Edition: April 2021

History

By:  Steven W. Prewitt

The history of San Felipe School District (Texas), 1894-1971, depicts a situation in which Mexican Americans had control of local schools.Established in the Mexican “barrio” of the racially divided border town of Del Rio, San Felipe resisted annexation to the Anglo school district and became an independent school district in 1929. Mexican Americans made up the vast majority of the faculty, staff, and administration. Spanish was used extensively in and around the schools, and Mexican holidays were sometimes occasions for early dismissal. 

By: Chuy Ramirez

In our February 2021 edition of IberoAztlan, Dr. Blandina Cardenas alluded to her public education at San Felipe ISD. In 1971, San Felipe would be forced to merge with Del Rio ISD in one of the many cases litigated under the U.S. v. Texas desegregation cases.  Dr. Cardenas also briefly referred to the 1930 Salvatierra v. Del Rio case.  In a companion piece, reprinted here because of its historical value, we learn of the sequence of events . . .

By: Chuy Ramirez

Genuine calm and a child-like mischievous chuckle obscure an underlying intensity in one of the most elder of the scholar-activists of the Texas Chicana/o movement.  Mario Compean remains as genuinely optimistic as when I first heard him speak to a group in November 1968. A group of dejected Mexican American parents had just learned that their children who had boycotted classes at Edcouch Elsa High School would be suspended or expelled from school.  Some  of  the 175 students would lose at least one semester of school credit.  Some would lose the entire school year’s credit.  For the boys, Vietnam seemed like the next stop.  A seemingly promising student boycott to call attention to the dire conditions of the school facilities, the undeclared war against speaking Spanish and the lack of Mexican American culturally relevant school textbooks appeared that evening like a catastrophe. Parents were finally out in full force that evening in hope that someone could explain why things had gone so, so wrong and whether there was any hope of recovery from this most severest of blows…

By:  Chuy Ramirez

Chuy Ramirez sits down to talk extensively with Mario Compean.

Education

By: Chuy Ramirez

The trajectory of advocacy for adoption of Chicana/o (Mexican American) studies has been a lengthy one, but hardly consistent.  Commencing with the Plan de Santa Barbara (California, 1968), chicana/o studies was perceived by its advocates as a long-term strategy which called for a holistic response to the dismal engagement  in higher education by Mexican Americans.  A culturally relevant curriculum was but one of several  goals set out in the Santa Barbara blueprint. 

By: Chuy Ramirez

Dr. Christopher Carmona is the interim Director of Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He is a board member of the national award-winning organization, Refusing To Forget, which researches and promotes teaching the history of violence against Mexican Americans and Latinos in the early 20 th Century and beyond. Currently serves as the Chair of the NACCS Tejas Foco Committee on Implementing MAS in PreK-12 Education in Texas.

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Video: Mario Compean
This month's Legacy Interview is Mario Compean. Watch him tell the story of his life in his own words.

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By: Chuy Ramirez

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Learn more about the Icons & Symbols of the Boarderland exhibit.

May – September 2021

Carlsbad Museum & Art Center

418 W. Fox St.

575.887.0276

Free Admission

Supported by Lodgers Tax

Curated by Diana Molina

 

Credits:

Produced by David DeWitt
DeWitt Productions Inc.
Austin TX
www.dewittproductions.com

Music by Frontera Bugalú
fronterabugalu.bandcamp.com

Executive Producer – Diana Molina

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