Texas, for years, was a one-party state controlled by white democrats. In 1962, a young eighteen-year-old heard the first rumblings of Chicano community organization in the barrios of Cristal. The rumor in the town was that five Mexican Americans were going to run for all five seats on the city council. But first, poor citizens had to find a way to pay the $1.75 poll tax. Money had to be raised—through bake sales of tamales, cake walks, and dances. So began the political activism of José Angel Gutiérrez.
Gutiérrez's autobiography, The Making of a Chicano Militant, is the first insider's view of the important political and social events within the Mexican American communities in South Texas during the 1960s and 1970s. A controversial and dynamic political figure during the height of the Chicano movement, Gutiérrez offers an absorbing personal account of his life at the forefront of the Mexican-American civil rights movement—first as a Chicano and then as a militant.
Gutiérrez traces the racial, ethnic, economic, and social prejudices facing Chicanos with powerful scenes from his own life: his first summer job as a tortilla maker at the age of eleven, his racially motivated kidnapping as a teenager, and his coming of age in the face of discrimination as a radical organizer in college and graduate school. When Gutiérrez finally returned to Cristal, he helped form the Mexican American Youth Organization and, subsequently the Raza Unida Party to confront issues of ethnic intolerance in his community. His story is soon to be a classic in the developing literature of Mexican American leaders.
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Pundits credit George W. Bush's victory in the 1998 Texas governor's race to the support the former president's son won from the state's Mexican American voters. A few decades ago, Texas Chicanos had to build a movement to gain any recognition from the powers that be. Studies of the Chicano movement of the '60s and '70s are limited, so the reflections of an activist like Gutierrez offer useful context and detail. The author was an organizer (later an elected official) in Cristal (Crystal City), Texas; he was among the founding members of the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) and of El Partido de La Raza Unida, the political party the movement spawned. His anecdotal memoir, covering 1950 to 1990, reminds readers of the conditions that inspired Chicanos to rebel in the '60s and traces the movement's development and the reasons for some of its successes and failures. Appropriate for larger libraries, particularly those serving Chicano populations. Mary Carroll
--This text refers to the
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"One of the monumental narratives of the Chicano movement. . . . Gutiérrez has had remarkable influence, not only on the Chicano social agenda, but on formation of minority political parties and the rise of local control over everyday life."—Genaro Padilla, professor of English, University of California, Berkeley and author of My History, Not Yours
"Long overdue, this memoir of one of the giants that led the powerful Chicano movement is provocative, insightful, and extremely revealing. His candid portrayal of his life as a militant activist is a major contribution to the study of Chicano politics."—Armando Navarro, author of The Cristal Experiment: A Chicano Struggle for Community Control
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You feel the Coraje Chicanos experienced growing up in TX.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Making of a Chicano Militant: Lessons from Cristal (Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography) (Paperback)
It's a book that tells generations born after el Movimiento that it took brave Chicanas(os) to make changes in politics, and education systems. This was done by Americans with coraje (anger) and who took this anger and put it into positive aciton. Having been part of the Movimiento Chicano this book brought back many memories. If you read "Rain of Gold" you'll like this book--it's the other story about those of us who the river crossed us, we did not cross the river. This book should be a must for every Chicano(a) in political science or Chicano studies.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What if it were your daughter?,
By Pecos 45 (Fort Stockton, TX) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Making of a Chicano Militant: Lessons from Cristal (Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography) (Paperback)
The Crystal City student walkout was sparked by the Crystal City's school board refusal to allow Chicano students to run for homecoming queen or cheerleader. No matter how you want to slice it, how would you feel if someone told you that your daughter wasn't good enough or pretty enough to run for homecoming queen or try out for cheerleader?
What the school board did was wrong, pure and simple. Gutierrez details how he channeled this anger to bring about monunmental changes in Texas, a state that used to regularly kill Hispanics for "getting out of line." There may be disagreement with his rhetoric, or his methods, but denying a large part of the student body from participating in high school traditions is just plain wrong. Read it and decide for yourself. It angered me, and I'm an old white guy with a teen-aged daughter.
5.0 out of 5 stars
AMAZING! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!,
This review is from: The Making of a Chicano Militant: Lessons from Cristal (Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography) (Paperback)
I teach high school US history classes and as a teacher, I BELIEVE this book should be MANDITORY IN ALL CLASSROOMS! All of my students have to read it and will continue to read it until I retire! It's unfortunate that not many books tell the truth about this country's history. I am more than happy to state truthfully and without a doubt that this one absolutely does!
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