Library Research Guides: Mexican American Experience: Resources

Books

Chicano Education in the Era of Segregation by Gilbert G. Gonzalez
ISBN: 9781574415018
Publication Date: 2013-04-05
Chicano Education in the Era of Segregation analyzes the socioeconomic origins of the theory and practice of segregated schooling for Mexican-Americans from 1910 to 1950. Gilbert G. Gonzalez links the various aspects of the segregated school experience, discussing Americanization, testing, tracking, industrial education, and migrant education as parts of a single system designed for the processing of the Mexican child as a source of cheap labor. The movement for integration began slowly, reaching a peak in the 1940s and 1950s. The 1947 Mendez v. Westminster case was the first federal court decision and the first application of the Fourteenth Amendment to overturn segregation based on the "separate but equal" doctrine. This paperback features an extensive new Preface by the author discussing new developments in the history of segregated schooling.
El Paso Del Norte
ISBN: 9780874175332
Publication Date: 2003-01-01
The Chicano characters in Richard Yanez's debut story collection live in El Paso's Lower Valley but inhabit a number of borders-between two countries, two languages, and two cultures, between childhood and manhood, life and death. The teenaged narrator of ""Desert Vista"" copes with a new school and a first love while negotiating the boundaries between his family's tenuous middle-class status and the working-class community in which they have come to live. Tony Amoroza, the protagonist of ""Amoroza Tires,"" wrestles with the overwhelming grief from his wife's death until an unexpected legacy prompts him with new faith. Maria del Valle, ""La Loquita,"" the central character of ""Lucero's Mkt.,"" crosses the border into madness while her neighbors watch, gossip, and try to offer-or refuse-aid. Yanez writes with perfect understanding of his borderland setting, a landscape where poverty and violence impinge on traditional Mexican-American values, where the signs of gang culture compete with the ageless rituals of the Church. His characters are vivid, unique, fully authentic, searching for purpose or identity, for hope or meaning, in lives that seem to deny them almost everything. Yanez's world is that of the Southwestern Chicanos, but the fears and yearnings of his characters are universal. This is the work of a deeply compassionate and highly skilled writer, and the stories are moving and powerful.
Leaders of the Mexican American Generation by Anthony Quiroz (Editor); Arnoldo De León (Foreword by)
ISBN: 9781607325253
Publication Date: 2016-04-15
Leaders of the Mexican American Generation explores the lives of a wide range of influential members of the US Mexican American community between 1920 and 1965 who paved the way for major changes in their social, political, and economic status within the United States. Including feminist Alice Dickerson Montemayor, to San Antonio attorney Gus García, and labor activist and scholar Ernesto Galarza, the subjects of these biographies include some of the most prominent idealists and actors of the time. Whether debating in a court of law, writing for a major newspaper, producing reports for governmental agencies, organizing workers, holding public office, or otherwise shaping space for the Mexican American identity in the United States, these subjects embody the core values and diversity of their generation. More than a chronicle of personalities who left their mark on Mexican American history, Leaders of the Mexican American Generation cements these individuals as major players in the history of activism and civil rights in the United States. It is a rich collection of historical biographies that will enlighten and enliven our understanding of Mexican American history.
mexican american
Occupied America by Rodolfo F. Acuna; Rodolfo Acuña
ISBN: 0321427386
Publication Date: 2006-11-27
This engaging and comprehensive overview of Chicano history is passionately written and extensively researched. Equipped to accommodate the growing number of Chicano courses and enrollment, this detailed text presents coverage of the roles of race and gender in forming Mexican American identity. Written by one of the most influential and highly regarded voices of Chicano History and Ethnic Studies, Occupied America is the leading textbook for Chicano History courses. With a concise and engaged narrative, and timelines that give students a context for pivotal events in Chicano history, Occupied America illuminates the struggles and decisions that frame Chicano identity today. Mexico, Latino, Colonization, Chicano Movement, immigration, labor movements and organizations, Catholic Church, Civil rights, Education and schools, League of United Latin American Citizens, Mutualistas Chicano, Immigration, US history and Mexican-American history courses.
Y No Se lo Trago la Tierra by Tomás Rivera; Evangelina Vigil (Translator)
ISBN: 155885083X
Tomas Rivera's original Spanish-language novel plus a new translation into English by Evangelina Vigil-Pinon. ...y no se lo trago la tierra won the first national award for Chicano literature in 1970 and has become the standard literary text for Hispanic literature classes throughout the country. It is now an award-winning, motion picture entitled And the Earth Did Not Swallow Him.

Links to Videos on the web

Chicano Movement 1960-Present
Short video presentation about the Chicano Movement

The EPCC Libraries do not control the content posted on web sites to which it provides links and, as such, does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such content. The EPCC Libraries do not endorse and are not responsible or liable for any content, advertising, services, products or other materials on or available from such sites or resources.

Cesar Chavez: Embrace the Legacy (5 min. UFW video)
Learn about the legacy of Cesar Chavez from Martin Sheen, Edward James Olmos, Edward James Olmos and others and get involved in keeping Cesar's dream alive!
The Life of Cesar Chavez
A brief video on the life of Cesar E. Chavez!
Cesar Chavez Explains Boycotts
Cesar Chavez, co-founder of United Farm Workers, explains the power of boycotts and the idea behind voting with our dollars.
Arizona's attack on Ethnic Studies in Tucson
Short video on the ethnic studies issue in Tucson AZ 2011

National & State Organizations

LULAC
The Mission of the League of United Latin American Citizens is to advance the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, housing, health and civil rights of the Hispanic population of the United States.
MALDEF
Founded in 1968, MALDEF is the nation’s leading Latino legal civil rights organization. Often described as the “law firm of the Latino community”, MALDEF promotes social change through advocacy, communications, community education, and litigation in the areas of education, employment, immigrant rights, and political access.
National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies
The National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies is the academic organization that serves academic programs, departments and research centers that focus on issues pertaining to Mexican Americans, Chicana/os, and Latina/os.
National Reforma
The National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking
TACHE
TACHE is a professional association committed to the improvement of educational and employment opportunities for Chicanos in higher education.
TACHE's purpose is to provide state, regional, and local forums for the discussion of issues related to Chicanos in higher education and to collaborate with institutions of higher learning to create workable solutions for these issues.
United Farm Workers
Founded in 1962 by Cesar Chavez, the United Farm Workers of America is the nation's first successful and largest farm workers union currently active in 10 states. The UFW continues to organize in major agricultural industries across the nation.

Chicano Studies Academic Programs

Research Projects

Borderlands El Paso Community College
A collection of student written articles on the history and culture of the El Paso, Juárez, Las Cruces border region.
Mexican American Experience El Paso Community College
This libguide is full of information about our program, events, committee, and resources. Click on the tabs across the top when you are ready to get started.
In collaboration with Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education Far West Region and the Valle Verde Library.
Chicano Civil Rights Movement
The African American Civil Rights Movement was intened by many of its leaders to include all Americans of color struggling for equality, regardless of their origins. In response to the efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King, among others, Hispanic Americans of various backgrounds began organizing their own struggle for civil equality and fairness. In Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York, Puerto Ricans held marches to protest unequal treatment. Among Mexican Americans in the Southwest, this struggle came to be known as the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. While each of these groups had similar goals, some of the particular issues they faced were different. Puerto Ricans could only be regarded as Americans, at least officially, while Mexican Americans faced suspicion that they were not, regardless how many generations of their families had lived in the United States. Many Puerto Ricans had moved to the cities, and faced problems of urban slums, while this was true for only part of the Mexican Am
Historic Mexican & Mexican American Press
The Historic Mexican and Mexican American Press collection documents and showcases historic Mexican and Mexican American publications published in Tucson, El Paso, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sonora, Mexico from the mid-1800s to the 1970s.

Handbook of Tejano History

TSHA is proud to announce the launch of the Handbook of Tejano History, which contains more than 1,200 entries, including 300 new entries, detailing the critical influence of Tejanos on the Lone Star State. Released on March 29, 2016, to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the Tejano Monument unveiling on the Capitol grounds in Austin, the Handbook of Tejano History is the culmination of a two-year effort involving dozens of researchers, educators, students, and Texas history enthusiasts committed to capturing and sharing Tejano contributions to Texas life and culture. Originally conceived in partnership with the board of directors of the Tejano Monument, Inc., the Association's Handbook of Tejano History joins a number of other important initiatives born out of the legacy of the Tejano Monument, including the Tejano History Curriculum Project and Austin Independent School District's Cuauhtli Academy/Academia Cuauhtli.

History professors Emilio Zamora, University of Texas, and Andrés Tijerina, Austin Community College, co-directed the two-year initiative to increase the number of Tejano and Mexican American entries in the Handbook of Texas Online. They worked alongside Matt Abigail, TSHA Assistant Editor, to identify academic and non-academic researchers to prepare new articles on historically significant men and women, events, places, organizations, and themes.