Prof. Armando Vazquez-Ramos, co-founder of the CSULB Chicano & Latino Studies department and a participant in the 1968 East L.A. high school walkouts, lectured on his recent article "The legacy and importance of Chicano Studies for Mexico and Mexicans" on Monday April 30, 2018 at the CSULB Anatol Conference Center. His lecture and PowerPoint presentation on "The 1968 East L.A. High School Walkouts: How the Chicano student movement created Chicano Studies" chronicled how the founding of the CSULB Chicano Studies department, and many other Ethnic Studies programs at numerous colleges and universities were established in 1969, due to the leadership of Black, Asian American, Native American and Chicano students.
Many CSULB faculty, staff and students were in attendance, along with colleagues from faraway places, including CSU Bakersfield professor Gonzalo Santos, Brown Berets founder David Sanchez, UCSB’s Cruzito Herrera and Fresno’s Tonatzin Risco, daughter of La Raza newspaper’s founding editor Eliezer Risco. In addition, Westminster H.S. teachers Jesus Ortega and Eric Salguero brought a dozen highly dynamic and eloquent high school students, that seized center stage in the evening’s historical dialogue, during and after the lecture. For many, this was their first time at CSULB and displayed their keen interest in learning about Chicano Studies, and were highly inspired from recently meeting Sylvia Mendez, a key plaintiff as a child in the landmark case Mendez vs. Westminster Board of Education which desegregated California’s public schools in 1946.
To read "The legacy and importance of Chicano Studies for Mexico and Mexicans" click here, and to view the PowerPoint presentation "The 1968 East L.A. High School Walkouts: How the Chicano student movement created Chicano Studies" click here.
