Recognizing Las Chicanas

This section of the Picket Lines on Paper focuses on the broader Chican@ movement while emphasizing the vital role of Chicanas within struggles for labor rights, education, political representation, and social justice. Although women were often pushed into low-paying, undervalued work, Chicanas did not stand helplessly by in these movements; instead, they acted as leaders, organizers, writers, and activists who helped sustain and strengthen them.

Centering Chicanas like Yolanda Alaníz alongside the broader Chicano movement more accurately highlights perspectives and contributions to labor movements that have historically been overlooked or underrepresented.

In the 1977 article “Viva La Raza,” Alaníz argues that the Chicano movement stood at the forefront of broader struggles for labor rights, racial justice, and social equality in the United States. Writing in The Freedom Socialist, Alaníz describes how generations of discrimination, land dispossession, and economic exploitation pushed Chicano communities toward militant political activism and labor organizing.

The article highlights the role of farmworker movements in shaping Chicano political consciousness, emphasizing demands for fair wages, decent working conditions, housing, and healthcare. Alaníz also criticizes U.S. immigration policies and the exploitation of undocumented Mexican workers, arguing that growers and employers benefited from migrant labor while supporting deportation and discrimination against those same workers. She frames solidarity between Mexican and Chicano workers as an important part of international labor activism.

A major focus of the article is the leadership of Chicanas within the movement. Alaníz explains that Mexican-American women often worked in low-paid jobs while also confronting sexism, racism, and unequal educational opportunities. Despite these barriers, Chicanas played leading roles in organizing protests and building alliances between students, workers, and local communities. 

The article ultimately presents Chicana activism as central to both labor organizing and feminist political movements during the late twentieth century. Alaníz emphasizes that Chicanas were not only affected by inequality through low-paying labor and discrimination, but were also leaders, organizers, and key contributors to political activism and community organizing.

The phrase "Viva la Raza" directly translates to "Long live the race," but it is more accurately understood as "Long live the people" and serves as a cry for unity and pride among those with Latin American roots. In this context, it affirms the strength of the Chican@ community in its fight for social justice.

By combining discussions of labor rights, feminism, education, and identity, Viva La Raza! demonstrates how Chicana activists connected broader struggles for liberation and empowerment to the everyday experiences of Mexican-American women.

The next sections of the exhibit will focus on the specific impact and influence that Mexican-American women, especially Alaníz, have had and continue to have on union organizing.