Mexican Americans
and the
Constitution in the
20th Century
A Lecture By
Laura K. Muñoz, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Ester Hernández, “Libertad (Liberty).” Etching, 1976. Library of Congress.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c27167.
1st Amendment
Freedom of Speech, Press, Religion & Petition
Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to
petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
14th Amendment - Citizen rights not to be abridged
Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868
1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and
subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States
and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or
enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities
of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any
person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor
to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of
the laws.
Relevant TEKS
1. The Celebrate Freedom Week standard, and
2. 11th-grade U.S. History standards, specifically (c)(9).
(c)(9) History. The student understands the impact of the American civil rights
movement.
(A) trace the historical development of the civil rights movement in
the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, including the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 19th
amendments;
(B) describe the roles of political organizations that promoted civil
rights, including…Chicano…civil rights movements;
(C) identify the roles of significant leaders…Hector P. Garcia;…
(I) describe how litigation such as the landmark cases of…Mendez v.
Westminster…Delgado v. Bastrop I.S.D., Edgewood I.S.D. v. Kirby…played a
role in protecting the rights of the minority during the civil rights movement.
Phoenix, Arizona
December 22, 1915
"Segregation of
Mrs. Luther Stover
Williams, Arizona
School Children.
Dear Mrs. Stover:
Mexican Children
Not Embraced in
Segregation Law."
Biennial Report of the
Attorney General of
Arizona, 1915-1916
Your letter of December 30th, addressed to the Attorney General has
been received, in which you ask whether or not Mexican children can
legally be segregated from the white children in the public schools.
In reply thereto will say that Subdivision 2 of Paragraph 2733, Revised
Statutes of Arizona, 1913, in prescribing the powers and duties of the
Board of Trustees of School Districts, provides:
"...They shall segregate pupils of the African race from pupils of the
white race, and to that end are empowered to provide all
accommodations made necessary by such segregation."
You will therefore see that our law empowers trustees to
segregate children of the African race, but does not empower
the trustees to segregate children of the Mexican race unless, of
course, children of the Mexican race might also be of African descent,
by being intermingled with African blood through birth.
I am therefore of the opinion that we have no law empowering trustees
to segregate Mexican children from white children in our public schools.
Very truly yours,
GEORGE W. HARBEN
Asst. Attorney General
Sign painted on
exterior restaurant
wall…
“We serve Whites
only No Spanish or
Mexicans,” 1949.
Source: Courtesy of Center for
American History, University of Texas,
Russell Lee Photograph Collection,
1935-1977.
“You would go and sit
down in a restaurant that
didn’t have the sign…and
they would come and tell
you: ‘We don’t serve
Mexicans here.’
Those were the conditions
we were fighting. You
couldn’t go to barbershops.
You couldn’t go to an
Anglo theatre.”
John C. Solís, founder
Order Sons of America
Source: Quoted from Cynthia E. Orozco,
No Mexicans, Women or Dogs Allowed
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 2009).
Alameda Theater, San Antonio.
Source: Center for American History, University of Texas, Russell Lee
Photograph Collection, 1935-1977.
“I found conditions worse
that [sic] those in San
Antonio. There [in Corpus
Christi] they had a Mexican
school. You couldn’t eat in
the Anglo restaurants. You
couldn’t bathe in North
Beach because you were a
Mexican. There were signs
that said: ‘No Mexicans
allowed.’”
John C. Solís, founder
Order Sons of America
North Beach, Corpus Christi, Texas, circa 1930.
Source: McGregor Digitized Photograph Collection, Corpus Christi Museum of
Science and History.
Source: Quoted from Cynthia E.
Orozco, No Mexicans, Women or
Dogs Allowed (Austin: University of
Texas Press, 2009).
A Sampling of Early
20th-Century
Mexican American
Civil Rights Groups
Includes mutual aid
associations (mutualistas),
social clubs, and unions.
Name
Locations
Founding Concerns
Date
1
Alianza Hispano Americana
AZ, CA, CO, NM, 1898
TX, Old Mexico
2
Masons (such as Logia Masónica
Benito Juárez)
TX
3
Orden Caballeros de Honor y los
TX
Talleres (Order Knights of Honor)
1911
Fraternal
4
U.S. National
1911
Fraternal
5
Woodmen of the World (WOW,
Los Leñadores del Mundo or Los
Hacheros)
Gregorío Cortéz Defense Network
TX
1906
Legal Defense
Committee
6
Agrupación Protectora Mexicana
TX
1911
Lynchings
7
Primer Congreso Mexicanista
TX
1911
Lynching
8
Liga Femenil Mexicanista
TX
1911
Education,
Volunteerism
9
Liga Protectora Mexicana
Tx (Austin)
1917
Working Poor
People
10 Order Sons of America
(Orden Hijos de América)
TX (San Antonio)
1920
Civil Rights
11 Club Protector México-Texano
TX (San Antonio)
1921
Civil Rights
12 Order Sons of Texas
TX (San Antonio)
1921
Civil Rights
Life
Insurance,
Civil Rights
Fraternal
Source: Cynthia E. Orozco,
No Mexicans, Women or Dogs Allowed
(Austin: University of Texas Press,
2009).
“South Texas
map showing
the Order Sons
of America and
League of Latin
American
Citizens
councils, 1920s.”
Source: Cynthia E. Orozco, No
Mexicans, Women or Dogs Allowed
(Austin: University of Texas Press,
2009).
Mexican American
School Desegregation
Cases, 1925 to 1983
Source: Reprinted from Richard R. Valencia,
Chicano Students and the Courts: The
Mexican American Legal Struggle for
Educational Equity (New York: New York
University Press, 2008).
Limited
School
Curricula
Housekeeping
Basic education for
Mexican American
girls emphasized
homemaking and
domestic skills.
Tempe Normal School Bulletin,
ca. 1915.
Cookery Class
Limited
School
Curricula
Gardening
Mexican American
boys learned
subsistence skills,
such as farming
and carpentry.
Tempe Normal School Bulletin,
ca. 1915.
Woodshop
Courtesy of Arizona State Archives, Phoenix.
Separate Schooling
Segregated Class, Gilbert Public Schools, Eastern Phoenix Metro Area,
Arizona, circa 1920s
Courtesy of Arizona State Archives, Phoenix.
Separate Schooling
“1st and 2nd Mexican, Miss Goldie Olsen, teacher. 1923”
Peoria School District #11, Western Phoenix Metro Area, Arizona
Courtesy of Arizona State Archives, Phoenix.
Separate Schooling – “Mexican Schools”
Segregated School, Twin Cities of Ray and Sonora, Arizona
Romo v. Laird (1925)
The first Mexican American school
desegregation case
Separate Schools
Conditions
“Modern Brick Structure,”
at South Edcouch
Elementary (Anglo).
Note concrete foundation.
“Old Army Barracks” at
Elsa Elementary School
(Mexican American).
Note pier foundation.
Source: Richard R. Valencia, Chicano
Students and the Courts: The Mexican
American Legal Struggle for
Educational Equity (New York: New York
University Press, 2008).
Separate Schools
Conditions
“Indoor Drinking Fountain
with Electric Cooler,” at South
Edcouch Elementary (Anglo).
Note indoor plumbing.
“Outdoor Drinking Fountains”
at North Edcouch Elementary
School (Mexican American).
Source: Richard R. Valencia, Chicano Students
and the Courts: The Mexican American Legal
Struggle for Educational Equity
(New York: New York University Press, 2008).
Source: Richard R. Valencia, Chicano Students and the Courts
(New York: New York University Press, 2008).
“Shields on Bulbs for Diffused
Lighting” at South Edcouch
Elementary (Anglo)
“Bare Bulbs” at North Edcouch
Elementary (Mexican American)
Separate Schools Conditions
Mathis High School, Mathis,
Texas, circa 1946.
“Mexican Ward Schools,”
Mathis, Texas, circa 1946.
Source: Richard R. Valencia, Chicano Students
and the Courts: The Mexican American Legal
Struggle for Educational Equity (New York: New
York University Press, 2008).
Mendez v. Westminster
(1946)
The first successful
challenge to Mexican
American school
desegregation.
Goal: To end statewide
school segregation of
Mexican American
children.
School districts argued
that segregation was
language based.
The court ruled
segregation violated
the “guarantees of
equal rights under the
14th Amendment.”
Sylvia Mendez received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010.
Source: “O.C. civil rights icon Mendez awarded Medal of Freedom,” OC Register, 15 February, 2011, accessed
at http://www.ocregister.com/articles/mendez-288377-medal-case.html;
Delgado v. Bastrop ISD (1948)
“Delgado was to Texas as
Mendez was to California: the
goal in both cases was to
bring an end to statewide
school segregation.” –
Dr. Ricardo R. Valencia.
Bastrop “Mexican school,” a
single story, wood frame
building with makeshift
“privies” attached to back of
building.
Sources: Richard R. Valencia, Chicano Students
and the Courts: The Mexican American Legal
Struggle for Educational Equity (New York: New
York University Press, 2008); Digitization of the
photographs from the George Isidore Sanchez
Papers, University of Texas at Austin, available at
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/photodraw/sanchez/inde
x.html.
Delgado v. Bastrop ISD (1948)
Mexican school,
outdoor drinking
fountain.
Two-story, brick
building for
Anglo children.
The War Against
Racial Prejudice
Gonzales v. Sheely
(1951)
TX attorney Gus García,
AZ attorney Ralph
Estrada, UT-Austin
professor Jorge
Ramírez; Lauro
Montaño of Alianza
Lodge #52 Los
Angeles; Arturo Fuentes
and J. I. Gandarilla,
Alianza supreme
president and Alianza
supreme vice-president;
and Fred Okrand, ACLU
attorney from Los
Angeles.
Source: Alianza Magazine, Vol. XLV,
No 4 (April 1952), 5.
Edgewood ISD v. Kirby (1984)
tackled funding disparities between
property-rich and property-poor
school districts, and the effect of
this difference on educational
quality.
School districts are funded through
collected property taxes. Disparities
emerged as a result of property
values.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational
Fund (MALDEF) sued state commissioner of education William
Kirby on behalf of Edgewood ISD in San Antonio, Texas. The
case was preceded by Rodriguez v. San Antonio ISD (1971).
Source: Richard R. Valencia, Chicano Students and the Courts: The Mexican American Legal Struggle for Educational
Equity (New York: New York University Press, 2008)
Edgewood ISD v. Kirby (1984)
The disparities…
Example 1 : In 1985-1986, the difference between funding
per pupil in Texas schools ranged from $2,112 to $19,333.
Example 2: The richest Texas school district had over $14M
in property wealth PER PUPIL, while the poorest district
had $20K in property wealth PER PUPIL (a 700:1 ratio).
Initially the court ruled in Edgewood’s favor, deciding:
a) Education is a fundamental right.
b) Wealth is a suspect classification.
c) Texas’ school finance scheme is unconstitutionally inefficient.
d) The Constitution of Texas demands fiscal neutrality in the
funding of public schools.
Source: Richard R. Valencia, Chicano Students and the Courts: The Mexican American Legal Struggle for Educational
Equity (New York: New York University Press, 2008)
Edgewood ISD v. Kirby (1984) - The final verdict
The Court of Appeals of Texas reversed the “Edgewood 1” ruling.
The court challenged the Equal Protection (14th Amendment)
analysis used by the lower court and disagreed that “education is a
fundamental right under the Texas Constitution.”
The Texas Supreme Court, however, reversed the Court of Appeals
decision on two points in particular:
a) School funding disparities. “Property-poor districts were
‘trapped in a cycle of poverty’ from which there was no
opportunity to escape.”
b) An efficient school system. “The Texas Constitution required an
‘efficient,’ not ‘simple’ or ‘cheap’ public school system. The
framers of the state’s Constitution did not intend a school
system with huge funding disparities, but rather a system that
provided a ‘general diffusion of knowledge.’”
Source: Richard R. Valencia, Chicano Students and the Courts: The Mexican American Legal Struggle for Educational
Equity (New York: New York University Press, 2008)
Conclusions
Mexican Americans have engaged the Constitution, particularly the 1st
and 14th Amendments, to secure equality in America.
Their civil rights efforts began in the late 19th- and early 20th-century,
suggesting a consistent and “long civil rights movement’.”
They established national and statewide organizations such as the
Order Sons of America (in addition to LULAC, the American GI Forum,
and MALDEF) to challenge inequality, especially “segregation” in public
life and in the public schools.
Once segregation was outlawed, they continued to challenge economic
inequities affecting their children’s educational access and opportunity.
Mexican Americans and the Constitution in the 20th Century
Contact Information:
Laura K. Muñoz, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
6300 Ocean Drive, Unit 5814
Corpus Christi, TX 78412-5814
laura.munoz@tamucc.edu
(361) 825-3975
Acknowledgements:
Thank you to Humanities Texas and the Education Service Center, Region 2. I
appreciate the time, energy, and courtesy you have shown me. I owe special thanks
to the Department of Humanities, College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M UniversityCorpus Christi, and the following individuals: Eric Lupfer, Rachel Spradley, and Natasha
Crawford.