foreign [Music] type of the Chicana is the nurturing woman as women our role is to provide a social and economic support system we free men to work while we prepare the future labor force we are the preservers of the culture and although we work we are not paid wages for our work if we refuse to do this [Music] respective woman comes late in life respect is the recognition of women's strength to endure the hardships of life without complaints these are traditional images of the Chicana but the life and history of the Chicana is not so simple historians ignore the matriarchal roots of the Americas they ignore the great mother she is the Throne of life she who takes life away she reigned as early as seven centuries before the height of the Aztec civilization the great mother goddess of the Earth his birth to life and devour's death Colombian artifacts revealed more than a treasury of Mexican Indian feminine deities with power over life and death [Music] la la they may lead us to the time when Authority and property rested in the communal hands of women [Music] when private property was non-existent time when the great mother gave an abundance to her children history speaks of pre-columbian women prior to the arrival of the Spaniards [Music] [Laughter] [Music] these women domesticate vegetables which we now take for granted they are the paramedics of Aztec society [Music] like many in the Aztec empire women are also slaves and suffer from economic military and religious subjugation it is 1519 Spanish conquistadores land in Mexico in search of gold and silver they find the people revolting against the slavery and tyranny imposed by the Aztec priests here the oppressed Indians Unite with the Spaniards in hopes of gaining their freedom the placala nation offers 12 virgin slaves as tokens of this Alliance one of these slaves Malin sinte Nepal acts boldly to gain her freedom and becomes an interpreter between Mexican tribes and the Spaniard the Spaniards call her Dona Marina the Indians la malinche but she becomes the symbol of a ravaged Mexico for the overthrow of the Aztec rulers does not bring freedom [Music] together [Music] foreign [Music] then according to the policy of the colonial Catholic Church the largest banking institution of Mexico the worship of the Indian goddess of creation death pain and abundance is transformed into the Praying Mother of pain [Music] and the ideology of marianismo the veneration of the Virgin Mary proclaims woman as semi-divine morally Superior and spiritually stronger because of her ability to endure pain and sorrow it guides and controls women's action to serve the ruling class by demanding that woman's primary role be to reproduce and ensure the labor supply for the Patronus [Music] leaves a colonial Legacy the Throne of the patron the image of machismo the patron he controls the lives of all his dominance assumes superiority [Music] he is the protector lawmaker and he is the exploiter marianismo and machismo the colonial tradition of a colonized people it is 1610. colonial rule is maintained from the Mississippi River to the Pacific coast by 1793 there are some 20 000 Colonial settlers in New Mexico are women and the life of these women for most it is similar to other Colonial settlements and varies according to geography and social class [Music] [Music] among the Pueblo Nation women's work is highly valued Mexican women are taught to be in haradoras they plaster Adobe for the missions and also for the homes of the common Folk in the ranching aristocracy women supervised the mestizo and Indian servants yet the struggle for civil liberties and for freedom is also a part of the legacy of each Mexican woman and man foreign 17th century the 10th Muse of Mexico is a passionate believer and writer for the rights of women she defends for mujeres the right to education in her autobiography entitled LA respuesta or the reply however her ideas are unwelcomed threats of investigation and inquisition come from the church fathers must finally give up her only wealth her Library and writings until 1871 do women gain the right to higher education in Mexico and today la Cruz is the symbol of women's struggle for education josefa Ortiz de Dominguez is another celebrated Woman of Mexico in the 1810 Independence Movement led by Hidalgo josefa is sentenced and imprisoned for her participation and commitment against exploitation and slavery still misery and slave pnage continues even after Independence has been gained 15 years after Independence Mexico is challenged by the Yankees and Sam Houston declares the Anglo-Saxon race must persuade the whole Southern extremity of this vast Khan the Mexicans are no better than the Indians and I see no reason why we should not take the land [Applause] in 1836 Santana the president of Mexico grants Texas its independence in exchange for his freedom the Mexican-American War begins 10 years later when General Zachary Taylor invades Mexico by 1848 New Mexican lands are territories of the United States powerful individuals and corporations take over the land from the Spanish aristocracy in the southwest and the exploitation of the Pueblo and mestizo peasants is continued [Music] women and men rise against this new aggressor in Brownsville Texas is Stefano Cavazos loses her land to the Yankee settlers who are protected by General Taylor defense it's called trespass and many Texas Rangers meet their death sipping poison at the old woman's tea parties or at the hand of her son Juan Cortina leader of the Texas rebellion of 1859. 1873 Industrial Development creates a demand for cheap labor which in turn stimulates working men and women to unite against unfair working conditions and slave wages Lucia Gonzalez Parsons one of the leaders of the growing labor movement reminds men that their co-workers are women and that they must always support and organize for the issues of working women that the ruling class uses the wages of women to reduce the wages of all working people [Music] the struggle against exploitation also grows stronger in Mexico as the corporate Giants begin to control Mexico's industrial economy [Music] by 1910 a revolutionary Consciousness is ignited throughout Mexico by such people as the magon brothers that's Adelitas [Music] some women disguise themselves as men like Valentina Ramirez some attain the rank of general like Carmen Robles middle class women join political groups such as the women's socialist Brigade in their cause all see Liberation as the outcome of the revolution Guerrero writes for the equal distribution of land for both men and women she points out that every individual should enjoy full rights of citizenship and rather than depend on marriage for a livelihood women should have an independent economic base however the Zapata plan yayala omits these ideas and grants land to all Mexican citizens women are still denied citizenship outside of marriage the people's struggle leads to the formation of a new constitution in 1917 and although Progressive it does not stop the already growing control of the rich who claim to govern in the name of the revolution Promises of the Revolution are frozen [Music] coupled with the bad economic conditions of Mexico and the new demand for cheap labor in the United States migration of the Mexican peasant north of the Rio Bravo grows rapidly between 1900 and 1930. as the Southwest makes the transition from a rural to an industrial economy women joined the working ranks owners of garment factories are beckoned to Texas with a promise of cheap unorganized labor one-third of the women who work in the Texas garment industry are chicanas they earn as low as two dollars a week for a 14-hour day as domestics or in laundries while some men earn two dollars a day working on the railroad women are the cheapest source of Labor and so our traditional role as Homemaker is extended into the labor market in the face of tremendous hardships women take the lead with male co-workers in 1938 Emma tenayuka leaves the pecan strike in San Antonio Texas wages are cut and workers from 130 plants strike in protest Emma organizes the strike files a suit against the city hall and is Victorious however nowhere are wages cheaper than in the fields [Music] where many are deported on payday workers Association of the 1920s to the United Farm Workers of the 1970s Farm Workers struggle against exploitation and fight for the right to unionize suerta a leading crusader is the first vice president of the United Farm Workers and a tough negotiator in working out Union contracts there's so much that we can do but the first things that we have to make our of our minds number one I'm going to make a commitment for two Justice I'm going to make a commitment to help people my life and that's a really important thought because Our Lives is really all we have in 1968 Alicia Escalante organizes the first Chicana welfare rights organization he fights for the access of Social Services for those of low income the unemployed and the welfare recipient there is a widening gap of communication is made to see that we are forgetting that in order to regain our rights of freedom of opportunities we have to stay United the employment training educational and social needs of women in the Los Angeles area are served by the Chicana service Action Center a Grassroots organization founded by Francisca Flores today it is necessary for her to continue to struggle to achieve an education to achieve skills that will enable her to participate in the total community dropouts welfare mothers women laid off from work abandoned wives women over 40. even college graduates are in search of employment today 11 of all working women are in the factories 28 of them are Chicanos they earn about thirty two hundred dollars a year however the struggle continues as we arm ourselves with Progressive ideas and actions to combat exploitation and like workers all over the world we fight for better wages decent living conditions and education we fight for bread and roses [Music]