Fighting Their Own Battles: Mexican Americans, African Americans, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Texas

Contents

Contents Acknowledgments xi Acronyms and Abbreviations xvii Introduction 1 1 Advancing the Cause of Democracy 13 The Origins of Protest in the Long Civil Rights Movement 2 Sleeping on Another Man’s Wounds 39 The Battle for Integrated Schools in the 1950s 3 Nothing but Victory Can Stop Us 72 Direct Action and Political Action in the Early 1960s 4 Venceremos 102 The Evolution of Civil Rights in the Mid-1960s 5 Am I My Brother’s Keeper? 130 Ecumenical Activism in the Lone Star State 6 The Day of Nonviolence Is Past 154 The Era of Brown Power and Black Power in Texas 7 Pawns, Puppets, and Scapegoats 195 School Desegregation in the Late 1960s and Early 1970s Conclusion 224 Notes 241 Bibliography 305 Index 333 This page intentionally left blank ix Illustrations Dr. Hector P. García, George I. Sánchez, and Gus Garcia 43 Felix Tijerina rides in motorcade with LBJ 47 Juanita Craft at State Fair protest 51 Thurgood Marshall, Crawford B. Bunkley, and William J. Durham at NAACP trial 54 Houston’s first sit-in 75 Black youths picketing in Marshall 82 Crystal City mayor Juan Cornejo 89 PASO leader Albert Peña 91 Dr. Hector P. García and Reverend James Novarro lead the Minimum Wage March 107 LBJ meets with Mexican American leaders 114 Clarence Laws leads Alabama Sympathy March 119 Moses LeRoy addresses farmworkers 125 Father Sherrill Smith 139 Reverends Peter Johnson and Herbert Wright 143 MAYO activists march in Del Rio 149 Lee Otis Johnson, F. D. Kirkpatrick, and James Alexander appear in Houston courtroom 158 Students guarded after TSU disturbance in Houston 159 x illustrations Black Power youths protest police brutality in Dallas 167 Police arrest man at 1969 San Antonio riot 169 Massive crowd protests police murder of Santos Rodríguez 175 Rioters burn police motorcycles and destroy sections of downtown Dallas 176 Yolanda Birdwell and Gregory Salazar at Northside People’s Center 179 Ramsey Muñiz, RUP gubernatorial candidate in 1972 182 José Angel Gutiérrez promotes Raza Unida Party 183 Huelga School students and teachers 202 Court-ordered bussing begins in Dallas 212 ...