LULAC: League of United Latin American Citizens
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), founded in 1929, is the oldest and most widely respected Hispanic civil rights organization in the United States of America. LULAC was created at a time in our country’s history when Hispanics were denied basic civil and human rights, despite contributions to American society. The founders of LULAC created an organization that empowers its members to create and develop opportunities where they are needed most. – lulac.org
American GI Forum
The American GI Forum (AGIF) was founded on March 26, 1948 in Corpus Christi, Texas by Dr. Hector Perez Garcia, an Army veteran medical doctor. Dr. Garcia returned from World War II proud of his accomplishments and eager to participate in the American Dream. To his dismay, he witnessed and experienced what Hispanic servicemen across the country were encountering in the pursuit of the American Dream — deeply rooted prejudice. With nothing more than his determination to overcome these injustices, he successfully formed the American GI Forum, a formidable and patriotic organization. Through it, he helped break down many of the barriers all Hispanic Americans faced in a country that embraced the principles of freedom and justice, but only offered them to a select few. – http://www.agifusa.org
PASO: Political Association of Spanish-Speaking Organizations
The Political Association of Spanish-Speaking Organizations grew out of the Viva Kennedy-Viva Johnson clubs of the 1960 presidential campaign. The clubs were a result of increasing political activism that emerged among Mexican-American veterans of World War II who returned home to discover that they still had to contend with discrimination in employment and other civil-rights problems. In Texas PASSO was organized into local chapters in Houston, Port Arthur, Orange, Fort Worth, Dallas, and El Paso and throughout Texas. – The Handbook of Texas Online, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook
MAYO: Mexican American Youth Organization
Founded in San Antonio in 1967, was for a decade the major political organization of Mexican-American youth in Texas; it also led to the founding of the Raza Unida party in 1970. Like many other Mexican-American organizations in the state, MAYO sought social justice. But unlike older and more established groups, such as the League of United Latin American Citizens, the American G.I. Forum, or the Political Association of Spanish Speaking Organizations, it stressed Chicano cultural nationalism and preferred the techniques of direct political confrontation and mass demonstration to accomplish its goals. – The Handbook of Texas Online, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook
United Farm Workers
Founded in 1962 by Cesar Chavez, the United Farm Workers of America is the nation’s first successful and largest farm workers union currently active in 10 states. The UFW continues to organize in major agricultural industries across the nation. Recent years have witnessed dozens of key UFW union contract victories, among them the largest strawberry, rose, winery and mushroom firms in California and the nation.
“We HAD to go to junior college because there was no four-year college available to us. The only one there was, was Kingsville A&I and Alpine Sul Ross… And if you graduated from junior college, which made you rare, you ended up in Kingsville or Alpine. Well, Alpine was out in the boonies, so, all the bright and angry young men and women ended up at A&I. And that’s where I was, so I organized them all and so we were the group that changed everything beginning with the school and that’s where we started thinking about not making the mistakes that PASSO made and trying to organize something that would help… Anyway, I went to grad school at St. Mary’s becuase I got a part-time job and things, and that’s where I met others like me who wanted to form an organization. And that’s when we formed MAYO…”
¡Viva La Raza! 