Years of Conflict and Growth 1965-1995 By: Tyra, Naomi, Abigail, - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Years of Conflict and Growth 1965-1995

By: Tyra, Naomi, Abigail, and Sergio

Civil rights and civil disobedience

César Chávez and Dolores Huerta found the UFW (Tyra)

❖ César Chávez and Dolores Huerta organized mostly Hispanic and Filipino migrant laborers by Creating the National Farm Workers Association, later renamed the United Farm Workers Association. ❖ The UFW struggled hard to improve working conditions, wages, and housing for migrants and their families. ❖ In its greatest triumph, the UFW organized a five-year national grape boycott against large grape growers until the growers recognized the UFWA and signed contracts that helped improve workers’ lives and labor. ❖ The UFW used marches, strikes, and other boycotts to secure additional workers’ rights and benefits.

Dolores Huerta César Chávez https://www.yo utube.com/wat ch?v=YzMepB zH3pM&list=P LhB2qce6o6dn c_Q3YdcTqnZ BDO1uXEXPv &t=8s&index= 14

Reasons for loss of land grants (Tyra)

❖ New Mexicans were required to prove ownership of their land grants before the American Court of Private Land Claims. ❖ Many land-grant heirs could not prove their land ownership because they could not produce required land-grant documents. ❖ As valuable as these papers were, they were often lost or destroyed over time. ❖ Many land-grant heirs could not prove the size of their grants because the grants had been given in earlier times where their ancestors had no access to modern surveying techniques. ❖ Some owners weren’t able to pay property taxes under the American rule. ❖ Other individuals lost their land because they had to pay off debts to local merchants. ❖ Community grants were sometimes lost when they were sold to land-development companies

Reies López Tijerina and La Alianza Federal de Mercedes (Tyra)

❖ Reies López Tijerina listened to New Mexicans describing the loss of their land grants and vowed to keep them. ❖ At first Lopez Tijerina used peaceful methods to rally his followers and gain public support ❖ On February 2, 1963, he organized La Alianza Federal de Mercedes (Federal Alliance of Land Grants). ❖ Unfortunately, López Tijerina and La Alianza soon turned to more drastic, violent methods of protest. ❖ On June 10, the police arrested López Tijerina, after causing the largest manhunt in New Mexico history. ❖ López Tijerina faced several trials, and was found guilty. ❖ He was sentenced to two years in federal prison for his first sentence. ❖ López Tijerina was later found guilty on other state charges, and served additional prison time. Reies López Tijerina

Chicano politics (Tyra)

❖ Many Hispanic youths sought change, starting on their own college campuses in New Mexico. ❖ Activists demanded that their schools recruit Hispanic administrators, and offer classes on Hispanic history and culture. ❖ Calling themselves Chicanos, protesters were especially active at New Mexico Highlands University and the University of New Mexico. ❖

• Dr. Frank Ángel was hired to lead Highlands in 1971, becoming the first native-born

Hispanic to serve as a university president in the United States. ❖ At UNM, a Chicano Studies program was established in 1971 and additional Hispanic faculty were hired. ❖ Jerry Apodaca was elected as the first Hispanic governor of New Mexico. ❖ Joseph Montoya represented New Mexico in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1961-1965 and in the Senate from 1965-1977.

Tragedy in Gallup, 1973 (Tyra)

❖ Tension was especially great in Gallup where Navajos often faced discrimination by local businesses and residents. ❖ They felt particularly exploited by bars and liquor stores that sold them alcohol, adding to the tragic problem of alcoholism in the tribe. ❖ Native American activists focused their wrath on the mayor, Emmett García, who sold liquor to Navajos at his Gallup Inn yet offered no effective treatment for alcoholism in his role as the city’s leader. ❖ Navajo students at the University of New Mexico were especially upset when Mayor García was appointed to serve on the UNM Board of Regents. ❖ Native American students such as Larry Casuse, voiced their opposition to García’s selection at a highly charged board of regents meeting. ❖ Frustrated that García’s nomiation was not withdrawn, Casuse and a fellow Navajo kidnapped García from Gallup’s city hall on March 1,1973. ❖ Marching GarcÍa through town at gunpoint, Casuse and his friend forced the mayor into a local sporting goods store. ❖ Gallup police soon surrounded the store, and a shoot-out ensued. ❖ García escaped, Casuse’s companion surrendered, but Casuse was shot and killed.

Blue lake victory, 1970 (Abby)

❖ Despite early 20th century promises the northern pueblo’s rights to Blue Lake were not adequately protected. ❖ New campgrounds, water contamination, and the construction of new roads around Blue Lake only worsened the situation. ❖ Taos Pueblo leaders performed a series of nonviolent political strategies. ❖ Flyers were handed out to the tourists visiting the pueblo explaining the issue of blue Lake and urged tourists to write to their senators in support

• f the Taos Pueblo’s claim to Blue Lake.

❖ Pueblo leaders published a pamphlet called “The Blue Lake Appeal” in

• 1965. It was sent to newspapers, politicians, churches and other
• rganizations. The pamphlet generated support for Taos Pueblo from

across the country. ❖ Pueblo leaders Paul Bernal and Juan de Jesús Romero went to Washington DC to appear before congressional committees to speak on the issue of Blue Lake. ❖ President Nixon signed the law giving Taos Pueblo sole possession of Blue Lake on December 15,1970.

Movie about Blue Lake

Bobbie Kilberg: The Return of Taos Pueblo's Sacred Blue Lake ...

Hate crimes (Abby)

❖ After the 1973 death of Larry Cause hate crimes began occurring around Gallup and in Farmington. ❖ Five Navajo men were robbed , tortured an mudrdered in Farmington. ONly three of the five murders were ever solved and the teenaged boys found guilty were given short prison sentences. ❖ Native American were outraged by the short sentences and staged protests and boycotts in the Spring of 1974. ❖ The protesters demanded an end to police brutality, fair treatment from local merchants and the closing of bars and liquor stores that targeted Navajos.

Women and the Equal rights Amendment (ERA) (Abby)

❖ In the early 1970s women began to organize to gain additional rights for themselves. ❖ Their main concerns had to do with workplace inequality which included hiring, promotion and equal pay. ❖ An Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was passed by congress in 1972 and sent to the states for acceptance or rejection. If thirty-eight states accepted the ERA i=within seven years it would be added to the US constitution. New Mexico was one of 35 states in support of the ERA. ❖ Feminists used peaceful methods to show their support of the ERA while conservatives often resorted to scare tactics to deter states from approving the ERA. ❖ Some claimed that the passage of the ERA would lead to women be included in the draft or that unisex bathrooms would be required in the workplace. ❖ The ERA never passed on a national level but is law in twenty states including New Mexico.

Map (Abby)

Albuquerque Carlsbad Grants Rio Rancho Roswell Tierra Amarilla Vaughn

Song: corrido de Dolores Huerta (Abby)

New Mexico in the later Cold War

Vietnam War (Naomi)

❖ Vietnam was split into two, the north and the south. The north was controlled by a communist government. While the south was controlled by a government that United States and its allies supported. ❖ Trying to reunite both sections stalled since “communist forces mounted ever-greater attacks against French military positions in the South” this made the French withdraw from the war in the mid-!950’s ❖ United States sent military advisors to train the Vietnamese soldiers. They believed if Vietnam fell into communism, so will all of Southeast Asia (domino theory).

U.S commitment in Vietnam (Naomi)

❖ By mid-1960’s the war in Vietnam grew larger. South Vietnam was unable to fight off communist aggression by themselves so they asked the United States for additional aid (money, soldiers, and matériel). The United States did as they requested, sending more than half a million troops in just a single year in 1969. ❖ The U.S. passed a new conscription law; drafted nearly 2 million men, between the ages 19-25 for 8 years (1965-1973). ❖ Daniel Fernandez; born in Albuquerque and moved to Los Lunas. He volunteered to serve the U.S. army. Once he finished his basic training, they sent him into combat in Vietnam. On February 18, 1966, died from sacrificing himself by throwing himself on a grenade to save his army patrol.

Anti war protests (Naomi)

❖ The war was starting to seem less likely to get better. Many Americans began to protest against the hopeless war and against the draft. ❖ Antiwar protest began across the nation especially in college campuses. Many would show their opinions on the war by burning their draft card and/or moving to Canada to avoid drafting. ❖ Many New Mexico students were active in the national peace movement, especially in UNM. This wasn’t their first protest, they protested against a local business who were segregating in the early 1950’s. Protests were held defending free speech, they replaced the college campus American flag with a flag featuring a fist in the air, fights occurred during the protests. ❖ More than two hundred colleges and universities had to end their spring semester early to be able to calm down everything.

Recruiting veterans (Naomi)

❖ Many veterans felt discriminated for being a part of the war. ❖ Veterans suffered physical ailments and psychological disorders from their combat experiences and torture as a

• POW. Many suffered PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder),
• ther 75,000 vets suffered physically (cancer from exposure

to Agent Orange). ❖ Twelve New Mexicans were still listed as MIA (missing in action).

Cold War dangers (Naomi)

❖ New Mexico was a probable target for a nuclear war

• utbreak since there were nuclear research labs, major

testing ranges, and nuclear missiles. Also nuclear accidents and misguided test missiles were likely to happen. ❖ Dangers of uranium mining was still high for both miners and anyone directly or indirectly exposed to radioactive waste.

Nuclear winter (Naomi)

❖ Carl Sagan created the nuclear-war theory. He believed that

• ne bomb from either the U.S. or from the Soviet Union would

equal all the bombs that have been dropped in WW2. He also said that a war with such powerful weapons would result in killing billions of people, wiping off 90% of the world’s population, blotting the sun, plunging the earth into deep freeze, and mass starvation.

WIPP (Sergio)

❖ New Mexicans grew concerned about the risks involved with storing and transporting nuclear waste, as they questioned the government's ability competently transport and store nuclear waste, as well as the skills possessed by the individuals responsible for responding to possible emergencies involving nuclear waste. ❖ In response to the public’s stigma surrounding the topic, the US government proposed the establishment of WIPP, otherwise known as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. ❖ To sway public opinion in favor of the project, the government promised to

• nly store low-level waste, use well tested and reliable storage canisters

and to improve the roads that the waste was to be transported on. ❖ For obvious reasons many New Mexicans were not convinced and chose to peacefully protest the idea, similarly in fashion, to the civil rights protests. ❖ However, after many years of debate and discussion WIPP was established and waste was put into circulation on March 26, 1999. ❖ It has since then housed more than 1000 canisters of waste.

Dependency and boom/bust economies

(Sergio )

❖ Due to New Mexico’s continues reliance on the Federal Government, the state began to experience it’s fate become largely reliant on the decisions and well-being of large corporations and the federal government. For instance, if the business opportunities provided by these large outside forces was to become not as substantial the whole of the state would the economic impact. ❖ For example, the mining town of Dawson was closed in the early fifties by decision of the Phelps Dodge Corporation, this not only led to the unemployment and forced relocation of the miners of Dawson, but also the progression of events that would lead to closing of all coal-mining camps in

• state. This would have serious implications for of course the miners and their

families, but also for the towns that relied heavily on the business provided those same miners. ❖ This was a common economic occurrence for New Mexico, the booms or busts were almost entirely reliant on the larger outside forces, (the US government, or third party corporations)

❖ While New Mexico faced the problem of economic dependence, and while smaller more vulnerable communities were often crippled by said dependence, larger hubs of urban development began to grow both economically and structurally. ❖ This growth can be most attributed to the fact that these urban centers, relied less on one source of outside influence, and more so on a larger variety of outside involvement. ❖ New Mexico’s urban growth can be most easily measured by factors such as Albuquerque’s and Las Cruces’ quickly growing population, Rio Rancho’s unlikely ascension from nothing to the state’s sixth largest community, the addition of a third representative in the US house of representatives and even the quick expansion of Yellow Page numbers. ❖ New Mexico’s urban cities experienced a boom in growth due primarily with the lesser reliance on one single entity, which allowed for economic stimulation and prosperity.

Growth (Sergio)

Picture

Urban expansion (Sergio)

❖ A blend of both old and new economic activity helped with the stimulation and growth of the urban communities. ❖ Economically vulnerable establishments still chose to employ thousands of New Mexicans in an attempt to grow the economy. ❖ Tourism allowed for a large assortment of businesses to be established. (Ski resorts, casinos, golf courses, etc.) ❖ New Mexico’s kind weather and cheaper living expenses were largely to blame for the influx of retirees moving to the South-West. Due to this fact, health-care facilities along with retirement homes were opened up to serve the needs of the aging citizens. ❖ Even things such as manufacturing, which has never been a deeply woven sector of the New Mexican economy saw growth, major manufacturers began to host

• perations in the ever growing urban centers of NM. Companies such as GTE

Lenkurt, Honeywell, Motorola amd General Foods established factories in Albuquerque.

• Urban expansion and development proved to serve quite positively in the favor of

NM citizens, however, as with all things the growth also had its fair share of problems.

• The renovation and development served not only to expand and to add on to what

was previously in place, but also to brashly change what was once held to be important.

• In ABQ, famous homes such as the Huning Castle, and businesses such as the

Alvarado Hotel were destroyed and used as nothing more then mere space for a parking lot.

• Companies were known to establish factories that not only negatively contributed

to the environment, but also provided low pay and unsafe work environments.

• The influx of business due to the prosperity often saw that corporations would

start large plants, only to pay the workers poorly and then to close down when economic conditions worsened, leaving thousands of NM’s unemployed.

More growing pains (Sergio)

Crime, especially the Santa Fe prison riot, 1980 (Person 4)

• The increasing crime rates in NM were yet again one of the

repercussions of urban development.

• Because of this, the conditions in the state-penitentiary in Santa Fe

became crowded, corrupt and miserable.

• Due to this, in 1980 the inmates of Santa Fe rioted in what became

the nation's second worse riot.

• Crime not only grew greatly in Santa Fe, but all of New Mexico, with

5,550 crimes committed for every 10,000 people in the US, and 6,547 crimes committed for every 10,000 New Mexico residents.

• Once highly respected streets like ABQ main street and entryway

for Route 66 became crime ridden and a symbol of the ever growing issues that came with urban development.

Works cited

Melzer, Richard, et al. A History of New Mexico since Statehood. University of New Mexico Press, 2011.