Civil Rights Movement Spreads

Civil Rights Movement Spreads

Objective: I will be able to explain how Hispanic New Mexicans continued their efforts to reclaim lost land grants.

The Movement Spreads

The Civil Rights Movement inspired other minority groups in New Mexico. Following King's nonviolent methods, New Mexico's minorities fought for and won many rights of their own.

United Farm Workers

Many Mexican migrant workers came to the United States as part of the Bracero Program. They came to New Mexico to work, planting and harvesting crops. Many stayed and became part of New Mexico's Spanish speaking population. 

United Farm Workers

Although they came to the United States to escape poverty in Mexico, the situation here was not always better. Working conditions on the farms were often terrible, and the pay was very low. Organizing these men and women into a labor union was difficult because they often moved from one farm to the next. A labor union is an organization of workers who join together to achieve common goals, such as better pay or safer working conditions. 

United Farm Workers

Well aware of these problems, Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, a native of New Mexico, organized the United Farm Workers Union (UFW) in 1962. Chavez and Huerta strongly believed in King's nonviolent methods. As a result, the UFW used nonviolent methods to protest on behalf of farm workers.

United Farm Workers

The UFW's most successful protest was a nationwide boycott of grapes. A boycott is a form of protest where people refuse to buy from a business whose practices they dislike. For seven years, from 1968 to 1975, millions of Americans refused to buy California grapes until grape farmers improved conditions for their workers. The boycott worked and improvements were made.

Multiple Choice

An organization of workers who join together to achieve common goals is known as...

• Union Pacific

• United Workers

• Labor Union

• Western Union

Multiple Select

Which TWO people started the United Farm Workers Union?

• Dolores Huerta

• Cesar Chavez

• Martin Luther King Jr.

• Bill Richardson

Multiple Choice

A form of protest where people refuse to buy from a business whose practices they dislike.

• Embargo

• Export

• Boycott

• Girlcott

Open Ended

Exit Ticket: How did Cesar Chavez & Dolores Huerta help the farm workers?