
Social Justice and Civil Rights Organizations
Poet and activist Raul Salinas with Gilbert Rivera in 1983, PICA 37565B, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library, courtesy of Susana Almanza
“We were being beaten, our families were getting killed, we saw friends being sent to prison for 50 years for having two or three joints in their pocket.” – Gilbert Rivera
Introduction
By Tess Harmon, Eli Galli-Anderson, and Hailey Caudillo
In 1848, after a brief but bloody two years of war, the United States annexed a third of Mexico and naturalized 77,000 Mexicans as citizens. Some families left, but most remained. Bolstered by immigration, the Tejano population in Texas soon grew from a minority to almost a majority. Through the decades after, prejudice — varying in its severity, ranging from systemic inequities to outright violence — provoked a long struggle for equitable treatment which in many ways continues today.
Discriminatory signs, image courtesy of the Russell Lee Photograph Collection, The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin
In Austin, Tejano activism surged during the 1970s Movimiento, but had its roots in the early 20th century, when sociedades mutualistas (mutual aid groups) developed across Texas as multi-functional community organizations providing security, resources, education, and community service opportunities. At their peak in the 1920s, mutualistas laid the groundwork for future Tejano civil rights groups like the Comisión Honorífica Mexicana, which had an Austin chapter operating in the 1920s and 1930s, and, eventually, The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). 1 LULAC and the Ladies LULAC, a women-only subgroup, operated nationally and statewide, fought against segregation, police brutality, and unequal voting rights, 2 and, in Austin, often collaborated with the American G.I. Forum of Texas, a civil rights group principally composed of Mexican American veterans. 3 Many of these groups organized at the Pan American Center, developed by Ladies LULAC, La Federación de Sociedades Mexicanos de Austin, and others, which provided hot lunches to political organizations out of the old Comal Community School. 4
Striking farm workers from Rio Grande City end their 491-mile march to Austin on Labor Day 1966 - demanding minimum wage of $1.25 an hour. Photograph by the Houston Post, September 6, 1966. Courtesy of the ATX Barrio Archive
Civil rights groups continued growing throughout the 1950s-1960s amid national social justice demands. The 1966 Texas farm worker march from the Rio Grande Valley to Austin was historic, but Tejano activism in Austin intensified even further: in 1968, the Economy Furniture Company denied workers representation, and the local Upholsterers International Union chapter organized a strike. Over 90% of participants were Mexican-American. During the twenty-eight months of striking, the workers received support from the community, UT Austin students, the Catholic Church, and César Chávez and the United Farm Workers Union. The Austin Chicano Huelga, as it came to be known, resulted in a new contract that met all of the workers’ demands. The 1971 success symbolized a united Tejano community resisting inequality, connected student and community activists, and foreshadowed the fights ahead. 5
Throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, Austin’s Tejano civil rights scene remained highly active, paralleling similar activism in California, the Southwest, and across the United States, but focused especially on local issues, such as the empowerment of the East Austin community. Groups like the Mexican American Youth Organization and Austin Brown Berets organized against police brutality, racism at the University of Texas, the environmentally-hazardous Aqua Festival boat races, incarcerations, and discriminatory practices in healthcare, housing, and immigration. Some of these groups were supported by research within the University of Texas, often led by professor George I. Sánchez, through groups such as the Chicana Research and Learning Center, the Mexican American Joint Council, and the Mexican Research Center. Some of these groups were supported by research within the University of Texas, often led by professor George I. Sánchez, through groups such as the Chicana Research and Learning Center, the Mexican American Joint Council, and the Mexican Research Center. The 1970-formed Raza Unida Party in Texas further bolstered political activity, defending Tejano political interests as other organizations, like el Centro Chicano, prioritized creating community safe spaces. 6 Emerging Tejano social justice groups continued taking intersectional approaches to issues like gentrification, women's and LGBTQ+ rights, and environmental racism. 7
1920: Comisión Honorífica Mexicana
In the early 20th century, most Texan cities were small and disorganized, and many Tejano communities — consisting of both local families with heritage tracing to pre-independence Texas and recent immigrants — experienced discrimination under increasingly unequal social and political systems. Most notably, White landowners exploited farmworkers’ poor English literacy with unfair labor contracts, while citizens in hospitals, schools, jails, and other places of vulnerability received disproportionately less resources. 8
During the 1920 recession, in response to a call for aid from Mexican immigrants, Mexican consulates from Texas to California organized chapters of the Comisión Honorífica Mexicana. Much like the sociedades mutualistas, Tejano mutual-aid organizations such as La Liga Protectora Mexicana and El Orden Hijos de America, the all-men comisiones honoríficas were composed of respected, working-class members of the community, and assisted with legal matters, labor representation, social welfare, and issues of racial discrimination. By custom, members “did not inform immigration officials of the status or whereabouts of undocumented workers,” and supported recent immigrants in obtaining citizenship, or, when that failed, protected them from retribution or deportation. 9
The Comisión Honorífica Mexicana was most active in Texan rural communities, where Mexican American communities were most vulnerable to discrimination. The Austin chapter transported destitute families to the border in 1931 and 1932, and in Houston, the Cruz Azul Mexicana — a women’s charity organization, also organized by the Mexican consulates — raised money for repatriated families.
The comisiones continued supporting Mexican American education after World War II, but their other efforts were undertaken by LULAC.
1929: LULAC is a substantial organization described in the following chapter.
1946: Alba Club
The Alba Club (“Dawn Club” in Spanish) was started in 1946 at the University of Texas at Austin by Mexican American students—many of which were veterans—to confront local discrimination. To this end, the Alba Club, backed by pioneers George I. Sánchez and history professor Carlos E. Castañeda, promoted Latino cultural and social interests to students and faculty.
Notably, Charley Gonzalez Kidder, Alba’s first president, was inspired by his generation’s service in World War II and the resulting experience of being in a world outside segregated towns. The club intended to spread this idea, enlightening students with the idea of a world that treated Latinos equally, providing community service opportunities, and arranging networking sessions with other student clubs like the Laredo Club and the Disabled Veterans Club.
Members of the Alba Club would express their opposition to the discrimination against Mexican Americans, leading to their journey in joining legal cases fighting against racial segregation. In 1948, Alba joined forces with the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the American G.I. Forum to challenge public school discrimination in the Delgado v. Bastrop case. Alba continued to take part in social change for school-equity until their disbandment in the 1950s and left a pivotal mark as being the first significant Mexican American student organization at UT Austin. 10
1951: American Council of Spanish Speaking People
Dr. George I. Sánchez giving a speech at UT. Photograph by Carlos Blanton, from George I. Sánchez: the long fight for Mexican American integration, courtesy Yale University Press, 2015
The American Council of Spanish Speaking People was a Mexican-American civil rights organization that provided legal aid and research to other civil rights groups across the country. Its 1951 founding resulted from the need for self sustaining Spanish-American association; leader George I. Sánchez reported that Mexicans and American Indians were “orphans” to other foundations foundations such as the NAACP.
As part of its efforts, ACSSP successfully desegregated Austin and Houston public housing in Nixon and Zavala schools, funded desegregation efforts in Carrizo Springs (1955), Mathis (1956), and Driscoll (1957), assisted Raza organizations in funding and resources, and brought attention to state and local organizations to strengthen their national cause, making grants-in-aid for the Colorado Latin-American Conference and the Alianza. ACSSP managed to hold a newsletter in 1953 before ultimately closing down its office in 1956 when funding ceased. 11
1967: Mexican American Joint Council
The Mexican American Joint Council, also led by George I. Sánchez, was an Austin-based coalition of Tejano leaders. Notable attendants of their first 1967 meeting included the American G.I. Forum of Texas, the Political Association of Spanish-Speaking Organizations, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Office. The council defined itself as an activist group dedicated to the research of Mexican Americans socioeconomic status and its relation to education and unemployment. As part of their efforts, MAJC collaborated with the Texas Education Agency for data, passed resolutions that emphasized the importance of more social services for migrant workers, recommended a state minimum wage of $1.25, and opposed the reinstatement of the bracero — an exploitative labor program that recruited and mistreated laborers from Mexico for railroad and agricultural work.
MAJC sent a report to President Lyndon B. Johnson reflecting the need for economic improvement of Mexican Americans. At a Laredo meeting, MAJC called for the support of labor unions and encouraged voter registration. Sanchez then wrote to Governor John Connally demanding for the dissolution of the Texas Rangers on the grounds that “the Rangers [were a private strong arm] of the Governor and a state police force used to thwart the aspirations of the working man.” 12 According to records, the council most likely operated for three more years before its closing. 13
1967: Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO)
El Despertador de Tejas issue commemorating a visit by Cesar Chavez, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library
In the history of Tejano organizations, MAYO, active from the late ‘60s to the late ‘70s, has been one of the few social justice groups to represent youth, and, compared to any others like Junior LULAC, remains unique in stressing confrontational, vocal activism. Following Chicano movements such as the 1965 Crusade for Justice in Denver and the 1967 takeover of a courthouse in New Mexico, MAYO established 30 chapters, held demonstrations, sought university reforms, and eventually founded the contemporary Raza Unida party. Early on, MAYO focused on its three issues: economic independence, educational influence, and the formation of a third party for Chicano political unity. 14
Austin’s MAYO chapter—a student organization at UT—fought fiercely for Chicano rights. MAYO contributed to the Austin Chicano Huelga in 1969, 15 and in 1971, hosted the Chicano Youth Conference, which held workshops on boycotting, showcased influential members of the movement, and hosted art exhibits and performances by El Teatro Chicano. 16 Alongside the Brown Berets, MAYO protested against the boat races on Town Lake and rallied against police brutality. 17 At UT, MAYO’s newspapers, including Hoy, El Azteca, and El Despertador de Tejas spread news, essays, events, and arts that promoted la causa, often in the Spanish argot known as caló. Its organizers collaborated with faculty—including well-known educator George I. Sanchéz—in protesting against an unfair admissions process. Its members successfully marched to demand a separate clearinghouse for Mexican American financial aid, the institution of bilingual education programs, and the separation of the “ethnic studies” major into the respective Mexican American and African American programs. 18 Notably, the organization came at odds with the more conservative LULAC after the latter’s candidate Henry B. Gonzalés denounced MAYO’s “ethnocentricity.”
On Sunday, April 23, 1978, another demonstration was held, and more barrio people became involved as well as outside sympathizers, 1978. Photo by Manuel “Chaca” Ramirez, courtesy of the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, The University of Texas Libraries
The Raza Unida party was notable for its all-women Mujeres Por La Raza caucus, which held statewide conferences — some holding up to 600 women in attendance — and provided workshops on feminism, campaign work, political involvement, and community organizing. 19
Like many other youth activist organizations, MAYO survived on passion. By the end of the decade, as the Chicano movement began to subside around the Southwest, the organization accordingly faltered, and its Raza Unida party was disbanded.
1967: The Brown Berets
After the races were over trash would litter the north side of Town Lake [East Austin] for several days, 1978. Photo by Manuel “Chaca” Ramirez, courtesy of the Mexic-Arte Museum
In 1967, inspired by the Black Panther Party, Chicano youth founded the Brown Berets in Los Angeles, California, and over the next few years established chapters across the United States. Austin’s chapter was formed independently in response to the 1973 abuse and arrests of Mexican American Youth Organization members on the UT campus, an event which prompted picketing at Austin City Council and sermons on liberation theology at St. Julia’s Catholic Church. 20 “We didn’t really start the Brown Berets. The community demanded that they needed somebody, and they knew that we were not afraid to stand up in front of the police,” co-founder Gilberto Rivera recalls. “The Brown Berets were formed here in Austin as a response to the police actions against our people. "21
Despite a focus on combating police brutality, Austin’s Brown Berets also advanced the Chicano community’s land rights, health, and education, and fought for prison and immigration reform. According to founding member Susana Almanza, the Brown Berets successfully secured the Chicano Park, Martin Pool, and Fiesta Gardens for the Chicano community in response to a 1970s “land grab” aimed at granting developers Latino-rented property. 22 The Brown Berets and El Centro Chicano also led protests against the developer-led Southern Drag Boat Association and Aqua Festival races on Town Lake—which, among other offenses, dumped trash on the adjoining, predominantly-Latino barrio—resulting in a 1978 incident of police brutality, the arrests of 19 protestors, and a successful vote by Austin City Council to end the races. Also, the Brown Berets frequently counter-protested against the Ku Klux Klan.
Klan points index finger at Capitol. Swat team smiling-taunting crowd, photo by Alan Pogue, 1978. Abajo con el Klan, Raul Salinas and Brown Beret, photo by Alan Pogue, 1983. Images courtesy of the Mexic-Arte Museum
At one march, police officers sided with the Klan. "When I got up, about eight officers were holding [Brown Beret leader Paul Hernandez] down, beating him on the ground," Mancias told reporters that day. "They were continuing to beat him; he was handcuffed on the ground and they were continuing to beat him. They were Austin police officers. They did not have their nametags on, not one of them." 23
Paul Hernandez later disparaged developers’ exploitative tactics: “[Their] interest is that this is prime land and the price value of this land is not anywhere near the price value of the land across the lake. So, what you do is you force people out, buy the property, keep it, and don’t encourage any new home building. And at some point everyone’s going to move out, and at the time you develop it.” 24 His comments parallel devastating ongoing gentrification in East Austin.
Father Joseph (Joe) Znotas at a police brutality protest, PICA 37563, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library
From 1974, the Brown Beret headquartered at El Centro Chicano, which later became a safe haven for community youth. There, the Berets developed after-school programs, providing food, reading to kids, and helping them with schoolwork, and eventually organized the Youth Berets chapter, which collaborated with El Teatro Chicano and hosted workshops on student rights. 25 Also from El Centro Chicano, in the early 1970s, the Berets published the Brown Beret Manifesto and alternative community newspaper El Coraje Chicano.
Almanza reflects on the group’s intentions versus later perspectives: “A lot of people say, well, that was a really militant group. And I say, ‘You know what, it was not. It was a grassroots group when you look at it. It was a grassroots group organizing to protect the community, protecting other youth, and really protecting the rights.’”
The group declined around 1983.
Listen to oral histories with Brown Beret members:
1973: Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA)
1975 flyer for the National Membership Convention. Courtesy of the LCLAA
In 1973, notable Latino labor leaders hosted the founding conference for the Labor Council Latin for American Advancement. The year after, a task force drove around the country, organizing 26 grassroot chapters — and aiding over 35,000 Latinos register to vote — which today constitute the United States’ leading advocacy group for Latino working rights. LCLAA, besides rallying Latino workers, also serves in connecting unions within the Latin American sphere. Its 1975 National Membership Convention, hosted annually afterwards, attracted over 150 delegates from 44 international unions. In the following decades, LCLAA stridently advocated for labor rights within and without the Chicano community, protesting in solidarity with former members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, leading the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride (IWFR) and establishing the Amnesty Assistance Program to support undocumented workers, and publishing dozens of reports on the state of Latino work in the country. 26
1974: Mexican American Research Center
Founded in 1974 by Jose Urreagas, The Mexican American Research Center was an Austin-based, grant-funded research group founded in response to a perceived lack of Mexican American technical expertise, awareness, and participation in “comprehensive community and economic development.” As founder Jose Urreagas believed, though the Chicano movement made headlines, it failed to acquire real, economic gains, in part due to a lack of understanding of local government and economic issues. 27
A pamphlet from the organization reads: “This involvement has been based on the belief that real and lasting progress for Mexican Americans can be stimulated only at the local level by individuals working collectively in the daily economic processes of their neighborhoods and communities. By providing the necessary research, training, technical assistance and advocacy to local groups and public officials concerned with improving their neighborhoods, the Research Center has initiated a capacity-building process in rural communities where resources are minimal or altogether lacking”. The Mexican American Research Center also established a Rural Development Institute, focused on the aims of rural communities throughout Texas. 28
1974: Chicana Research and Learning Center
The Chicana Research and Learning Center, opened in 1974 Methodist Student Center in Austin, was the United States’ first research project funded and ran entirely by Mexican American women.
Due to a lack of funding, the organization existed for a brief two years. However, during that time, the CRLC cooperated with other organizations in the Chicano movement by filing important assets and members of the network, collating data and identifying limitations to Chicana education, hosting training programs, some of which had up to 500 participants, and providing technical assistance. Also, the CRLC organized the first university course on Chicanas at UT, taught by Evey Chapa, executive director and previously associate director of Juárez-Lincoln University. 29
1974: El Centro Chicano
Members celebrating the newly opened home for El Centro Chicano, PICA 29978, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library
El Centro de la Gente de Aztlán, better known as El Centro Chicano, was started in 1974 by Brown Beret leader Paul Hernandez in a house on San Marcos St. as a completely volunteer-run, community-controlled non-profit aimed at meeting East Austin’s social needs that, at the time, were “not met by traditional agencies.” 30 El Centro offered youth guidance counseling, classes in cultural awareness, and offered youth employment programs, and its crisis intervention hotline (47-AYUDA) supported Chicanos’ housing, employment, legal aid, and emotional needs, while documenting incidents of police harassment and brutality. Eventually, El Centro became a physical space for the concentration of Chicano efforts, headquartering the Brown Berets and hosting several community initiatives. 31
In an interview for the Austin Chronicle, community organizer Bertha Rendón Delgado recalled how the Brown Berets at El Centro were integral to helping both the community’s youth and their parents: "They became social workers...They were able to help people with Social Security services, where food banks were, Medicaid, food stamps. I mean, they became even like attorneys. Legal assistance." 32
Austin Brown Berets and East Austin youth outside El Centro Chicano. Published in El Echo, Vol. 4, No. 15, March 7, 1974. Courtesy of the Austin History Center, Austin Public Library, via ATX Barrio Archive
In addition to planning protests and demonstrations, El Centro’s resident staff offered a diverse range of after-school programs, which were partly based on the work of the Black Panther Party. 33 These activities included folk-dancing lessons, Teatro Chicano, arts and crafts classes, a weekend program for children with intellectual disabilities, and cultural awareness sessions for Chicano children. 34
In 1978, El Centro Chicano was the victim to an arson attack, which destroyed their office and resulted in a loss of funding. In the early ‘80s, El Centro operated out of the Quintanilla House, 35 which also served as the home-base for the League of United Chicano Artists (LUChA). 36 It and the Juárez-Lincoln Center’s ultimate dissolutions left a need for a central Chicano location only filled some 30 years later by the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center.
1980s: El Concilio
Federal persecution of groups like the Brown Berets and the community-splitting effects of the War on Drugs resulted in activism waning by the mid-80s. However, in a surge of activism, Paul Hernandez and Gilbert Rivera, former Brown Berets, started working with local East Austin community organizations to consolidate Latino political power. Through connecting groups such as East Town Lake, Barrio Unido, Pedernales, Govalle, and Buena Vista, Hernandez aimed to empower East Austin both politically and economically.
According to the Austin Chronicle, “Hernandez understood the power that lay untapped; with organized neighborhood groups, the Eastside could get sidewalks and streetlights, stop homes from being bulldozed, and shut down the Holly Power Plant that polluted the barrio”.
Paul Hernandez in 1983, PICA-37572, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library, courtesy of Susana Almanza
El Concilio also prioritized affordable and accessible housing on the East Side. Through the East Austin Chicano Economic Development Corporation, Hernandez and other leaders ended redlining in East Austin and encouraged the development of more income-restricted housing.
Hernandez and Rivera ended redlining in East Austin through the East Austin Chicano Economic Development Corporation and encouraged the development of more income-restricted housing. El Concilio supported the political campaigns of East Austinites, culminating with the election of Marcos de Leon, a member of El Concilio, as Travis County commissioner in 1990. 37
1985: allgo
allgo BUENO PASA issue, 1991. Austin History Center, Austin Public Library
In 1985, a network of Latine LGBTQ+ activists and allies founded the Austin Latina/Latino Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Transgender Organization, or ALLGO for short. According to the organization, “ALLGO has been a site of progressive community organizing, advocacy for social change, health education and services, and the promotion and preservation of culture and art as created by people/communities of color.” 38 Now “allgo,” the group has since dropped the acronym and expanded into a statewide queer people of color organization. 39
By 1999, ALLGO had introduced a number of different programs to its community. Informe-VIDA provided a wellness approach to health issues impacting Austin’s queer community, with a particular focus on medical needs and financial aid for people living with HIV/AIDS. ALMA (Amor, Latinidad, Movimiento, y Acción) fostered community building and projects to promote involvement in the civic process. ¡Viva Arte, Viva Cultura! was the cultural arts component of Allgo’s programming, which “sponsored cultural celebrations, artists-in-residence and a presenting program that featured emerging and established artists.” Other programs included En Nuestras Manos, an empowerment initiative for lesbian and bisexual women of color, and Brazo a Brazo, a programming support group for bi, gay, and questioning men of color. 40
AIDS activism matchbook, Matchbook designed by Informe-SIDA, a multi-cultural, bilingual AIDS information/education project founded in the late 1980s by Maria Limon and other members of Austin Latina/Latino Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Transgender Organization (ALLGO). Courtesy of the ATX Barrio Archive
ALLGO hosts community programming events including the yearly cultural dinner Cena Anual, the Baile de AmFORor, which later became the largest gathering of LGBT people of color in Texas, 41 and the Gay Pride Fandango, in spirit of the bailes held by Tejanos in the colonial era. 42 Its programming has also included Tejano poetry readings, 43 grief workshops, women’s groups, 44 community ofrendas, memorial services, and queer Día de los Muertos celebrations. Its newsletter, ¡ALLGO Pasa!, one of the oldest queer Latine publications in the United States, documented community stories, and provided a space for artistic expression, political, health, and community information for queer people of color.
In its cultural arts programming, ALLGO, in partnership with other social justice organizations, currently offers an artist-in-residence program, performance and exhibit space, artistic workshops, artist/community dialogues, and has published various publications authored by QPOC. Contributing to its health and wellness mission, allgo still hosts provides HIV/AIDS prevention and safer sex education and supplies.
1980s: Tejano Democrats
The State Tejano Democrats is the largest Hispanic organization for the United States Democratic Party in Texas, and actively campaigns for Hispanic representation in all levels of the Democratic Party — including but not limited to “in the delegate selection and committee processes”, “in selecting, screening, supporting and endorsing Democratic candidates,” and “taking public stands on issues relevant to [their] communities.”
1991: People in Defense of Earth and her Resources (PODER)
Like many of the organizations in this exhibit, the history of PODER, or People in Defense of Earth and Her Resources, begins with the 1928 City of Austin masterplan, which forced Mexican Americans and African Americans into East Austin — along with the city’s polluting industries and services. The PODER website says: “Environmental racism is a term used to describe the placement of polluting industries in communities of color leading to severe health issues and death. Although Austin has an image of a progressive city, poor race relations are at the heart of many issues.”
Community leaders and SEMATECH members meet to found PODER, 1991; courtesy of PODER
PODER was organized as an environmental justice and community activism organization at a 1991 meeting between the East Austin-originated semiconductor company SEMATECH and a number of community leaders. By then, Chicano activists had already transformed the city’s political landscape, but the masterplan’s legacy of inequity persisted. 50
An East Austin resident shows the proximity of a tank behind their house. Photograph by Joe Vitone. AR-2012-015-015, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library, PODER Records
Since its founding, PODER, spearheaded by prolific activist and former Brown Beret Susana Almanza, has succeeded in several city-wide cases. 51 The most famous of these include PODER’s 1992 campaign against the East Austin petroleum storage tank farms that, for years, violated EPA regulations and contaminated the air and groundwater of East Austin and its twenty-year struggle to shutdown the Holly Street Power Plant — which solely powered downtown Austin — that involved dozens of community activists, UT graduates, professors, and city council members. 52 Through these fights and more, PODER members faced intimidation by private guards, community members, and police officers. 53
Today, PODER runs numerous programs in East Austin, including, among others, the Young Scholars for Justice , the Land Use and Community Health Campaign , and Voter Education Registration and Mobilization program. Recently, PODER collaborated with UT Austin’s Dr. Jay Banner in its community-focused research project CRESSLE , campaigned to end the partnership between Austin and the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), ensured clean water access to the Hornsby Bend/Austin Colony Neighborhood, demanded delays to Tesla’s building permits, fought for equity within Project Connect, and advocated for clean water in Austin's Colony, Garden Valley, and Valle Del Rio.
Read the history of the tank farms here .
- Julie Leininger Pycior, “Sociedades Mutualistas,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed December 20, 2023, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/sociedades-mutualistas . Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
- Cynthia E. Orozco, “League of United Latin American Citizens,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed November 22, 2023, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/league-of-united-latin-american-citizens . Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
- V. Carl Allsup, “American G.I. Forum of Texas,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed December 20, 2023, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/american-gi-forum-of-texas . Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
- The Tejano Trails. (n.d.). Parque Comal. The Tejano Trails: Walk Through History, Celebrate Culture. Retrieved December 20, 2023, http://www.tejanotrails.com/phase1sites/parque-comal/ .
- Teresa Palomo Acosta Revised by Mario Olgin, “Economy Furniture Company Strike,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed December 20, 2023, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/economy-furniture-company-strike . Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
- Teresa Palomo Acosta, “Raza Unida Party,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed December 20, 2023, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/raza-unida-party . Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
- “History of El Centro Chicano,” pamphlet. El Centro Chicano. Austin Files Latinx M4300 (13). Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.
- Julie Leininger Pycior, La Raza Organizes: Mexican American Life in San Antonio, 1915–1930, as Reflected in Mutualista Activities (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Notre Dame, 1979)
- Cynthia E. Orozco, “Comisión Honorífica Mexicana,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed June 10, 2024, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/comision-honorifica-mexicana .
- Teresa Palomo Acosta, “Alba Club,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed November 22, 2023, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/alba-club . Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
- Cynthia E. Orozco, “American Council of Spanish Speaking People,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed November 22, 2023, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/american-council-of-spanish-speaking-people . Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
- Blanton, Carlos Kevin. George I. Sánchez: The Long Fight for Mexican American Integration. Yale University Press, 2014. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt13x1tqg . Accessed 14 June 2024.
- Teresa Palomo Acosta, “Mexican American Joint Council,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed November 22, 2023, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/mexican-american-joint-council . Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
- Teresa Palomo Acosta, “Mexican American Youth Organization,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed June 12, 2024, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/mexican-american-youth-organization .
- “Strikers Rally on Capitol Steps,” El Despertador de Tejas article. Daniel Garcia, 1969, November. Austin Files: Latinx M4300 (2). Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.
- “MAYO Conference Saturday,” El Despertador de Tejas article. Daniel Garcia, 1971, March 15. Austin Files: Latinx M4300 (2). Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.
- Gutiérrez, A. (1978, August 1). The Mexican American Youth Organization [Radio broadcast]. Onda Latina. https://www.laits.utexas.edu/onda_latina/program?sernum=000523664&term=mayo .
- “El Despertador de Tejas: About Our Name,” newspaper column. El Despertador de Tejas, 1970, December. Austin Files: Latinx M4300 (2). Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.
- Cynthia E. Orozco, “Mujeres Por La Raza,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed November 22, 2023, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/mujeres-por-la-raza . Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
- Estrada, J. Brown Beret Chapters 1969-1972. Mapping American Social Movements Project. https://depts.washington.edu/moves/brown_beret_map.shtml .
- Rentería, R. (2013, March 27). Gilbert - Part 1. Oral History Interview with Gilberto Rivera [audio recording]. https://renerenteria.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/austin-brown-berets-insights-reflections-and-discussion/ .
- Rentería, R. (2013, March 27). Susana - Part 1. Oral History Interview with Susana Almanza [audio recording]. https://renerenteria.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/austin-brown-berets-insights-reflections-and-discussion/ .
- Warmingham, G. (Director). (1978). [The Austin History Center]. Boats in the Barrio [Documentary]. (2017, April 6). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIUqVdBnZcQ .
- Rentería, R. (2013, March 27). Gilbert - Part 2. Oral History Interview with Gilberto Rivera [audio recording]. https://renerenteria.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/austin-brown-berets-insights-reflections-and-discussion/ .
- "About Us - LCLAA". Archived from the original on 2021-08-22.
- Fregoso, L. (1982, May 11) [Radio broadcast]. Mexican American Research Center: Connecting Communities To Federal Resources. Onda Latina https://www.laits.utexas.edu/onda_latina/program?sernum=MAE_82_24_mp3&theme=Business .
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