1. Chicano! History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement
Taking Back the Schools

2. Educational Issues Drop out rates, push-outs
Educational tracking: confining bilingual children in vocational education
Advising: encouraging enrollment in non-college programs
Use of corporal punishment
Anti-Mexican attitudes and prejudice
Reading and graduation rates

3. Mendez v. Westminster
1946 California Supreme Court ruling that outlawed the segregation of Mexican children
Ruling outlawed practice of segregation for “language necessity”
Also based on the notion of Mexicans as members of the caucasion race
1954: Hernandez v. US: Supreme Court ruling that Mexicans had been treated “as a class apart” and entitled to equal rights protections

4. East Los Angeles Walk-Outs
March, 1968, student petitions to improve schools ignored
Student stage massive walk-outs, also called the East Los Angeles blow-outs
12,000 students participate, some arrested for disorderly conduct and failure to disperse

5. The East Los Angeles 13
13 students and community leaders charged with “conspiracy to commit misdemeanors” for conspiracy to disrupt the schools, elevated the complaint to a felony
Faced 66 year prison terms if convicted
Included Sal Castro: major supporter of the student walk-outs
Also included: Moctezuma Esparza, Raul Ruiz, Carlos Munoz Jr. and 10 others
Charges dropped on civil rights issues: right to petition government agencies for grievances, freedom of assembly and free speech
Recognized as the first significant urban struggle of the Chicano Movement