Vol. 12: Warriors for Social Justice: Maria Jiménez of Houston and Mexican American Activists

Published: October, 2024  Pages: 352  Features: 16 b&w illus. Notes. Bib. Index.

Warriors for Social Justice examines the contributions of Mexican American activists to the nation’s democratic values by concentrating on the activism of Maria Jiménez (1950–2020) in Houston, Texas. Linda J. Quintanilla describes Jiménez’s lifelong battle against injustice, be it racist, sexist, or anti-immigrant animus. The Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride in 2003, only one of her many impressive achievements, delighted her the most. The experience introduced its participants, undocumented immigrants, to historic places and African American activists and descendants from the Civil Rights Movement. more... about Warriors for Social Justice: Maria Jiménez of Houston and Mexican American Activists

Vol. 11: The Bell Ringer

Published: November, 2021  Pages: 224  Features: 15 b&w illus.

This is the story of Victor Rodriguez, star track athlete and San Antonio educator. From his earliest days in South Texas in the 1940s he broke many barriers. As a football player and track star he set records and won trophies at Edna High School, at Victoria College, and at North Texas State College. At each stage of his education, he often found himself the only Mexican American in his group. more... about The Bell Ringer

Vol. 10: Raza Rising: Chicanos in North Texas

Published: March, 2016  Pages: 304  Features: 34 b&w photos. Notes. Bib. Index.

Based on articles written for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, author Richard J. Gonzales draws on his educational, inner-city and professional life experiences to weave eyewitness testimony into issues facing Chicanos, including economic, health, education, criminal justice, politics, immigration, and cultural issues. Raza Rising offers first-hand observations, supported by well-documented scholarly research, of Chicanos’ growth and subsequent struggles to participate fully in North Texas’ political and economic life. more... about Raza Rising: Chicanos in North Texas

Vol. 9: Three Decades of Engendering History: Selected Works of Antonia I. Castañeda

Published: December, 2014  Pages: 400  Features: 10 b&w photos. Map. Notes. Bib. Index.

Three Decades of Engendering History collects ten of Antonia I. Castañeda’s best articles, including the widely circulated article “Engendering the History of Alta California, 1769-1848,” in which Castañeda took a direct and honest look at sex and gender relations in colonial California, exposing stories of violence against women as well as stories of survival and resistance. Other articles included are the prize-winning “Women of Color and the Rewriting of Western History,” and two recent articles, “Lullabies y Canciones de Cuna” and “La Despedida.” The latter two represent Castañeda’s most recent work excavating, mapping, and bringing forth the long and strong post-WWII history of Tejanas. Finally, the volume includes three interviews with Antonia Castañeda that contribute the important narrative of her lived experience—the “theory in the flesh” and politics of necessity that fueled her commitment to transformative scholarship that highlights gender and Chicanas as a legitimate line of inquiry. more... about Three Decades of Engendering History: Selected Works of Antonia I. Castañeda

Vol. 8: The Roots of Latino Urban Agency

Published: November, 2013  Pages: 192  Features: Map. Notes. Bib. Index. Open Access

The Roots of Latino Urban Agency is now available as a free e-book via Knowledge Unlatched.​ more... about The Roots of Latino Urban Agency

Vol. 7: Chicano Education in the Era of Segregation

Published: March, 2013  Pages: 240  Features: 10 b&w photos. Notes. Bib. Index.

Chicano Education in the Era of Segregation analyzes the socioeconomic origins of the theory and practice of segregated schooling for Mexican-Americans from 1910 to 1950. Gilbert G. Gonzalez links the various aspects of the segregated school experience, discussing Americanization, testing, tracking, industrial education, and migrant education as parts of a single system designed for the processing of the Mexican child as a source of cheap labor. The movement for integration began slowly, reaching a peak in the 1940s and 1950s. The 1947 Mendez v. Westminster case was the first federal court decision and the first application of the Fourteenth Amendment to overturn segregation based on the “separate but equal” doctrine. This paperback features an extensive new Preface by the author discussing new developments in the history of segregated schooling. more... about Chicano Education in the Era of Segregation

Vol. 6: Traqueros: Mexican Railroad Workers in the United States, 1870-1930

Published: February, 2016  Pages: 256  Features: Map. Notes. Bib. Index.

Perhaps no other industrial technology changed the course of Mexican history in the United States—and Mexico—than did the coming of the railroads. Tens of thousands of Mexicans worked for the railroads in the United States, especially in the Southwest and Midwest. Construction crews soon became railroad workers proper, along with maintenance crews later. Extensive Mexican American settlements appeared throughout the lower and upper Midwest as the result of the railroad. The substantial Mexican American populations in these regions today are largely attributable to 19th- and 20th-century railroad work. Only agricultural work surpassed railroad work in terms of employment of Mexicans. more... about Traqueros: Mexican Railroad Workers in the United States, 1870-1930

Vol. 5: Américo Paredes: In His Own Words, an Authorized Biography

Published: April, 2010  Pages: 224  Features: 25 b&w illus. Notes. Bib. Index.

Américo Paredes (1915-1999) was a folklorist, scholar, and professor at the University of Texas at Austin who is widely acknowledged as one of the founding scholars of Chicano Studies. Born in Brownsville, Texas, along the southern U.S.-Mexico Border, Paredes’ early experiences impacted his writing during his later years as an academic. He grew up between two worlds—one written about in books, the other sung about in ballads and narrated in folktales. He attended a school system that emphasized conformity and Anglo values in a town whose population was 70 percent Mexican in origin. more... about Américo Paredes: In His Own Words, an Authorized Biography

Vol. 4: Sea la Luz: The Making of Mexican Protestantism in the American Southwest, 1829-1900

Published: September, 2006  Pages: 208  Features: 10 photos. 7 maps. Notes. Bib. Index.

Mexican Protestantism was born in the encounter between Mexican Catholics and Anglo American Protestants, after the United States ventured into the Southwest and wrested territory from Mexico in the early nineteenth century. Sea la Luz tells the story of Mexican converts and the churches they developed through the records of Protestant missionaries. more... about Sea la Luz: The Making of Mexican Protestantism in the American Southwest, 1829-1900

Vol. 3: Californio Voices: The Oral Memoirs of Jose Maria Amador and Lorenzo Asisara

Published: January, 2012  Pages: 360  Features: 11 photos, 1 map. App. Notes. Bib. Index.

In the early 1870s, Hubert H. Bancroft and his assistants set out to record the memoirs of early Californios, one of them being eighty-three-year-old Don José María Amador, a former “Forty-Niner” during the California Gold Rush and soldado de cuera at the Presidio of San Francisco. Amador tells of reconnoitering expeditions into the interior of California, where he encountered local indigenous populations. He speaks of political events of Mexican California and the widespread confiscation of the Californios’ goods, livestock, and properties when the United States took control. A friend from Mission Santa Cruz, Lorenzo Asisara, also describes the harsh life and mistreatment the Indians faced from the priests. more... about Californio Voices: The Oral Memoirs of Jose Maria Amador and Lorenzo Asisara

Vol. 2: Life in Laredo: A Documentary History from the Laredo Archives

Published: March, 2004  Pages: 216  Features: Map. 12 b/w illus. App. Notes. Bib. Index.

Based on documents from the Laredo Archives, Life in Laredo shows the evolution and development of daily life in a town under the flags of Spain, Mexico, and the United States. Isolated on the northern frontier of New Spain and often forgotten by authorities far away, the people of Laredo became as grand as the river that flowed by their town and left an enduring legacy in a world of challenges and changes. Because of its documentary nature, Life in Laredo offers insights into the nitty-gritty of the comings and goings of its early citizens not to be found elsewhere. more... about Life in Laredo: A Documentary History from the Laredo Archives

• The Webb County Heritage Foundation Jim Parish Award, 2004
• San Antonio Conservation Society Award, 2004

Vol. 1: Contested Policy: The Rise and Fall of Federal Bilingual Education in the United States, 1960-2001

Published: February, 2020  Pages: 176  Features: Notes. Bib essay. Index.

Bilingual education is one of the most contentious and misunderstood educational programs in the country. It raises significant questions about this country’s national identity, the nature of federalism, power, ethnicity, and pedagogy. In Contested Policy, Guadalupe San Miguel, Jr., studies the origins, evolution, and consequences of federal bilingual education policy from 1960 to 2001, with particular attention to the activist years after 1978, when bilingual policy was heatedly contested. more... about Contested Policy: The Rise and Fall of Federal Bilingual Education in the United States, 1960-2001