Mexican-Americans endured decades of discrimination in the United States. Many were denied rights and land promised after the end of the Mexican-American war in 1848. By the 1960s, with radical politics in the air, things changed. A group of Mexican-Americans began to promote Chicanismo, which used Mexican cultural nationalism to empower its people. They reclaimed the word Chicano, previously a racial slur, and went on to win working, housing, political, and cultural rights for Mexican-Americans. This energy spilled into mural art produced by Mexican-Americans at the time, blending Native American, Aztez, Mayan, and European influences. Eagles, serpents, pyramids, and headdresses were featured, mixed alongside Spanish Catholic influences such as the Lady of Guadalupe.