20th Century
Zoot Suit Riots
Description: The Zoot Suit Riots involved U.S. Servicemen, Los Angeles Police Department, and primarily teenage Mexican Americans occurring from June 3-8, 1943. Mexican Americans wore the Zoot Suit for a sense of identity and pride, but due to WWII rations, the Zoot Suit style became synonymous with anti-Americanism and Mexican criminality during the patriotic fervor of the World War. The Sleepy Lagoon Trial of 1942 fanned the flame of Mexican Pachuca/o criminality by the media. Dozens of men and women wearing the stylish Zoot Suits were stripped of their clothing by servicemen and then blamed and incarcerated by the cops.
Books
The Rights of Citizenship
Descriptions: Mexican Americans have contributed to the progress in American Society through art, culture, and political activism. Some of the most prominent figures of the 20th Century include the union leader and UFW organizer Humberto ‘Bert’ Corona, the legendary Chicano Musician Lalo Guerrero, and the Oscar Award-winning actor Anthony Quinn. Cal State LA has access to Anthony Quinn’s collection of scripts.
Books
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- Humberto ‘Bert’ Corona- El Viejo (1918-2001)
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- Lalo Guerrero (1916-2005)
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- Anthony Quinn (1915-2001)
Special Collections & Archives
Organizing & The American Dream
Description: Of utmost importance to Mexican American progress has been the ability to organize politically and through unionization. Mexican Americans sought presentation through local and federal governments and one of the most influential trailblazers in politics includes Edward R. Roybal (1916-2005), the first Mexican American congressman. Mexican Americans began organizing throughout the 20th Century to improve inequitable conditions and discriminatory policies in school, healthcare, policing, and labor.
Books
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- National Labor Relations Act
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- Organizing
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- Unions
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- New Voting Bloc
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- Edward R. Roybal (1916-2005)
National Farmworkers Association
Description: The United Farmworkers of America, led by Union Organizers Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, was founded in Delano, California in 1962 to demand labor rights for exploited farm workers. The UFW became incorporated after a series of strikes in the year 1965, when the UFW joined Filipino labor organizer Larry Itliong in a historic grape strike.
Books
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- Cesar Chavez
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- Dolores Huerta
Websites
Bracero Program
Description: The Bracero Program was foreign policy legislation that sought to fill the labor shortages in American industries caused by vacancies exacerbated by WWII. Prior to 1965, the United States had established immigration quotas that restricted immigration from certain countries. One of the exceptions to these numerical quotas were Mexican laborers who were seen as “birds of passage” that labored during the season and left home after the harvest (Genevieve, 2018). This view of Mexican laborers pushed for coalitions in agribusiness to develop foreign policy such as the Bracero Program that was in effect from 1942 to 1964.
Books
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- Bracero Program
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- “Operation Wetback”
Mexican American Civil Rights
Description: Mexican Americans have suffered from significant discrimination in education, healthcare, immigration, housing, politics, the law, and much more. The discrimination of Mexican Americans begins when the hyphenated “Mexican-American” is born. The Mexican American identity is born out of the blood and war in the struggles between the United States and Mexico. Ever since self-proclaimed Chicanas/os/x have participated in numerous demonstrations to fight against discrimination and prejudice. Some of these include labor strikes, school walkouts, boycotts, community youth organizing, mega marches, and many more.
Books
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- EL Movimiento
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- Campus Chicanismo
Websites
!Mi Raza Primero! Taking it to the Streets
Description: Taking it to the Streets exemplifies the organizing that occurred during the Chicano Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some texts include information on the Brown Berets, the self-defense group of Chicano/a individuals combating police brutality, Chicana/o organizing in high schools and universities; and the critical role of activists lawyering like Oscar Zeta Acosta. The CSULA Special Collections has primary sources on the brown Berets that can be found in the Carlos Montes Papers and the Gloria Arellanes Papers.
Books
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- Brown Berets
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- Chicanismo
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- Grassroots Leadership Reconceptualized: Chicana Oral Histories and The 1968 East Los Angeles School Blowouts.
- Thank You Maestro: The Walkouts as Praxis of.
- Marching students: Chicana and Chicano Activism in Education, 1968 to The Present.
- Blowout!: Sal Castro and The Chicano Struggle for Educational Justice.
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- Oscar Zeta Acosta
Special Collection & Archives
Urban Renewal: Division in the Barrios
Descriptions: Gentrification in the barrios of East LA has a long and complex history. Originally understood as “Urban Renewal” gentrification is the process by which inhabitants in poor neighborhoods are pushed out through infrastructural modernization. One of the most impactful historical examples of Urban Renewal can be understood through the story of Chavez Ravine, a Mexican community of about 300 families that was pushed out in the early 1950s through the doctrine of eminent domain for the public benefit, to then only be used as land for a private enterprise and the development of the Dodgers Stadium. CSULA Special collections have primary documents that assist research in contextualizing and understanding the events that took place.
Books
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- Chavez Ravine
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- Chávez Ravine, 1949 : a Los Angeles Story.
- Shameful Victory : the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Red Scare, and the Hidden History of Chavez Ravine.
- Chavez Ravine: Culture Clash and the Political Project of Rewriting History.
- Community Resistance and Conditional Patriotism in Cold War Los Angeles: The Battle for Chavez Ravine.
- Making a Better World Public Housing, the Red Scare, and the Direction of Modern Los Angeles.
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Special Collections & Archives
Las Chicanas: Women in Action
Description: Women in the Chicano Movement faced oppression at multiple fronts. On one end, U.S. society discriminated against Chicanas because they were seen as ethnically and racially inferior, while on the other end, the nationalism and patriarchal misogyny of the Chicano Movement saw them as submissive team players rather than leaders. In essence, women experienced sexist and racist discrimination simultaneously. Despite these barriers, countless women participated as leaders in the Chicano Movement such as Gloria Arellanes, Victoria Castro, Paola Crisostomo, Maria Baeza, Dolores Huerta, Marta Palacios, Diane Holguin, Anna Nieto Gomez, and Gloria Anzaldua. The CSULA Special Collections has the Gloria Arellanes Papers that contextualize and demonstrate her involvement during El Movimiento.
Books
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- Chicanas in El Movimiento
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- La Comision Femenil Mexicana Nacional