Viola Casares | |
|---|---|
 Petra Mata and Viola Casares | |
| Born | 1944 Mexico |
| Nationality | Mexican |
| Known for | Activism with Fuerza Unida |
| Movement | Fuerza Unida |
| Awards | Ohtli Award |
| Website | http://www.fuerzaunida.org/ |
Viola Casares (born 1944) was the founder of a group called Fuerza Unida - an activist group in San Antonio, Texas. [1]
In the 1990s, Viola Casares and 1,250 Mexican and Mexican-American women workers at Levi Strauss & Company [2] were laid off overnight. [3] [4] Together, Viola Casares and Petra Marta, also laid off from Levi, started Fuerza Unida [1] [5] and co-directed the grassroots co-operative. The group coordinated protests against Levi Strauss & Company for the lack of corporate responsibility to workers. In the late 1990s, Levi did a second round of lay off and this time offered workers a severance package of roughly $30,000 per worker. Casares representing Fuerza Unida asked the company to negotiate a similar package for the 1990s former employees. [6] [7] She received the Ohtli Award for her work in community activism from the government of Mexico at the National Convention of League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in San Juan Puerto Rico on July 17, 2009. [1]
Levi Strauss & Co. is an American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's brand of denim jeans. It was founded in May 1853 when German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California, to open a West Coast branch of his brothers' New York dry goods business. Although the corporation is registered in Delaware, the company's corporate headquarters is located in Levi's Plaza in San Francisco.
The Brown Berets is a pro-Chicano paramilitary organization that emerged during the Chicano Movement in the late 1960s. David Sanchez and Carlos Montes co-founded the group modeled after the Black Panther Party. The Brown Berets was part of the Third World Liberation Front. It worked for educational reform, farmworkers' rights, and against police brutality and the Vietnam War. It also sought to separate the American Southwest from the control of the United States government.
Chicanismo emerged as the cultural consciousness behind the Chicano Movement. The central aspect of Chicanismo is the identification of Chicanos with their Indigenous American roots to create an affinity with the notion that they are native to the land rather than immigrants. Chicanismo brought a new sense of nationalism for Chicanos that extended the notion of family to all Chicano people. Barrios, or working-class neighborhoods, became the cultural hubs for the people. It created a symbolic connection to the ancestral ties of Mesoamerica and the Nahuatl language through the situating of Aztlán, the ancestral home of the Aztecs, in the southwestern United States. Chicanismo also rejected Americanization and assimilation as a form of cultural destruction of the Chicano people, fostering notions of Brown Pride. Xicanisma has been referred to as an extension of Chicanismo.
The Chicano Movement, also referred to as El Movimiento, was a social and political movement in the United States inspired by prior acts of resistance among people of Mexican descent, especially of Pachucos in the 1940s and 1950s, and the Black Power movement, that worked to embrace a Chicano/a identity and worldview that combated structural racism, encouraged cultural revitalization, and achieved community empowerment by rejecting assimilation. Before this, Chicano/a had been a term of derision, adopted by some Pachucos as an expression of defiance to Anglo-American society. With the rise of Chicanismo, Chicano/a became a reclaimed term in the 1960s and 1970s, used to express political autonomy, ethnic and cultural solidarity, and pride in being of Indigenous descent, diverging from the assimilationist Mexican-American identity. Chicanos also expressed solidarity and defined their culture through the development of Chicano art during El Movimiento, and stood firm in preserving their religion.
Chicana feminism is a sociopolitical movement, theory, and praxis that scrutinizes the historical, cultural, spiritual, educational, and economic intersections impacting Chicanas and the Chicana/o community in the United States. Chicana feminism empowers women to challenge institutionalized social norms and regards anyone a feminist who fights for the end of women's oppression in the community.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) is a national non-profit civil rights organization formed in 1968 by Jack Greenberg to protect the rights of Latinos in the United States. Founded in San Antonio, Texas, it is currently headquartered in Los Angeles, California and maintains regional offices in Sacramento, San Antonio, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.
Partido Nacional de La Raza Unida is a former Hispanic political party centered on Chicano (Mexican-American) nationalism. It was created in 1970 and became prominent throughout Texas and Southern California. It was started to combat growing inequality and dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party that was typically supported by Mexican-American voters. After its establishment in Texas, the party launched electoral campaigns in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and California, though it only secured official party status for statewide races in Texas. It did poorly in the 1978 Texas elections and dissolved when leaders and members dropped out.
Fuerza Unida is a workers' activist group based in San Antonio, Texas, which led a lengthy series of protests against Levi Strauss & Co. over the company's closing of production plants in the United States. They have also been active in environmental activism and protests against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
This is a Mexican American bibliography. This list consists of books, and journal articles, about Mexican Americans, Chicanos, and their history and culture. The list includes works of literature whose subject matter is significantly about Mexican Americans and the Chicano/a experience. This list does not include works by Mexican American writers which do not address the topic, such as science texts by Mexican American writers.
The following is a timeline of Latino civil rights in the United States.
Manuela Solís Sager (1912-1996) was a Mexican American labor leader, union organizer and educator. She is best known for her work organizing with Mexican women in Texas during the 1930s, where 40% of the total Mexican population were employed almost exclusively in low paid, low status jobs.
The Chicana Rights Project(CRP) was a feminist organization created in 1974 to address the legal rights of poor Mexican-American women. The organization was guided by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and created by Vilma Martinez. The project was headquartered in San Francisco and San Antonio.
Las Hermanas is a feminist, autonomous Roman Catholic organization created between 1970 and 1971 for Hispanic women who are involved in the Catholic Church. It was incorporated in Texas in 1972 and was the first group in the Church in the United States to represent Spanish-speaking women. Las Hermanas has worked for the improvement of the lives of religious Hispanic women and their communities. They are outspoken critics of sexism in the Church and their communities. Las Hermanas is very political and has taken part in protests and other civil rights actions. The organization is currently considered to be on "hiatus," with plans to continue their work in the future.
Mexican American Women's National Association, known today as MANA, A National Latina Organization, advocates for equality and empowers Latinas through leadership development. MANA was founded in 1974, making it one of the oldest active Mexican-American advocacy organizations, and as of 2000, it is considered the largest Latina organization in the United States. The organization was formed to address the intersection of Mexican-American and women's needs for equal rights. The founders created MANA with the intent of having a Latina-oriented organization. MANA publicizes and addresses Latina perspectives and needs through Social movements, Leadership education, and Advocacy within federal, state, and local governments. They have been involved with multiple major social movements throughout their history. These include advocating for the Equal Rights Amendment and Reproductive rights, as well as social movements on education, leadership development, women's healthcare, and racial discrimination in the work. MANA currently operates from its home base in Washington, D.C. and has local chapters across the nation.
The Farah strike (1972–1974) was a labor strike by the employees of Farah Manufacturing Company, a clothing company in El Paso, Texas and New Mexico. The strike started at the Farah plant in San Antonio in 1972 when the Hispanic women, called Chicanas, led by Sylvia M. Trevino, at the company demanded a labour union formation to fight for better working conditions. The two-year long strike included 4,000 individuals, of which the majority were women.
Sophie Gonzales was an activist and union organizer from San Antonio, Texas. She became the first Mexican-American female organizer of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU). In 1959 she organized the Tex-Son Garment company strike. She served as a union organizer for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) in El Paso, Texas. She organized the 1965 strike at Hortex Manufacturing Company and the 1971 strike at Levi Strauss.
María Antonietta Berriozábal is an American activist and author living in San Antonio, Texas. In 1981, she became the first Hispanic woman to serve on the city council of San Antonio, where she served District One for ten years. She became a local activist for the Chicano movement aligning with members of the Raza Unida Party such as Rosie Castro.
Maria del Rosario "Rosie" Castro is an American civil rights activist and educator from San Antonio, Texas, who has been involved in several prominent groups, such as the Young Democrats of America, the Mexican American Youth Organization, the Committee for Barrio Betterment, and the Raza Unida Party. She is the mother of politicians Julian and Joaquin Castro.
A Mexican American is a resident of the United States who is of Mexican descent. Mexican American-related topics include the following:
The Esperanza Peace and Justice Center was founded in 1987 and was mostly made up of Chicana activists. They are an activist group looking to unite the world and San Antonio on its issues concerning diversity and spread peace around the world. During its early years, they were active and voiced out against the KKK, they used mural projects that engaged art skills at a young age, and they focused on including the Queer community with an Art Exhibit in Texas. The Esperanza Peace and Justice Center continues to be an outspoken force to this day who advocates for peace and justice.
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