Texas Experiences: Mexican-American Heritage

The Texas Archive of the Moving Image's new lesson plan for grade 4 and grade 7 uses primary and secondary source audiovisual materials to examine and trace the history and experiences of Mexican-Americans in the Southwest and Texas from the sixteenth to twentieth century. The lesson plan uses archival footage to encourage students' understanding of how the Mexican-American experience ties to indigenous and Spanish culture and the impact of European colonization and settlement on native people in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Other key moments include nineteenth century clashes on the open range, Southwest farming and ranching practices, and twentieth century migrant labor. Mexican-American activism, also referred to as “Chicanoism,” in the 1960s and 1970s is highlighted and the lesson includes commentary by famed civil rights activist Cesar Chavez from 1971. The lesson complies with Grades 4 and 7 TEKS requirements for Social Studies.