In 1969, Edcouch-Elsa school district allocated $350 for books related to Mexican-American literature.
It wasn’t done happily and it wasn’t done voluntarily.
In the fall of 1968, Chicano students enrolled in high school in small Winter Valley community walked out of school repeatedly, faced incarceration, had their parents threatened with loss of their jobs, and some students were forced to move to another district. But it was important to these students that their heritage be respected and be included in the public school system.
The walkout ended when Chicano student protesters agreed to end their protest after the Edcouch-Elsa School District readmitted them to classes in January 1969 as part of a court settlement. This was the first major MALDEF Chicano civil rights victory in the courts. MALDEF is the Mexican American Legal Defense And Educational Fund.
This story is told by James B. Barrera in "We Want Better Education!” It was published last year and is an excellent history told at a crucial time in the current climate of Texas educational battles.
“We Want Better Education!” is an absorbing recounting of the actual history of the four 1968-69 student uprisings in Texas. Lanier High School in San Antonio was the first Texas high school to demand better education by protesting and walking out, but Edcouch-Elsa was the first in the Winter Valley. It is an interesting historical note that one of the student leaders worked during the summer before the walk-out in a Detroit automobile factory. Labor unionists gave him valuable lessons organizing and political consciousness.
The most famous walkout was in Crystal City, which the author says led to the development of the La Raza Unida Party. Jose Angel Gutierrez was involved in the organization and support of the students. It protest started over a grievance about cheerleaders and the selection process. But that was just the opening clash. The more substantive demands were pretty reasonable. No punishment for speaking Spanish in class, access to better education, help in getting information about colleges, and courses dealing with Mexican-American culture and history.
The Texas Rangers were sent down to investigate because the state leaders thought that was a clearly communist thing to say.
Severita Lara was one of the leaders of the protest, and also one of the more fascinating stories. Severita Lara, like numerous other Mexican American students, migrated during the summer for work. In San Jose, California, Lara began planning a protest at her Crystal City school after learning about the East Los Angeles school walkouts that occurred in March 1968. According to one historian, the migrant labor network between Crystal City and the vegetable-growing region near San Jose provided her and other Crystal City migrant students exposure to the development of the Chicano Movement in California. Some might call this an example of the circulation of struggle.
The Crystal City walk-out garnered national attention and three students, Severita Lara, Diana Serna, and Mario Trevino, were chosen by their fellow students to go to Washington, DC, to meet with government officials.
They met with Senators Yarborough and Edward Kennedy, as well as Chris Roggerson, an official in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The student leaders urged the government to withhold federal aid from their school system. Roggerson promised an investigation into the school district’s possible violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which allowed HEW to cut funds from segregated school systems.
That must have caught the administrators eyes because the complaints were settled soon after.
That period of official respect for other cultures lasted 50 years but a pushback is now taking place on diversity in education.
And this book is a timely reminder of what is used to be like.
And PHIT applauds the book, because our mission is to remind folks of stories and history that has been forgotten and needs to be remembered.
So buy the book.
And, by the way, support People’s History in Texas with a pledge and a subscription to our Substack.