Reading Assignment: Your reply (under Comments) is due before class on Monday, January 30. Remember, you don’t need to answer all or even any of the questions, but your response should demonstrate you’ve done and thought about the readings. Be sure to check and make sure your response posts.
Maylei Blackwell, ¡Chicana Power! (43-90)
How would you describe the women who made up the Chicana activists in Las Hijas de Cuauhtémoc? What were their backgrounds and experiences prior to come to Cal State Long Beach? What sense do you have of them as people?
What were the problems Chicanas going to college in the late 1960s and early 1970s experienced? Which were the same and which were different from those experienced by Chicanos? How did Chicanas cope with these problems?
How did involvement with the Chicano Movement influence the Chicana students? How did they change it and how were they changed by it?
What were the issues surrounding Anna NietoGomez’s election to the leadership in her campus MEChA? How was her leadership opposed?
What was/is “political familialism”? Relate Blackwell’s description of it to our earlier readings.
From where does Blackwell trace the origins of Chicana feminism? Who were these early role models?
What were some of the issues involving sex and sexuality revealed in the oral histories? What details were the most striking? How does it related to “chingón politics”?
The Chicana activists in Las Hijas de Cuauhtémoc were dynamite. Anna NietoGomez repeatedly emphasized that “the experiences and backgrounds of Chicanas [were] not monolithic,” which oral histories helped further demonstrate and proves to be crucial to the Chicana Movement (from ¡Chicana Power! 51 ). Also it reinforces the idea that dominant women from the feminist movement should not group all women of color’s experiences into one category because each woman is important to learn about and valuable to the movement. Despite the fact Las Hijas were raised in different households, they shared a relentless commitment to improving the status of women in the Chicano Movement and an immense bravery to challenge the system. What is amazing is that these women were young girls when they began forming their political and social views. Many kids from our generation rarely think about social problems and politics because they are consumed by pop culture and trivial matters. These women were very mature and advanced for their age because they were willing to sacrifice their personal life, dating life, etc. in the interest to benefit their cause. Early on they were infused with a passion and seemed to have a calling to denounce the injustices that surrounded them which begun in their home life. A Chicana Feminist who noticed right away was Anna NietoGomez who was born in 1946 and was third generation. She lived in a segregated community on West side of San Bernadino County and went to San Bernardino Community College until she transferred to Cal State Long Beach in 1967. She was exposed to racial discrimination which led her with the help of other students to form the United Mexican American Students, UMAS which aided to provide a sense of community and solidarity for Chicano/a college students. Some of the other Hijas de Cuauhtémoc were Sylvia Castillo (b.1952), Sonia Lopez, Leticia Hernandez(b.1952), Corinne Sanchez, etc., whom even though had diverse upbringings and came from traditionally gendered homes were brought together because they all had a complete culture shock in college, which was very emotional and stressful. However, instead of giving up or getting discouraged, they were fueled with activism and motivated to create change. These women placed all their sweat, tears, and most of all their heart into the Chicana movement.
Chicanas going to college in the late 1960s and early 1970s were experiencing a culture shock because many of them had grown up in neighborhoods that were predominantly Latino. Since they were among the first Chicanas to go to college, they felt intimidated and discriminated against because they were an underrepresented group on campus. As NietoGomez, reveals, she felt alienated because everyday someone around her asked “What are you?” She had come from a community where that was never a question because everyone identified themselves as a Chicano but once she set foot in college, she was a minority. Another problem that both Chicanos and Chicanas faced was for the men, feeling “guilty about not contributing economically to their families; the women felt guilty and selfish for not helping their families economically, not helping their mother’s raise their siblings, or not beginning to have families of their own with all the social pressures that existed” (55). Chicanas coped with these problems by creating different groups and organizations around campus that gave them a sense of a family. They created organizations that allowed them to have a family away from family and many of them because counselors at the EOP services offered to incoming Chicano students to help them find a supportive community. I think this is still an important concept that can be seen in a college campus even today. There are many Chicano students that are still first generation in their family to go to college, and even though the struggles might be slightly different, they still look up to other role models, that have been through similar struggles and concerns being the first to go to college just as women feminists had role models from the twentieth century. Some of these early role models included Lucia Eldine Gonzalez who helped organize the 1886 march of 80,000 workers that launched a day-long general strike on what would come to be known as the first May day. Another was Luisa Moreno born in Guatemala who began organizing a Latina garment workers’ union to fight deplorable working conditions and Josefina Fierro de Bright who organized the first national meeting of El Congresso de Pueblos de Hablan Espanola. Both of these women fought to have women’s rights included in the national Latino civil rights agenda.
Two striking things were that women didn’t have a role in leadership positions and their views and ideas were taken for granted at meetings, that was, until they began cussing. “Learning to cuss was empowering” for NietoGomez as a woman in UMAS. It surprised me that women had to lower themselves to using vulgar language to “become one of the heavies” (67).
Anna NietoGomez faced many issues surrounding her election and eventual leadership on her campus MEChA. When she represented her campus MEChA at meetings, other leaders would look down on her group, assuming that it was weak since its leader was a woman. Not only did she face opposition from others outside her campus, she also faced opposition from members from within her own group. Some of the men in the group undermined her by holding separate meetings. They even went as far as holding a fake funeral and memorial of Anna NietoGomez and placed the tombstone in front of the club’s office.
Chicanas going to college in the 60’s and 70’s faced tough challenges. In the chapter many voiced similar experiences as they entered college. They didn’t really have many connections to people with a similar background as them. They felt alone and cutoff form the rest of the campus. Even when there was EOP, where they made connections with older college students who were the mentors to the freshmen students, they still faced problems. Some males were overwhelmed with the power and abused their role and position on the incoming freshmen women. These mentors would try to abuse their roles on the freshmen women to get sexual favors from them. Many Chicana dropped out not due to bad grades, but guilt that they felt from not being with their families or helping them economically. While reading this chapter, I thought back on my own experiences. I’m glad that LMU offered Latino Overnight and Freshmen Overnight, so that we could form connections with people with similar backgrounds and incoming freshmen, so that we could make some connections when we entered our first semester.
In the 1960s and early 1970s Chicanas experienced a sense of alienation, as the majority were the first in their families to attend college; and despite the fact that their families stressed the importance of attaining an education, some experienced a mixed of contradictions. One of the prominent aspects of attending college was feeling guilty for the difference in living space. NietoGomez describes this as a form of survivor guilt, “[t]heir standard of living had risen drastically [in the dorms[, and yet their parents’ or their families’ standard of living was still […] low” (¡Chicana Power!, Blackwell, 55). The women also felt guilty for not staying home to help raise their siblings. It was a big issue for parents to have their daughters go away to college far away because they did not want them to be “seen as if [they were] out there whoring” due to their conservative social views (¡Chicana Power!, Blackwell, 56). This was the case with Leticia Hernandez’s parents. Yet another constrain was the lack of knowledge of the ins and outs of college for being the first in their families to go to college. One example is when Leticia Hernandez missed her first class because she was not aware of the fact that there are no bells signaling the beginning of class time in college.
On the other hand, Chicanos also felt guilty for not being able to provide for their families economically. This derives from the traditional cultural expectation that men are suppose to be providers and have the responsibility to assist the family’s economical needs. Blackwell describes of an incident where NietoGomez demonstrated how happy she was to see her Chicano friend at Cal State Long Beach and he completely dismisses her, because he does not want to be seen associated with people of color (¡Chicana Power!, Blackwell, 57). He was trying to fit into the mainstream culture of the university space, white, upper class, blonde students.
These feelings of isolation and survivor’s guilt are still things that first generation college students face, and more so when they come from low socioeconomic backgrounds, specifically here at LMU.
The first Chicanas to go to college in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s experienced many hard ships. It was a big reality check and for many it was their first time away from home and their families. Chicanas and Chicanos also experienced alienation and discrimination for the first time in their lives. They were in a new environment that they were not accustomed to because they were used to living in all Chicano communities. Now, they were on an Anglo campus where they were “made to feel invisible literally, ethnically, and culturally unintelligible,” and people questioned their identity (57). Others turned to conformity and tried fitting in with the white kids, and were ashamed of being Chicano/a.
Chicanos and Chicanas also suffered from the guilty feeling that they had left their families behind. “The men felt guilty about not contributing economically to their families; the women felt guilty and selfish for not helping their families economically” (55). Going to college, gave Chicanas a new freedom where they didn’t have to worry about cooking, cleaning, and babysitting. However, Chicanas still had a low retention rate, even though; they had higher G.P.As compared to the Chicanos. This was mainly because Chicanas dropped out because of unplanned pregnancies. Chicanas did not have access to birth control and men took advantage of their vulnerability during this transitional period in their lives. It’s unfortunate that some of these struggles still occur today. Just like Yara had mentioned, these feelings of isolation and guilty still occur, especially among first generation students.
The testimonies within the section From Barrio to University: The Promise and Challenge of the College Experience for Chicanas in the Late 1960, were very insightful and caught my attention within the first quote by Cindy Honesto. She states that education is the key to breaking out of the stereotype of the Chicana tradition of being dependent on a man and I couldn’t agree more. Blackwell addresses that some individuals don’t believe women should gain an education because they are therefore outside their gender role when trying to gain an education. But women began slowly supporting each other in the university environment in the 1960s.
However Blackwell includes statements from individual’s personal experiences that many struggled with finishing a degree when having the chance to gain the education. From not having the family support, being outside ones element, and maintaining school and a social life began to be too much for most. The testimony of Leticia Hernandez was one of the stories that I appealed to the most. Having an inspirational grandmother but having parents that didn’t trust her the stress overpowered her and she failed to keep up. The 1960s showed a diverse array of events that either supported women in higher education or dragged them down. Society has grown tremendously and the Chicana movement is still in full support of women gaining an education.
I was quite amazed at the obstacles that Chicanas had to face as they began to venture into the university settings during the 1960’s and early 70’s. Transitioning into a new environment can be challenging in many ways, as anyone might know, however the additional hardships that these young girls faced were certain to make daily life that much more difficult. For example when NietoGomez explains when she first entered the college I was speechless to learn that Chicanas were so heavily discriminated against. She goes on to say that they were meant to feel invisible which resulted in not only students but professors blatantly ignoring her and walking away as she tries to speak with them. And the people that did talk to her simply asked what she was, so much to the point of which NietoGomez would have to wake up and ask herself “what are you?” I felt even worse at the fact that her own friend had neglected to speak with her and instead turned his back as if ashamed.
There are plenty other examples of discrimination that Chicanas faced but something else that caught my eye was that NietoGomez had never seen the word Chicano before until she saw the boy with the sign. I think this kind of shows the lack of literary work revolving around Chicana/o’s during this time period. It was simply an oral word to her, something that she only heard in her community.
Anna NietoGomez and the girls at Cal State Long beach who both contributed to Las Hijas the Cuauhtémoc, were women who had experienced the devaluation of their work first hand with their peers in the movement. Although they believed in fighting for the rights of their culture, they couldn’t help noticing the injustices being performed as they worked through the movement. Consistent battles to create awareness, while learning new ways in which the Chicano men attempted to hold them down, became the norm during gatherings. Eventually, despite future criticisms that attempted to shut down the group, Chicana activists continued to establish themselves. I believe this pushed them to seek things like leadership roles (a shown in the election where NietoGomez became president of UMAS) and re-establish themselves there.
One of the origins of Chicana activism, as stated by Blackwell, includes the increase in Chicana students as per the Higher Education Act of 1965. This is also the origin of what drove Chicana students to become involved. Because they encountered new experiences on college campuses, and sought to correct the retrofitted memory of female involvement in the Mexican revolution, Chicana feminism grew and spread with the Hijas the Cuauhtémoc (and other) publications.
Throughout Chicana Power, I am continually struck by certain contradictions. I am simultaneously reading Violence GIrl by Alice Bag, and she makes a point to discuss that dualities are a huge of Mexican culture, so I’ve been hyperaware of that and it has colored my understanding of Blackwell’s book. The contradiction that stands out most to me is that of the influence of the traditional Chicana woman. On the one hand, Mexican history is rich with the memory of strong women who stood on the front lines, fighting with their men. They are the cornerstones of their families, providing strength and stability. It also, however, being this source of strength and stability that threatens their greater freedom. They (and their families) feel that they are needed in the home. To seek a better life at a college far away may feel like abandoning their family, abandoning their duty. The hesitation to let the Chicana go out in the world and procure an education was not merely a black-and-white issue of Chicano men thinking their women were less deserving or less intelligent. Oftentimes fathers stressed the importance of an education and encouraged their daughters to seek one, yet simultaneously believed that as a woman’s place was at the head of domestic life, that was where they should stay. This struggle played out internally in the minds and hearts of Chicanas in college as well. They had always been told to seek a better life and get educated, but generations of mothers who had stayed home and cared for their families harbored a nagging sense of guilt at tossing away culture and family. In conclusion, it seems to be that the historical cultural narrative of the Chicana is that of a strong, independent, fighting woman, but the personal cultural narrative of being a wife and a mother above anything else was constantly at odds with this.
“In order for Chicanas to even begin to control her destiny, she must have access to higher education,”(page 54). As Cindy Honesto mention in 1971 with Las HIjas de Cuauhtémoc, an education opens up many door, especially to a Chicana who was never really allowed this opportunity. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, this was the first generation to receive access to higher education. So it was a fairly new concepts for their families, who probably like mine understood the importance of education but not the lifestyle or what it meant to actually achieve that education. Some of the Chicanas found themselves unsupported by their familias. But it was challenges like these they had to overcome to start to pave the path for Chicanas like myself. Their families expected them to carry the responsibilities of other Latinas, learn to clean and cook and keep a man happy, but at college a Chicana was learning there was much more to life than that. She was learning the power behind her voice. Yes she was ignored sometimes but that didn’t mean she gave up, the values of hard work and working towards an end goal which had been instilled in her didn’t let her. She established an hermanidad with her fellow Chicanas and formed groups such as Las Hijas de Cuauhtémoc to become in a sense their new familia but more so to be each other support. I feel like all of this is very relevant at least to me nowadays even though it is 2012 and not the 1970’s because it is this same constant battle of finding balance between school, my family life and my own life which I constantly find myself in. Its sad to think that because these three parts of my life, which make up who I am, don’t always agree, I have to sometimes play different roles to cater to that part of me. I wonder how exactly the Chicanas of the 1970’s did it? The only thing I know because it is 2012 is that it is possible since there exist proof, the legacy these women left behind.
The only words I can use to describe the women leaders of Chicana movement is strong-willed and brave. If you wanted to be a women leader during this time, you need both of these traits because the Chicano men didn’t want your voice to be heard. For example, when NietoGomez became president and beat out her male candidate at Long Beach State, the men constantly still tried to undermine her. Anna had to go as far as numbing her feelings to cope with the constant plot to take her down. She had to sacrifice potential friendships of male and females, so she wouldn’t be vulnerable to attacks at her position. The first generation of Chicana women to go to college had it very tough since they just were vulnerable since it was most of their first time with such freedom. It was bad enough that some felt guilty for going to school and not being at home helping their moms raise the family and take care of the house, but they faced other challenges as well. The Chicano men who were leaders in the group would take advantage of the nieve freshmen by using the movement to guilt the girls into sleeping with them. Some girls would get pregnant and be forced to drop out of school not because they couldn’t handle the work, but because they had to take care of their child. Campus life wasn’t easy either since teachers would ignore Chicano/a students and they also faced open racism from their fellow students. It was a lot of problems a Chicano/a had to face during the first generation of college goers.