MACRI Talk: Mexican American Moderates in the Chicano Movement

Join the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute (MACRI) for a MACRI Talk with Dr. Guadalupe San Miguel on his recent book In the Midst of Radicalism: Mexican American Moderates During the Chicano Movement, 1960-1978.

This MACRI Talk is sponsored by AARP Texas, gracias!

Our FREE virtual event will stream live on Facebook https://bit.ly/MACRI-live & YouTube https://bit.ly/YT-MACRI at 6PM Central Time.

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Dr. San Miguel is professor of history at the University of Houston. His current research focuses on ethnicity, religion and politics in the schooling of Mexican children, Latino activism in school reform, and music in Mexican American culture. He is the former President of the National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies and has served on the Board of Directors for the Institute for the History of Texas Music at Southwestern Texas State University and on the editorial board of the Journal of Latinos and Education. The author of six books and numerous scholarly articles, Professor San Miguel has received many awards including the Public Forum Distinguished Lecture Award from North Harris College, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies-Tejas Foco, and an Outstanding Book Award for the best book on the history of education for Brown, Not White: School Integration and the Chicano Movement in Houston. In 2020, the History of Education Quarterly selected one of his publications as one of the top ten best articles published during the past 60 years. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. from Stanford University.

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Chicano Movement of the 1960s and ’70s, like so much of the period’s politics, is best known for its radicalism: militancy, distrust of mainstream institutions, demands for rapid change. Less understood, yet no less significant in its aims, actions, and impact, was the movement’s moderate elements. In the Midst of Radicalism presents the first full account of these more mainstream liberal activists—those who rejected the politics of protest and worked within the system to promote social change for the Mexican American community. The radicalism of the Chicano Movement marked a sharp break from the previous generation of Mexican Americans. Even so, historian Guadalupe San Miguel Jr. contends, the first-generation agenda of moderate social change persisted. His book reveals how, even in the ferment of the ’60s and ’70s, Mexican American moderates used conventional methods to expand access to education, electoral politics, jobs, and mainstream institutions. Believing in the existing social structure, though not the status quo, they fought in the courts, at school board meetings, as lobbyists and advocates, and at the ballot box. They did not mount demonstrations, but in their own deliberate way, they chipped away at the barriers to their communities’ social acceptance and economic mobility. Were these men and women pawns of mainstream political leaders, or were they true to the Mexican American community, representing its diverse interests as part of the establishment? San Miguel explores how they contributed to the struggle for social justice and equality during the years of radical activism. His book assesses their impact and how it fit within the historic struggle for civil rights waged by others since the early 1900s. In the Midst of Radicalism for the first time shows us these moderate Mexican American activists as they were—playing a critical role in the Chicano Movement while maintaining a long-standing tradition of pursuing social justice for their community.

Views and ideas shared by presenters do not necessarily reflect those of the MACRI, its staff, or AARP.

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