I grew up in the San Fernando Valley here in California where a large number of Hispanics make up the population. The word Chicano/a was always spoken of in my community, but I never understood what it actually meant. As a child, I understood the word Chicano was just another word used to call Mexicans, or Mexican-Americans. In middle school, I began to build interest in history, specifically in the history of California that was tied into my race and culture. That is when I began to see the word Chicano used I various movements such as the walkouts in East L.A for education reforms, and even the struggle for farm workers rights. Using that knowledge, I then defined the word Chicano to be a person who was Mexican or Mexican-American and was involved in a movement for social change for Mexicans in the United States. When I enrolled into this class, I had a feeling that the class would be talking about movements in history that would talk about what a Chicano was and how the word came to be. At that moment of enrollment, I still believed that the word Chicano was in fact a Mexican or Mexican-American who was involved in social movements.
