Brown, Not White: School Integration and the Chicano Movement in HoustonStrikes, boycotts, rallies, negotiations, and litigation marked the efforts of Mexican-origin community members to achieve educational opportunity and oppose discrimination in Houston schools in the early 1970s. These responses were sparked by the effort of the Houston Independent School District to circumvent a court order for desegregation by classifying Mexican American children as "white" and integrating them with African American children--leaving Anglos in segregated schools. Gaining legal recognition for Mexican Americans as a minority group became the only means for fighting this kind of discrimination. The struggle for legal recognition not only reflected an upsurge in organizing within the community but also generated a shift in consciousness and identity. In "Brown, Not White" Guadalupe San Miguel, Jr., astutely traces the evolution of the community's political activism in education during the Chicano Movement era of the early 1970s. San Miguel also identifies the important implications of this struggle for Mexican Americans and for public education. First, he demonstrates, the political mobilization in Houston underscored the emergence of a new type of grassroots ethnic leadership committed to community empowerment and to inclusiveness of diverse ideological interests within the minority community. Second, it signaled a shift in the activist community's identity from the assimilationist "Mexican American Generation" to the rising Chicano Movement with its "nationalist" ideology. Finally, it introduced Mexican American interests into educational policy making in general and into the national desegregation struggles in particular. This important study will engage those interested in public school policy, as well as scholars of Mexican American history and the history of desegregation in America. |
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Page xi
... public schools.1 They boycotted the public schools; attended rallies or informational meetings at local parks, churches, community centers, and homes; picketed the school board offices or individual schools; conducted various ...
... public schools.1 They boycotted the public schools; attended rallies or informational meetings at local parks, churches, community centers, and homes; picketed the school board offices or individual schools; conducted various ...
Page xiii
School Integration and the Chicano Movement in Houston Guadalupe San Miguel ... public schooling of Mexican-origin children for the same period. Chapter 3 ... schools from 1970 to 1972. These chapters discuss the conditions under which ...
School Integration and the Chicano Movement in Houston Guadalupe San Miguel ... public schooling of Mexican-origin children for the same period. Chapter 3 ... schools from 1970 to 1972. These chapters discuss the conditions under which ...
Page 12
... schools for Mexican children and sponsored a variety of cultural and religious activities aimed at strengthening the Catholic faith.41 Public schools also were established in the barrios, usually at the request of the community or in ...
... schools for Mexican children and sponsored a variety of cultural and religious activities aimed at strengthening the Catholic faith.41 Public schools also were established in the barrios, usually at the request of the community or in ...
Page 14
... public schools and in the churches. Public school and church officials, for instance, excluded or discouraged Mexican participation in these institutions and limited the children's entry to them or failed to meet their needs adequately ...
... public schools and in the churches. Public school and church officials, for instance, excluded or discouraged Mexican participation in these institutions and limited the children's entry to them or failed to meet their needs adequately ...
Page 19
... schools, private secular instruction, and public education.1 Although diverse forms of schooling existed, by the late 1920s public education became the dominant means of formal instruction in the community as local authorities ...
... schools, private secular instruction, and public education.1 Although diverse forms of schooling existed, by the late 1920s public education became the dominant means of formal instruction in the community as local authorities ...
Contents
3 | |
19 | |
35 | |
rumblings and early school activism 196870 | 51 |
Rain of Fury | 97 |
All Hell Broke Loose | 119 |
Simple Justice | 133 |
Continuing the Struggle | 147 |
The Most Racist Plan Yet | 159 |
A Racist Bunch of Anglos | 174 |
Conclusion Reflections on Identity School Reform | 194 |
Notes | 211 |
Index | 275 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abraham Ramírez action activists activities African American Anglo argued barrio Barrios Unidos Ben Reyes boycott Cano Chicano movement civil rights community’s Council 60 cultural Davis decision Denver Harbor desegregation discrimination El Segundo barrio elementary schools enrollment established ethnic federal García Garver Gregory Salazar Collection High School HISD HMRC Houston Chronicle Houston Post huelga schools Ibid identity immigrants increased Independent School District instance integration plan interview by author Kreneck León Leonel Castillo López LULAC MAEC leaders MAEC members MAEC’s Magnolia Park MALDEF MAYO Mexi Mexican Ameri Mexican American community Mexican American parents Mexican American students Mexican children Mexican-origin children Mexican-origin community Mexican-origin individuals middle-class militant Northside ofthe organization pairing plan Papel Chicano percent picket political protest public schools racial rally Raza school board members school officials segregation senior high Sept social Spanish Sunbelt superintendent teachers Texas tion University of Houston youths