“It is not enough to know why we are oppressed and by whom. We must join the struggle for what is right and just.” “Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for … [Read more...]
DOLORES HUERTA, LABOR ORGANIZER Dolores Clara Fernandez was born in the Northern New Mexico mining town of Dawson, on April 10, 1930. Her father, Juan Fernandez, was a miner and occasional farm … [Read more...]
MARIA ELENA DURAZO, LABOR ORGANIZER María Elena Durazo is widely regarded as one of the most powerful and savvy union organizers in the United States. On May 15, 2006 she was elected to serve … [Read more...]
Dr. Rodolfo Francisco Acuña is a historian, educator and social activist. In 1969, he co-founded the Chicana/o Studies Department at San Fernando Valley State College (later called California State … [Read more...]
EMMA TENAYUCA, LABOR ORGANIZER Born on December 21, 1916, Emma Tenayuca was the eldest of eleven children who was raised by her maternal grandparents in San Antonio, Texas. Perhaps best known … [Read more...]
RODOLFO "CORKY" GONZALES, POLITICAL ACTIVIST One of the most vocal and charismatic leaders of the Chicano Movement, Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales began his career as a prizefighter in Denver, Colorado. … [Read more...]
José Martí was a world class poet and essayist whose literary works ushered in the modernist literary tradition in Latin American letters. He was also an impassioned revolutionary who spent most of … [Read more...]
RICARDO FLORES MAGÓN, POLITICAL ACTIVIST Ricardo Flores Magón holds a unique status in the history of Mexican Americans in the United States. Although he was one of the precursors of the … [Read more...]
ELIZABETH "BETITA" MARTÍNEZ, POLITICAL ACTIVIST The daughter of a Mexican immigrant, Manuel Guillermo Martinez, who arrived in the United States in 1917 with only $10 in his pocket and rose to be … [Read more...]
Many people in Puerto Rico consider Harvard-educated Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos the father of the Puerto Rican Independence Movement. Following the conclusion of the Spanish American War (1898) Puerto … [Read more...]
JOSÉ ANGEL GUTIÉRREZ Born on October 25,1944, José Ángel Gutiérrez was the son of a medical doctor in the South Texas town of Crystal City. Although better off than many of the farm workers who … [Read more...]