Chicano & Latino Studies *: Find Videos and DVDs

Examines the evolving relationship between the United States and Mexico. Each story focuses on issues affecting the border region: the crisis of water in desert communities; migration in and out of the area; litigation over who owns the land; the traditions of the region's indigenous people; and the work of performance artists grappling with defining the border through art.

The Bronze screen honors the past, illuminates the present, and opens a window to the future of Latinos in motion pictures. From silent movies to urban gang films, stereotypes of the Greaser, the Lazy Mexican, the Latin lover and the Dark lady are examined. Rare and extensive footage traces the progression of this distorted screen image to the increased prominence of today's Latino actors, writers and directors.

Episode 1 examines the events at Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico, that sparked a national movement for social justice. It focuses on the 1967 struggle by Mexican Americans to regain ownership of New Mexico lands guaranteed them by the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and then visits the landmark Denver Youth Conference in 1969. The episode concludes with the Chicano Moratorium March against the Vietnam War, held in East Los Angeles in 1970...an event that turned into a tragic riot resulting in the death of renowned journalist Ruben Salazar. Episode 2 examines the efforts of farmworkers to form a national labor union under the leadership of César Chávez. Episode 3 documents the Mexican-American struggle to reform an educational system that failed to properly educate Chicano students. Episode 4 focuses on the emergence in Texas of Mexican-American political power and the creation of a third political party, La Raza Unida.