This curriculum unit focuses on the Civil Rights Movement from the Latino perspective.
Its conceptual framework revolves around the Chicano Movement in the southwestern United States. The unit is a combination of standards for teaching a foreign language, research on the Chicano Movement as a power effort, a political and a social quest for justice for migrant farm workers, and a historical entryway for Latino students. The research part of the unit starts with a historical perspective focused on a few dynamics of Mexican American heritage, including phases of Mexican immigration and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, as a promise to take care of Mexican nationals in the lands of Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Colorado after the end of the Mexican-American War. The unit discusses problems and disputes that arose over the lands, associated with practices of discrimination. These practices, according to the research, were the foundations of the Chicano Movement, along with political developments at the time. Lastly, the unit offers two lesson plans and appropriate Web sites to develop a well-rounded lesson, so our heritage student population is able to learn about the history of some of their ancestors.
(Developed for Spanish, grades 7-8; recommended for Spanish, grades 7-12)
