández extolls themes of cultural pride, unity, and perseverance.
Other Fresno Chicanas also asserted their place within the Chicano community, continuing their introspective work and sharing their reflections in La Voz. In their published pieces they continuously questioned, claimed, and redefined their own identities, as well as their positions within both the community and the Chicano movement. In “What is a Chicana?” for example, a student asked three fundamental questions, the first being: What does it mean to be a Chicana?98 For the author, Chicanas were those who were raised in the barrio but attended Anglo-dominant institutions where they “struggled in grammar school and received the lowest standard of education.”99
Pointing to instances of discrimination and inequality, the author identifies these common experiences as one of the fundamental traits of being Chicana. The author then states that
94 Sandi Hernández, “Who am I?” La Voz de Aztlán, 8 November 1971.
95 Hernández, “Who am I?” La Voz de Aztlán, 8 November 1971.
96 Hernández, “Who am I?” La Voz de Aztlán, 8 November 1971.
97 Hernández, “Who am I?” La Voz de Aztlán, 8 November 1971. 98 “What is a Chicana?” La Voz de Aztlán, 22 March 1971. 99 “What is a Chicana?” La Voz de Aztlán, 22 March 1971. 45 45
Chicanas, in order to demonstrate their leadership and intellectual capabilities, had the additional burden of dispelling dominant Anglo American stereotypes that portrayed them as barefoot and pregnant.100 Next, the author asks: What is the Chicanas position in the movement, and what is her relation to the barrio?101 Weaving together movement and barrio, the author defines the Chicana’s role within the movement as an active one in which she works to ameliorate life in the barrio. The Chicana attends school and directs her schooling towards her people’s needs, as she teaches young children in the barrio about their culture and language. The author moves on to differentiate between Chicanas and Chicanos, arguing that, “because she is a woman, she understands she must work twice as hard to prove herself.” Even so, “she does not… forsake her role as a mother and wife. She is a CHICANA!”102 In this way, the author reflects how Fresno Chicanas incorporated new ideas regarding their place in society while retaining their culturally traditional roles, assuming unique Chicana feminist identities. The author concludes, then, by stating that Chicanas served as a bridge to connect “the new ideas set forth by the young and the ideals maintained by the old,” and illustrates how Fresno Chicanas were aware of and embraced the multifaceted nature of their identities.103
In order to navigate and better understand the difficult position their identities placed them in, Chicanas organized conferences. At these women conferences, Chicanas sought to strengthen their sense of self and unite as women of color in order to assist their communities. These conferences, then, provided the space necessary for Chicanas to construct their identities and express their ideas outside of men’s notions of what they should be. In March 1973, Fresno Chicanas travelled to Sacramento, California to attend
100 “What is a Chicana?” La Voz de Aztlán, 22 March 1971.
101 “What is a Chicana?” La Voz de Aztlán, 22 March 1971.
102 “What is a Chicana?” La Voz de Aztlán, 22 March 1971. 103 “What is a Chicana?” La Voz de Aztlán, 22 March 1971. 46 46 the first statewide Chicana Woman’s Conference. There, Chicanas from across the state gathered to discuss their roles in the Chicano movement. The conference organizers’ objective was to create a place for Chicanas to self-evaluate, reexamine their roles, reevaluate their goals, and share their ideas with one another.104 Topics up for discussion included health, politics, education, and the family. Conference organizers assembled discussion panels in order to present new ideas on the role of women, and to hold open and honest conversations regarding the problems they faced. One such problem some Chicanas faced was being charged with creating divisions between Chicanas and
Chicanos when they addressed issues of sexism within the movement. They were accused of being sellouts (vendidas) when they attempted to remedy gender issues. At one of the panels, panelists were asked, “How do you feel about being called a vendida?” The third panelist responded:
In order to understand ourselves, we have to look at our own history. We have to see where we’ve been to know where we’re going. We have to talk to our grandmothers, cousins, aunts and mothers. The scars are still on our faces, our bodies, and everywhere. We’re going to have to talk across differences in age, sex, class and other distinctions so that we can break down the barriers that society has imposed on us.105 Evident in this panelist’s response is her understanding of the intersections of race, class, age, and gender, and the myriad of issues she faced because of those markers in her identity. She understood that, as a Chicana, she carried the responsibility of preserving her community’s history, just as mothers and grandmothers before her.
Chicanas knew they had to turn to their community in order to find their history of
Mexican and Mexican American women, and to continue to expand the intellectual foundations of el movimiento.
104 Ruth Saludes, “Chicanas evaluate goals; aware of new role,” La Voz de Aztlán, 28 March 1973. 105 Saludes, “Chicanas evaluate goals; aware of new role,” La Voz de Aztlán, 28 March 1973. 47 47
The Woman’s Conference included not just panels, but also several workshops, in which attendees participated eagerly. These workshops included topics ranging from health, politics, and legal rights, all with the objective to identify barriers in these aspects of their lives and propose solutions on how to address them. In the Women in Politics Workshop, Chicanas discussed the bill AB 86, which dealt with equal opportunity, and the need for childcare, both topics which directly affected Chicanas. Perhaps most significantly, a group of attendees drafted a set of resolutions they argued would strengthen the movement and reinforce unity, while also bolstering women’s ability to lead. They then presented the list of resolutions to the larger group of women in attendance. The resolutions, which passed unanimously, focused primarily on issues of race rather than gender, echoing the movement’s broader concerns:
2. We feel that all Chicano people have been oppressed as a people and we should not join in that oppression by excluding Chicano men from this conference and future conferences of this nature.
3. We feel Chicano people have been oppressed as a group, therefore we have to fight those social forces such as racism and discrimination as a group.
4. We do not accept that the problems in Chicano communities are internal but rather that they stem from social, economical, and political structures of Anglo- Saxon North American Society.106 Chicanas from across the state concluded they would remain within the Chicano community and work alongside Chicanos towards the same goal of “freedom against an oppressive, domineering society.”107
106 There was a total of four resolutions Chicanas proposed at the conference. Selected are the resolutions which speak more directly to the nature of this chapter. The excluded resolution stated: “1. We feel that our Indian sisters and brothers have been consistently treated unjustly and therefore recognize the Oglala Nation at Wounded Knee South Dakota and support their efforts”, Saludes, “Chicanas evaluate goals; aware of new role,” La Voz de Aztlán, 28 March 1973.
107 Saludes, “Chicanas evaluate goals; aware of new role,” La Voz de Aztlán, 28 March 1973. 48 48
Buoyed by their positive experience at this conference, and influenced by the resolutions attendees passed, Fresno Chicanas chose to construct their identities based on the community’s needs. To promote unity among Chicanas and Chicanos, Fresno
Chicana Ruth Saludes wrote in her report of the conference that “A man should recognize and respect his woman’s new found awareness and potential, visualizing it as a strength to the movimiento rather than a weakness.”108 Saludes argued Chicanas could dismantle oppressive practices, including gender discrimination, from within the Chicano movement, rather than separately from it. Saludes concluded, “the Chicana of today is a new Chicana with a new consciousness…no longer accepting that our place is only in the home, with a husband and family, but this does not mean that we want to exclude those things from our lives.”109 Their challenge of gender discrimination within the movement, even if still embracing traditional values, led to accusations that Chicanas were attempting to undermine the Chicano movement by creating divisions within their organizing efforts. Fresno Chicanas, then, had to defend themselves against accusations from Chicanos as being vendidas, siding with white women instead of brown men by allowing their interests as women to overshadow the collective fight for racial equality.
In 1973, Fresno State Chicana María Zapata wrote in response to those who accused her and other Fresno Chicana feminists of being “women’s libbers.”110 In
“Chicana—not women’s lib,” Zapata argued that Chicanos who sought to undermine and discredit Fresno Chicana feminists did so because men were threatened by women who challenged their subordinate position within both the movement and the culture.111
Zapata speculated, “maybe that’s why many Chicanos feel as they do, since they are used
108 Saludes, “Chicanas evaluate goals; aware of new role,” La Voz de Aztlán, 28 March 1973. 109 Saludes, “Chicanas evaluate goals; aware of new role,” La Voz de Aztlán, 28 March 1973.
110 María Zapata, “Chicana—not women’s lib,” La Voz de Aztlán, 28 March 1973. 111 Zapata, “Chicana—not women’s lib,” La Voz de Aztlán, 28 March 1973. 49 49 to giving orders, and having their women follow them.”112 Zapata traced women’s historical contributions and leadership in social movements, and used examples of women leaders to prove that identifying as Chicana feminists fell in line with women’s historical patterns of activism. For example, she cited the work of labor activist Dolores Huerta, who effectively voiced her opinions and took real action without being marked as a sellout. In response to accusations by Chicanos on campus that she sided with the white women’s liberation movement, Zapata pointedly responded, “Voicing my opinion is not just for women, but for La Raza.”113 She argued that it was inaccurate to associate
Chicanas with the Women’s Liberation movement because “Women’s Lib is a WHITE woman’s trip. Many of us feel that we should not be compared to these white women, since our struggles cannot be compared, either.”114 Zapata concludes by advising, “As for being a ‘women’s libber,’ please don’t shame me with that label.”115 Zapata’s words illustrate that Chicanas understood white women did not include women of color in their feminist agenda. More importantly, her piece highlights that Fresno Chicanas met resistance when they voiced issues specific to women, having to navigate adroitly their precarious positions within the movement. They had to prove that they were not aligning themselves with white feminists, much less plotting to divide the Chicano movement.
From first-hand experience, Chicanas understood that white women did not view them as equals. After Chicana Lea Ybarra was accepted to Fresno State college, she completed her college education and went on to a Ph.D. program at the University of California,
112 Zapata, “Chicana—not women’s lib,” La Voz de Aztlán, 28 March 1973.
113 Zapata, “Chicana—not women’s lib,” La Voz de Aztlán, 28 March 1973.
114 Zapata, “Chicana—not women’s lib,” La Voz de Aztlán, 28 March 1973. 115 Zapata, “Chicana—not women’s lib,” La Voz de Aztlán, 28 March 1973. 50 50
Berkeley.116 While in the final stages of completing her dissertation, she returned to
Fresno and managed to secure a faculty position within the La Raza Studies. From there, she organized the La Raza Studies program into a department, and she secured a position working for Fresno State College’s vice president. As assistant to the vice president, she had two secretaries under her supervision. Ybarra recalled that her secretaries, two white women, refused to complete tasks Ybarra asked of them, even those as simple as placing an order for office supplies. Although the women never voiced their reason, Ybarra described it as driven by racial discrimination. As Ybarra put it, “That’s the arrogance of racism.”117 In her relation to white women, Ybarra faced alienation. She reflected:
I’ve always felt that white women will support—I know this is a generalization— but that white women will support minority men before they support minority women. I don’t know if it’s because they see us as threat or because they see us as more lowly, or not deserving.118 Interactions like those with her secretaries cemented Ybarra’s attitude to the Women’s
Liberation movement, which she knew she could not fully support. She stated that, for white women, it did not matter “how many PhD’s we [Chicanas] have, we’re still grape pickers to them, and they don’t think they have to listen to us.”119 So, she continued, “the assumption that there’s a common alliance between white women and minority women is a wrong one.”120 Further, Ybarra concluded,
We’ve always known, as Chicana feminists, that the struggle is for our entire community, not just us. None of us had equal rights…So I guess it’s been like a parallel fight: fighting for our rights as women and fighting for our rights as
116 Chapter One of this thesis chronicles Lea Ybarra’s experiences in public school, refer to pages 25-28.
117 Lea Ybarra, interview with author, 26 August 2019.
118 Lea Ybarra, interview with author, 26 August 2019.
119 Lea Ybarra, interview with author, 26 August 2019.
120 Lea Ybarra, interview with author, 26 August 2019. 51 51 Mexicans [and Chicanos] and our community… As long as we’re all together working for the same cause, that’s what’s going to move us forward. And so that’s why we [Chicana feminists] never separated our needs from those of men, in terms of the basic things like education, and community, and so forth.121 Fresno Chicanas thus chose el movimiento as their realm of activism, rejecting a white feminist movement that purposely excluded women of color from their vision for social change.
Chicanas/os at Fresno State College printed work in the Chicano student newspaper, which detailed their history, cultural pride, and visions for social change. By shifting our focus to Fresno Chicanas, we shed light on a much-neglected region and expand our understandings of Chicana identity. Their writings demonstrate the variety of identities they produced as they constantly self-reflected and redefined to expand their roles within the Chicano movement. Chicana writings in La Voz between 1969 and 1975 illustrate evolving feminist identities unique to Fresno. Chicanas in Fresno published work detailing their contributions to el movimiento on campus and pushed to include issues specific to women. Further, La Voz allowed Chicanas a venue by which to challenge, expand, and express their multifaceted identities, as their writings reflected both feminist ideas and traditional views on their roles as mothers, wives, and daughters.
What emerges, then, is a Fresno Chicana identity that breaks from conventional categorizations by demonstrating that there existed women who were neither fully radical feminists nor anti-feminists. By studying Fresno Chicanas and adding this missing link to the historiography, we can better understand the inner workings of the Chicano movement in California throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
121 Lea Ybarra, interview with author, 26 August 2019.
CHAPTER 3: BECOMING A CHICANA ACTIVIST
So we adopted the name of Las Adelitas de Aztlán, along with the image of La Adelita. We envisioned strong women who would be supportive and always back one another up. Was this a feminist group? As mentioned, I didn’t call myself a feminist, nor did the other Beret women, but in retrospect we were feminist in fact and in action. Gloria Arellanes, 2015
Chicanas at Fresno State College wrote for the Chicano student newspaper beginning in the late 1960s. In the process, Fresno Chicanas undertook an exercise of self-reflection, negotiation, and redefinition of their roles within the movement, ultimately creating a Chicana identity specific to Fresno. Pointing out contradictions in the movement’s rhetoric, wherein Chicanos spouted ideas of liberation and revolution while relegating women to their traditional roles as mothers and daughters, these women instead embraced a hybrid identity as Chicana activists. The new category combined traditional roles with feminist ones, as Chicanas argued that their roles as mothers, wives, and daughters did not interfere with their ability to be agents for change or their capacity to be leaders within both the movement and the community.
As Fresno Chicanas developed their feminist identities, they symbiotically developed a desire to become activists on campus. Fresno Chicanas took inspiration from other Chicanas across California and created a Fresno chapter of Las Adelitas de Aztlán in 1969. In this way, they formed part of the larger translocal network of women working towards social justice. When examined further, Fresno Chicanas’ organizing differed from the larger translocal network in that it was shaped by their unique feminist identities. Rather than break from male-led organizations, Fresno Chicanas worked in conjunction with them. Las Adelitas organization, then, became the vehicle through which Fresno Chicanas created their own praxis of resistance. Through their roles in Las
Adelitas, Chicanas spearheaded events on campus as they worked alongside male-led organizations to assist the larger Chicano movement, thus becoming Chicana activists. 53 53
Fresno Chicana activism formed part of the larger Chicana/o effort to organize and fight for their civil rights, both nationally and at the state level. The spring of 1969 marked a turning point in Chicanas/os in those efforts as Chicanas/os organized their first major conference. The first Chicano Youth Conference, held in Denver, Colorado in March 1969, set the stage for a collective Chicano identity based on the outlining of a common heritage and history, and the identification of systemic discrimination against peoples of Mexican descent in the United States.122 Outlining this collective identity, Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales’s epic poem, I Am Joaquín, fueled Chicana/o activism and espoused a cultural nationalism embedded with ideas of brotherhood and manhood.
Cultural nationalism, Chicanismo, and brotherhood, carnalismo, provided Chicanos with the revolutionary language and ideology to challenge an Anglo American society they argued discriminated against and exploited them. At a subsequent meeting between
Chicana/o students, faculty, and staff at the University of California, Santa Barbara, the participants discussed possible avenues for resistance within institutions of higher education. As a result of the meeting, attendees produced El Plan de Santa Barbara. In this publication, students and faculty argued for implementing a curriculum that detailed the social and economic inequalities Chicana/o barrios faced. In their estimation,
“without a strategic use of education, an education that places value on what we value, we will not realize our destiny.”123 The plan proposed ways to institutionalize Chicano Studies programs, implement relevant curriculum for Chicanas/os, and establish student organizations to promote unity and political action on university and college campuses
122 For more information regarding the Denver Youth Conference, refer to the above pages 20 – 21. 123 Chicano Coordinating Council, El Plan de Santa Barbara: A Chicano Plan for Higher Education, (Oakland: La Causa Publications, 1969), 9 -10. 54 54 across California.124 Together, the Chicanismo espoused by the Chicano Youth
Conference and the strategies outlined in El Plan de Santa Barbara provided a unified vision and means to fight for social justice for Chicanas/os living in the United States.
The cultural nationalism created through epic poems like I Am Joaquín, coupled with the importance of mobilizing to institute change across college campuses as outlined in El Plan, led Chicano students to unite pre-existing smaller student organizations and establish El Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) in 1969. College students across California formed MEChA chapters as a way to form bonds with one another, while linking individual campuses to the larger movement focused on educational reforms.125 At Fresno State College, students established a MEChA chapter in 1969, becoming part of the larger student movement as “the first step to tying the student groups throughout the Southwest into a vibrant and responsive network of activists.”126 Fresno MEChA members sought to “work in harmony with initiating and carrying out campaigns of liberation for our people.”127 Chicanas/os were at the forefront of student-led protests calling for the college administration to heed its students’ demands. They organized protests, staged sit-ins and hunger strikes, and met with college administrators to demand services for minority students on campus.128 In addition to providing students with the means to organize more effectively, MEChA doubled as a
124 Chicano Coordinating Council, El Plan de Santa Barbara: A Chicano Plan for Higher Education, (Oakland: La Causa Publications, 1969). 125 Marc Simon Rodríguez, Rethinking the Chicano Movement, (New York: Routledge, 2015), 94. 126 “MECHA! THE FIRST STEP,” La Voz de Aztlán, 3 May 1971. 127 “MECHA! THE FIRST STEP,” La Voz de Aztlán, 3 May 1971. 128 In his work, Kenneth Seib chronicles the events at Fresno State College between 1965 and 1977. He illustrates the tensions between administrators and faculty and students, and the struggle to establish and protect the Ethnic Studies Department and the Extended Opportunities Program at Fresno State College, Kenneth A. Seib, The Slow Death of Fresno State: A California Campus under Reagan and Brown (Palo Alto: Ramparts Press, 1979). 55 55 space that allowed members to form bonds with one another. While the organization accepted both Chicanos and Chicanas, in some college chapters MEChA Chicanas slowly realized that their contributions to the organization were being overlooked and their voices often excluded from decision-making. Fresno Chicanas’ concerns echoed those of Chicanas in the movement more broadly. In fact, questions regarding the role of women in the Chicano movement were on conference agendas as early as 1969. In a now infamous declaration from the 1969 Chicano Youth Liberation Conference in Denver, organizers announced, “It was the consensus of the group that the Chicana woman does not want to be liberated.”129
However, some Chicanas in attendance adamantly disagreed with the statement, feeling betrayed by the misrepresentation of their stance. As one reflected, “I felt this as quite a blow. I could have cried.”130 As scholars of Chicana feminism argue, organizers likely reached this erroneous conclusion based on some stances Chicanas embraced. For one, they wanted to dissociate themselves from the Woman’s Liberation movement, which they argued was an Anglo women’s movement and did not represent Chicana-specific experiences and concerns. Additionally, Chicanas did not want to alienate men, with whom they hoped to work with as equals.131 The fact remained, however, that a majority of Chicanas were well aware of gender discrimination and wished to tackle both race and gender inequalities simultaneously. In response to the conference’s underplaying of their concerns, some Chicanas considered leaving the movement all together. Ultimately, they chose to remain within the movement, although not all agreed on how to carry out its vision for social change. Most notably, some Chicanas chose to do the work of the
129 Enriqueta Longeaux y Vásquez, “The Woman of La Raza,” El Grito del Norte, 6 July 1969. 130 Longeaux y Vásquez, “The Woman of La Raza,” El Grito del Norte, 6 July 1969. 131 Blackwell, ¡Chicana Power! 139-140; Sonia A. López, “The Role of the Chicana within the Student Movement,” in Chicana Feminist Thought: The Basic Historical Writings ed. Alma M. García, (New York: Routledge, 1999), 103. 56 56 movement through separate Chicana organizations. Founded throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, these organizations offered the recognition and value of Chicana work that established male-led organizations did not.132 Chicana organizations also allowed them the space to explore alternative avenues of resistance, ones resonant to women specifically. In this way bringing together issues of racial and gender justice, Chicanas argued they formed these female-led organizations not to divide the movement or undermine it, but rather to expand its platform and address multiple issues at once.133 In Southern California, Chicana Gloria Arellanes created Las Adelitas de Aztlán due to conflicts with male leadership and members in the organization to which she belonged, the Brown Berets. Arellanes, grew up with experiences similar to Fresnan Lea
Ybarra’s own discussed above.134 Throughout her childhood and youth, Arellanes attended schools in the San Gabriel Valley, where racial tension and confrontation between Anglo and Chicano students was commonplace.135 Arellanes recalled Anglo students referring to Chicanos as “beaners” and “dirty Mexicans,” and witnessed physical
132 López, “The Role of the Chicana within the Student Movement,” in Chicana Feminist Thought, 105 – 106; Blackwell, “Contested Histories” in Chicana Feminisms, 64; Lorena Oropeza, ¡Raza Sí! ¡Guerra No!: Chicana Protests and Patriotism during the Viet Nam War Era, (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2005), 110; Dionne Espinoza ed. Et al, Chicana Movidas: New Narratives of Activism and Feminism in the Movement Era, (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2018), 16; Anna NietoGomez, “Francisca Flores, The League of Mexican American Women, and The Comisión Femenil Mexicana Nacional, 1958-1975” in Chicana Movidas (Austin: University Press, 2018), 47; Blackwell, ¡Chicana Power!, 88; Dionne Espinoza, “‘La Raza En Canada’: San Diego Activists, the Indochinese Women’s Conference of 1971, and Third World Womanism” in Chicana Movidas, (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2018), 263; Elvia Rodríguez, “Covering the Chicano Movement: Examining Chicano Activism through Chicano, American, African American, and Spanish-language Periodicals, 1965-1973,” PhD diss. University of California, Riverside, 2013, 32. 133 Marta Cotera, “Chicana Conferences and Seminars, 1970-1975,” in in Chicana Feminist Thought, 142 – 144; The Editors, “Introduction to Encuentro Femenil,” in Chicana Feminist Thought, 115; Anonymous, “El Movimiento and the Chicana,” in Chicana Feminist Thought, 81 – 83. 134 For more on Lea Ybarra’s life and her experiences in public education and confronting racism, refer to the above pages, 25 – 29, 56 – 58. 135 Juan Herrera, “¡La Lucha Continua! Gloria Arellanes and Women in the Chicano Movement,” in East of East: The Making of Greater El Monte, ed. Romeo Guzman et al, (London: Rutgers University Press, 2020), 103. 57 57 altercations between Anglo and Chicano students, both male and female.136 These interactions led Arellanes to understand the racial and cultural differences between her and Anglo Americans.137 From this, she formed a political identity in which she centered race at the forefront of her struggle for social justice. In 1967, Arellanes joined the Brown Berets in East Los Angeles, a paramilitary Chicano organization which fought for civil rights and social justice for their barrios. The Brown Berets demanded equal opportunities, denounced and challenged police brutality against people of color, and advocated for more resources in their barrios.138 One such resource the Brown Berets created was The Barrio Free Clinic in East Los Angeles, which provided important medical services to Spanish-speaking communities. Having focused her activism on bringing quality healthcare to the barrio, by 1969 Arellanes came to direct the Barrio Free
Clinic. With Arellanes as director and overseer of its operations, the Free Clinic provided services such as physicals, general check-ups, counseling, sex education, and family planning services.139 The clinic included a number of physicians, nurses, and lab technicians, all mainly under the supervision of Arellanes and other Brown Beret
Chicanas. Although holding a leadership role within the clinic, Arellanes nevertheless encountered many challenges from the Brown Beret male leadership and some members, who undermined her authority at the clinic by ignoring her orders solely because she was a woman. Tension between Arellanes and male-leadership in the Brown Berets intensified in the months after she became the clinic’s director. Arellanes argued that the Brown Beret
136 Mario T. García, The Chicano Generation: Testimonios of the Movement, (Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2015), 123, 125. 137 García, The Chicano Generation, 126. 138 Herrera, “¡La Lucha Continua! Gloria Arellanes and Women in the Chicano Movement,” 104, 106. 139 Herrera, “¡La Lucha Continua! Gloria Arellanes and Women in the Chicano Movement,” 107. 58 58 men did not assist Chicanas in operating and maintaining the clinic, but happily took credit for its success. Further, she approached male leaders and informed them that male
Berets continuously used the clinic as “a place to party” and “brought liquor and women and would leave the place a mess and not clean up.”140 Frustrated with the Brown Berets leadership’s inability, or unwillingness, to correct men’s behaviors, Arellanes and other
Chicanas left the East LA Brown Berets in February 1970. In her resignation letter,
Arellanes states that she and “ALL Brown Beret women have also resigned” because they were “treated like nothings, and not as Revolutionary sisters, which means the resolutions that all our ‘macho’ men voted for have been disregarded.”141 Arellanes exposed the Brown Beret men in East LA as failing to meet the Chicano movement’s revolutionary vision of equality, in this case regarding gender. Arellanes further explained that she and the rest of the Brown Beret Chicanas “found it necessary to resign and possibly do our own thing.”142 For Arellanes and other Chicanas in East LA, working apart from the men and forming their own organization became a necessary step for women to bring to fruition the goals of the movement.
That same month, Arellanes officially founded Las Adelitas de Aztlán, taking inspiration from Mexican women who fought on the front lines of the 1910 Mexican
Revolution.143 In the poster inviting Chicanas to be part of the organization (Figure 3), its founders set the tone for Las Adelitas: members were to help create a space wherein
140 García, The Chicano Generation, 190. 141 Letter of Resignation, 25 February 1970, Box 1, Gloria Arellanes Papers, Special Collections and Archives, John F. Kennedy Memorial Library, California State University, Los Angeles. 142 Letter of Resignation, 25 February 1970, Box 1, Gloria Arellanes Papers, Special Collections and Archives, John F. Kennedy Memorial Library, California State University, Los Angeles. 143 García, The Chicano Generation, 192. 59 59 they could find themselves, have their ideas recognized rather than suppressed, and gain satisfaction in their activism.144
Figure 3. Las Adelitas announce their first meeting. Photo courtesy of California State University, Los Angeles, John F. Kennedy Memorial Library, Special Collections and Archives.
Arellanes did not view Las Adelitas as an organization competing against the
Brown Berets; rather, Las Adelitas was the organization through which Chicanas could demonstrate their leadership abilities outside traditional patriarchal constraints.145
Shortly after Arellanes and the East LA Chicanas resigned from the Brown Berets, the
144 Adelitas Flyer, February 1970, Box 2, Gloria Arellanes Papers, Special Collections and Archives, John F. Kennedy Memorial Library, California State University, Los Angeles. 145 García, The Chicano Generation, 194. 60 60 male Berets realized they could not operate the clinic on their own, and eventually shut its doors. Las Adelitas, though, still committed to the Chicano movement’s vision of providing resources for the barrios, opened their own clinic, La Clínica Familiar del
Barrio (The Family Barrio Free Clinic), in March 1971.146 Although they provided the same services as the previous Brown Beret clinic, Arellanes reflected that Las Adelitas’ clinic proved more successful because “we were more efficient.”147 Having directed the
Brown Beret’s free clinic for so many months provided Arellanes with the experience needed to manage a clinic successfully. When she founded La Clínca del Barrio,
Arellanes contacted her extensive network of board members, lab technicians, and volunteers to acquire funds and materials and to expand La Clínica’s clientele. She stated that, “We had more resources, more funds, more personnel, and all of this added up to a better running operation.”148 Arellanes and her East LA sisters’ success confirmed their strong leadership and organization skills, and proved that once gendered barriers were removed, women’s activism was fundamental to creating and administering resources for
Chicano barrios.
As the decade went on and the Chicano movement gained momentum, Arellanes’ organization in Los Angeles did as well. Throughout California, Chicanas founded chapters of Las Adelitas in college campuses, including San Diego State University, Cal
State Long Beach, and Stanford University. Their main goal, secondary only to the goals of the movement, was to resolve inequalities between Chicana and Chicano students in
146 García, The Chicano Generation, 203 – 204; Name translation is taken directly from Mario T. García’s work in which he adds “free” to highlight the importance of how Chicanas made these services financially accessible, García, The Chicano Generation, 204. 147 García, The Chicano Generation, 205. 148 García, The Chicano Generation, 203 – 204. 61 61 the movement.149 At Fresno State College, Chicanas created their own chapter of Las
Adelitas de Aztlán in 1969.150 Fresno Adelitas outlined their organization’s purpose in a
La Voz piece (Figure 4) announcing its founding: “The organization has three purposes,
1) to project, promote and develop the role of the woman in the field of education; 2) to work in conjunction with our people in determining our destiny; and 3) to offer our services to community and campus organizations, exclusively in conjunction with
MECHA.”151 Fundamental to the creation of Las Adelitas was Chicanas’ brand of feminism, as their first purpose sought to bring attention to and assist women in higher education. Further, Fresno Adelitas wanted to bring change beyond the campus, to work with the Chicano community more broadly to empower its people. Importantly, to meet these goals, Fresno Adelitas intended from the beginning to work alongside MEChA, rather than outside or separately from it. In this way, Las Adelitas de Fresno echoed wider Chicana concerns as they sought to work for the betterment of their community, but differed from East LA Adelitas in that they chose to work alongside male-led organizations. In creating Las Adelitas, Fresno Chicanas provided women an avenue to develop and assert themselves as women while working in conjunction with, rather than separate from, established organizations to help administer community services.
By the very creation of their Las Adelitas chapter, Fresno Chicanas provided women with representation on campus, meeting both Arellanes’s goal for the organization and their own first goal for the chapter. To develop and advance their activism, and to connect Fresno Chicanas with other Chicanas, Fresno Adelitas
149 López, “The Role of the Chicana within the Student Movement,” in Chicana Feminist Thought, 100 – 101, 106. 150 Victoria Chacón, “Chicanas Unite to Form Las Adelitas,” La Pluma Morena, 20 October 1969. 151 Chacón, “Chicanas Unite to Form Las Adelitas,” La Pluma Morena, 20 October 1969; “Adelitas elect new officers for fall semester,” La Voz de Aztlán, 2 November 1970. 62 62
Figure 4. Fresno Chicanas announce creation of Las Adelitas de Aztlán at Fresno State College. La Voz de Aztlán, October 1969. organized trips to attend women’s conferences throughout the state. For their first major trip, Fresno Adelitas attended an all-women’s conference in Los Angeles, California. Sponsored by the Council of Mexican American Women, the conference agenda included issues of politics, education, and economics, and provided Chicanas an opportunity to voice their ideas and be taken seriously.152 Chicanas from campuses across California,
152 Susana Medina, “Adelita Woman Power in Their LA Cosa,” La Voz de Aztlán, 3 November 1969. 63 63 such as the University of Southern California, UCLA, California State University, Long
Beach, along with 30 Adelitas from Fresno State College, attended the conference on
October 25, 1969.153 Fresno Adelitas noted that the conference demonstrated women’s ability to organize spaces for themselves and highlighted their potential to work as a group.154 Working together, conference participants produced a number of resolutions, including support for César Chávez and the farmworkers’ strike, calls for funding for bilingual education, a push for higher Chicana/o enrollment at colleges and universities, and opposition to the Viet Nam war draft.155 In attendance were Anglo women, black women, and other women of color, and, although united on basis of sex, Adelitas Susana
Media and Rosie Gonzalez noted that not all of the attendees agreed on the importance of the issues discussed, namely on issues of race.156 Medina critiqued Anglo women’s
“unwillingness . . . to act as a united powerful organization” and stated that this led to
Chicana students leading a walk-out.157 Gonzalez reflected that the walk-out served as evidence that, as a group, Chicanas “were together.”158
Although marred by disagreements and ending in a walk-out, Fresno Adelitas reflected positively on their first women’s conference experience. As Medina further stated, “In the eyes of many of the Adelitas the success of this conference trip rested on two things – 1. exposure to a conference of this type and 2. exposure and contact with other Chicana students in the Los Angeles area. . . For me, the greatest thing about this
153 Chacón, “Chicanas Unite to Form Las Adelitas,” La Pluma Morena, 20 October 1969; Medina, “Adelita Woman Power in Their LA Cosa,” La Voz de Aztlán, 3 November 1969; Graciela Solis, “Unity Heavy Duty,” in La Pluma Morena, 3 November 1969. 154 Response from Adelita Juanita Castaneda in Susana Medina’s, “Adelita Woman Power in Their LA Cosa,” La Voz de Aztlán, 3 November 1969. 155 Medina, “Adelita Woman Power in Their LA Cosa,” La Voz de Aztlán, 3 November 1969. 156 Medina, “Adelita Woman Power In Their LA Cosa,” La Pluma Morena, 3 November 1969. 157 Medina, “Adelita Woman Power In Their LA Cosa,” La Pluma Morena, 3 November 1969. 158 Medina, “Adelita Woman Power In Their LA Cosa,” La Pluma Morena, 3 November 1969. 64 64 weekend trip was the exchange of ideas which were so diverse and at the time we as
Chicanas were united in spirit.”159 Another Fresno Adelita in attendance, Graciela Solís, echoed this sentiment: “But what really excited me the most was the fact that though many of us disagreed on issues, we had a sense of unity and were able to accept criticism without losing our tempers. This is one thing that many organizations cannot do. But then, “Las Adelitas” do not claim to be an ordinary organization. We are something unique. So all you Chicana girls, get with it."160 Connected to and energized by their engagement with translocal networks, Fresno
Chicanas mobilized further, honing their activism and leadership. They continued to attend conferences throughout the state and, in 1974, hosted their own Third World
Women’s Conference at Fresno State College.161 Spearheading the planning of and preparations for their three-day event (Figure 5), Fresno Adelitas worked with the Asian
Studies, Black Studies, and Native American Studies departments to highlight issues minority women of color faced.162 Adelitas scheduled Native American and black women speakers to discuss problems minority women faced; they organized a panel presentation with the women from different departments who helped organize the symposium; and they featured films to bring attention to the oppression experienced by women.163 Adelitas also organized symposium events focused on highlighting different cultures. They set up an arts and crafts display; organized a bazaar that offered different ethnic foods; scheduled a performance by an all-woman’s theater group; and arranged
159 Medina, “Adelita Woman Power in Their LA Cosa,” La Voz de Aztlán, 3 November 1969. 160 Solís, “Unity Heavy Duty,” in La Pluma Morena, 3 November 1969. 161 “Third World symposium,” in La Voz de Aztlán, 8 March 1974. 162 “Third World symposium,” in La Voz de Aztlán, 8 March 1974. 163 “Third World symposium,” in La Voz de Aztlán, 8 March 1974. 65 65 dance performances by different cultural groups.164 Fresno Adelitas argued that these aspects of the symposium were “entertainment for the purpose of educating and not simply for the sake of entertaining.”165 Staged at Fresno State College and focused on educating attendees, the symposium highlighted not only women’s leadership in education, but also their combined focus on gender and racial justice issues. Events such as the symposium demonstrate that Las Adelitas chapter in Fresno provided Chicanas the means to organize and develop their leadership roles, which directly shaped their activism on campus.
Figure 5. Fresno Chicanas preparing material for a Third World Woman’s symposium. Left to right: Teresa Acosta, Lisa Acosta, Chris Bessard, and Rita Lee. Front Center, Lea Ybarra. March 1974. Photo courtesy of Special Collections at California State University, Fresno.
164 “Third World symposium,” in La Voz de Aztlán, 8 March 1974. 165 “Third World symposium,” in La Voz de Aztlán, 8 March 1974. 66 66
The 1974 women’s conference was not the Fresno Adelitas’ first major event. In fact, from the chapter’s inception in 1969, Las Adelitas de Fresno were extremely busy planning and executing a variety of events. In their first year, for example, they organized the college’s first La Semana de la Raza (Week of La Raza), a series of events for students and members of the community to celebrate their cultural heritage.166 Las
Adelitas were central to organizing the week-long celebration on campus, as they dealt with logistics of scheduling and coordinating speakers and performers.167 They worked alongside MEChA and La Raza Studies faculty to organize the week’s events. As part of the week-long celebration, Las Adelitas brought El Teatro Campesino (The
Farmworker’s Theater) to campus. As one of the first and most successful Chicano performance groups, El Teatro promoted Mexican heritage through their music and performance art, while making political commentary.168 They composed music based on traditional Mexican ballads, performed plays highlighting the struggles many farmworkers faced, and shed light on Chicanos’ shared lived experiences in the United
States. Bringing El Teatro to campus allowed Chicanas/os the opportunity to gather and celebrate their heritage through El Teatro’s performances, while being informed on things such as the grape boycott and farmworker’s injustices.169 Las Adelitas also brought a number of speakers to campus, including César Chávez, who spoke about the plight of farmworkers and informed his audiences of the importance of acting in solidarity with their boycott efforts. The message was a powerful one; student Lea Ybarra
166 “Actividades de la semana,” La Pluma Morena, 5 May 1969. 167 “Adelitas elect new officers for fall semester,” 2 November 1970. 168 “Luis Valdez and El Teatro Campesino,” video, posted 5 March 2009, https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=100751&xtid=3096; Randy J. Ontiveros, In the Spirit of a New People: The Cultural Politics of the Chicano Movement, (New York: New York University Press, 2014), 135 – 136. 169 Ontiveros, In the Spirit of a New People, 138. 67 67 recalls how instrumental it was for her to hear, from a first-hand account, the plight of people of Mexican descent. At the same time, Ybarra remembers being in disbelief at the racism some students displayed towards Chávez and the other speakers:
We went to the rally and then he [César Chávez] started talking about the dignity for farmworkers, the higher wages and all this… And you had these Aggies [students from the Agricultural Department] with boxes, literally boxes, of grapes on the ground and they were eating grapes and throwing grapes at the speaker, at Chávez and the ones that were there… You just think “how racist,” and at that point you realize how they’ve been treating us… And I think that’s when it started coming together [for me]. I participated in the marches… we were going to the anti- war demonstrations…170 Semana de la Raza events and speakers informed the larger Chicano community about their culture and the struggles many Chicanas/os faced. El Teatro provided comedic relief and entertaining music and skits, while simultaneously raising awareness of farmworker injustices. César Chávez spoke on the importance of unifying as a people in order to demand better working conditions for farmworkers. In this way, Las Adelitas met their second goal, to instill a sense of agency within members of their community in order for them to determine their destiny. Chicanas at Fresno State College used their Las Adelitas chapter as a means to fulfill that goal, as their organized events, whether through music or speeches, highlighted important challenges Chicanas/os faced and worked towards empowering others to take action.
Las Adelitas de Fresno did all by offering their services to collaborating with existing community and campus organizations. Unlike East LA Adelitas, who chose to break completely from male-led organizations in order to better administer services, Fresno Adelitas’ decided to work in conjunction with Chicanos in order to expand their reach on campus and in the barrio. Their decision, and the type of activism they embraced, was informed by their unique identities, in that they created services that
170 Lea Ybarra, interview with author, 15 July 2019. 68 68 embraced their traditional roles as caretakers, mothers, and daughters. For example,
Fresno Adelitas provided services for children in schools and in the barrio. They coordinated with the Fresno Civic Ballet Company and arranged a free ballet performance for “carnalitos”, they worked with the Casa Cósmica Drug Center and arranged arts and crafts nights, and hosted annual Halloween parties at the Saint Alfonso
Catholic Church, where they reported 500 children attended.171 Further, in 1969 Fresno
Adelitas coordinated with the director of Winchell Elementary School and established a tutoring program that offered bilingual tutoring to children of all ages.172 For some
Chicanas/os, services that Las Adelitas provided for “the not-so-lucky children of the westside” were “a contribution to humanity.”173 Fresno Adelitas, then, adopted aspects of their traditional gender roles and utilized them to provide needed services to children in the barrio. As they embraced traditional roles, they also incorporated feminist ideas into their activism. Working alongside MEChA, Fresno Adelitas protested on streets (Figure 6), worked with MEChA and the Fresno Brown Berets to organize an anti-war protest, participated in hunger strikes on campus, and boycotted the college’s food services.174 In all of this, Fresno Adelitas put into action their views of feminism by demonstrating that although the movement was primarily male-led, women could work alongside men as equals to carry out the movement’s visions for protest.
171 “Free performance of ‘The Nutcracker’,” La Voz de Aztlán, 13 December 1971; “Adelitas elect new officers for fall semester,” La Voz de Aztlán, 2 November 1970; Cynthia Lugo, “Counseling, tutorial programs, fund raisers planned by Adelitas,” La Voz de Aztlán, 12 October 1973. 172 “New Adelita officers,” La Voz de Aztlán, 22 March 1971. 173 “Halloween Is For Children Everywhere,” Chicano Liberation, 17 November 1969. 174 “Adelitas elect new officers for fall semester,” La Voz de Aztlán, 2 November 1970; “Las Adelitas elect fall officers,” La Voz de Aztlán, 18 October 1971; “Adelitas elect new officers for fall semester,” La Voz de Aztlán, 2 November 1970. 69 69
Figure 6. Fresno Adelitas marching with Fresno’s MEChA chapter. Printed on the front page of the student newspaper. La Voz de Aztlán, 1970.
In all of this, Fresno Adelitas collaborated with organizations in order to expand the Chicano movement’s platform and reach in Fresno. As Adelita president Delma García explained in 1973, “Las Adelitas of California State University, Fresno are planning different projects” so that “all members can find an area in which they may become more involved.”175 In this way, Fresno Adelitas fulfilled their multiple purposes, as outlined in their organization’s announcement, to develop and promote Chicanas’ roles, and to work within the Chicano movement to bring social change to their community in Fresno.
As elucidated by the founding of Las Adelitas chapter at Fresno State College,
Fresno Chicana activism fit within the larger narrative of Chicana organizing. However, it diverged from other Chicana activism in its mode of mobilization. Although clearly
175 By 1972, the California State Legislature extended the tittle and status of “university” to any college’s that met the enrollment and number of department’s prerequisite. Administrators in Fresno decided to change the college’s status and renamed it California State University, Fresno. For the sake of uniformity and because it is the term Chicana/os attending at the time used, this work refers to the college as Fresno State College throughout, Seib, The Slow Death of Fresno State, 194; Lugo, “Counseling, tutorial programs, fund raisers planned by Adelitas,” La Voz de Aztlán, 12 October 1973. 70 70 influenced by their East LA counterparts, Fresno Adelitas chose a different approach to their activism, one shaped by their unique Chicana identities. Rather than resigning from existing organizations, Fresno Adelitas worked instead in conjunction with Chicanos to reach a common goal. This core difference was because Fresno Chicanas brought to bear identities distinct from both Chicanos at Fresno State College and Chicanas across the state and nation, especially those from larger urban areas in California. Becoming a
Chicana activist in Fresno meant to embrace both traditional and feminist roles as a way to achieve the goals of the movement. Meeting all goals of their organization – to promote women in education, empower their people, and serve the community alongside
Chicanos – Fresno Adelitas successfully added a new dimension to el movimiento, expanding it into an intersectional campaign for true social justice along race, gender, and class lines. Their story proves the importance of adding Fresno Chicanas to the larger narrative, as it highlights distinct local experiences and identities, ultimately enriching our understanding of the Chicano movement.
CONCLUSION
The Chicano movement marked a great political and social shift in the United States throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Across California, individuals of Mexican descent demanded civil rights and proposed solutions to end injustices against their communities. While a vast majority of Chicana/o history focuses on major cities like Los
Angeles and Long Beach in southern California, scholars have mostly overlooked areas such as Fresno in central California, mentioning them only in passing. As racial and political tensions intensified during the 1960s, Chicanas/os a Fresno State College organized and demanded an end to discrimination both on campus and in their barrios.
Scholar Kenneth Seib chronicled events related to the movement that took place at Fresno State College between 1965 and 1977. He documented a turbulent episode in Fresno State College history: Chicana/o students and faculty directly challenged a growing authoritative college administration; the college’s administration discriminated against students of color; and students organized and mobilized on campus to demand their right to an education. Seib’s work began the important task of placing Fresno within the larger narrative of student movements. However, his final assessment of the student population, which painted them as passive and apathetic, greatly mischaracterized student efforts on campus. The present study directly challenges Kenneth Seib’s conclusion, elucidating instead that Chicana/o students at Fresno State College were aware of the discrimination they faced in society and how they had been neglected by educational institutions. Particularly, this work focuses on the role of Chicanas at Fresno State
College, revealing how they organized to address the needs of their community.
Until recently, most Chicano Movement historians overlooked Chicanas’ vital role within the movement. Traditional Chicano movement historiography has concentrated on the commonalities shared by the Chicano groups that challenged racist 72 72
Anglo American culture and politics. Overlooking the work Chicanas undertook as part of el movimiento, and in this way perpetuating the treatment of women’s work as subordinate and ancillary, traditional scholarship focuses on Chicanos’ adoption of a subaltern masculine ideal of revolution, centered in ideas of Chicanismo, cultural nationalism, and carnalismo, brotherhood. To complicate this gendered framing, scholars of Chicana history such as Maylei Blackwell, Dionne Espinoza, Vicki Ruíz, Alma
García, and Anna NietoGomez have challenged conventional understandings of social movements and masculine renderings of history by creating new frameworks to better understand group organizing. Blackwell’s retrofitted memory, which identifies gaps and silences in existing historical narratives, undermines historical epistemologies that obscured the history of women of color. Espinoza’s theoretical movida allowed for a reconsideration of Chicana’s roles in el movimiento, revealing that Chicanas navigated around and between male-dominated spaces in order to highlight issues regarding gender and expand the movement’s reach in the barrios. Espinoza’s theoretical shifts departs from the traditional narrative, which centered men’s experiences, and successfully illustrates how Chicanas formed their own praxis of resistance during the movement years.
Building on Blackwell’s retrofitted memory and Espinoza’s movida, this study illustrates the extent to which Fresno Chicanas were involved in expanding the Chicano movement’s platform and organized to mobilize students on campus. Through their writings in the Chicano student newspaper, Chicanas at Fresno State College developed and redefined their unique feminist identities. We find a Chicana feminist identity distinct to Fresno, a hybrid one that forces us to move beyond simple binary categorizations of identity, such as “feminist v. anti-feminist.” The new and evolving Fresno Chicana identities, which incorporated traditional roles and embraced new feminist ideas, then, informed their modes of organizing on campus. Chicanas established their own women’s 73 73 organization, which provided them the means to expand the movement’s reach and effectiveness. It also allowed them an avenue by which to demonstrate their ability to be leaders and revolutionaries, while simultaneously retaining their identities and duties as wives and daughters. Incorporating Fresno Chicana feminism and activism is crucial in order to understand how the Chicano movement manifested locally.
As chapter one posited, writings in the Fresno State College Chicano student publication, La Voz de Aztlán, highlight how Chicanas/os who entered college in the 1960s and 70s came to acknowledge common life experiences, which led to creating a collective identity that served as motivation to become active in the movement. An analysis of student writings reveals the emergence of a Chicana/o consciousness and clarifies how it informed movement activists’ platform to include issues of education, health, and political activism. This discovery directly challenges Seib’s final analysis that students at Fresno State College did not understand their position within a larger, complex society. Chapter 2 examined Chicana writings in La Voz and documents the development of their identities. Their writings and testimonios show that Fresno Chicanas continually reevaluated and negotiated their roles within the Chicano movement, ultimately to develop a unique identity responsive to the intersection of race, gender, and class in the discrimination they experience in society at large and in the movement specifically. Fresno Chicana identity emerges as distinct in that they incorporated new feminist ideas while preserving their traditional roles. The final chapter explores how this distinct identity shaped Fresno Chicana activism, as these women carved out for themselves a space within the Chicano movement. When Chicanas at Fresno State created Las Adelitas de Aztlán in 1969, they provided women with the opportunity to join an organization which valued their ideas and labor. The organization allowed them a space and means to expand their knowledge regarding social and political issues, connect with Chicanas across the state, and organize events on campus. Their activism, which 74 74 conventional historiography relegates to the margins of the movement as merely
“honorable secretary work,” is what created and fostered a sense of community among
Chicanas/os at Fresno State College. Their actions proved critical in realizing the movement’s aim to motivate and inspire Chicanos to become activists in turn. Shifting our focus to Fresno and examining Fresno Chicana writings, identities, and activism specifically, then, allows for a better understanding of the intricacies of the
Chicana/o student movement between 1965 and 1975. Chicanas at Fresno State reflected and wrote extensively about the neglect and discrimination they, and other Chicanos, experienced. The process of introspective work Chicanas undertook produced a Chicana identity unique to Fresno. This identity developed simultaneously with their need to become activist on campus and in the barrio. What emerges is a deeper understanding of how Chicanas constructed their feminist identities and activism, and how these then guided their organizing efforts. Their movement’s, whether in their writings, or in constructing their identities, or forming Chicana organizations, prove that Chicanas were important actors of social change for their communities.
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Seib, Kenneth A. The Slow Death of Fresno State: A California Campus under Reagan and Brown. Palo Alto: Ramparts Press, 1979. Fresno State Non-exclusive Distribution License (Keep for your records) (to archive your thesis/dissertation electronically via the Fresno State Digital Repository)
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