Crystal City women's reflections and stories of the Chicano movement in Crystal City, Texas

Crystal City, Texas has been a part of the Chicano Movement narrative since the beginning. Crystal City High School like others across the United States held walkouts to protest the lack of respect for the Mexican American culture and for civil rights for Mexican Americans in schools. Crystal City is also the home to one of the original Raza Unida Parties. This rich history has placed Crystal City in a unique position in Chicano history. This study draws from Chicana Feminist epistemology, methodology, and scholarship to disrupt the meta-narrative that is and has been told of the Chicano Movement, and more specifically about Crystal City and its part in the Movement. By creating a counter narrative that is woman centered, this dissertation seeks to disrupt the binary of good/bad views of the Chicano Movement. This is done through the use of oral histories and testimonios of four women who were not directly in the spotlight of the Chicano Movement. This dissertation then briefly examines what stories our four women shared with their youngest child. This was done to investigate what the author has experienced with younger generations of Cristaleños. The experiences can best be described as disillusionment of the Chicano Movement. The major components of this dissertation are the stories the four participants share about the Chicano Movement in Crystal City, Texas. These stories are personal and touching in a way that showcases the use of Chicana Feminist methodology and disrupts the meta-narrative of the Chicano Movement and the binary of the views of the Movement.