Pioneering Minority Representation: Edward Roybal and the Los Angeles City Council, 1949-1962
01 Aug 1997-Pacific Historical Review (University of California Press Journals)-Vol. 66, Iss: 3, pp 399-425
TL;DR: The efforts of ethnic and racial groups to obtain effective representation are deeply woven into the fabric of the United States. as mentioned in this paper The election of Edward Roybal to the Los Angeles City Council in 1949 exemplifies the opportunities for political change that emerged from local cross-ethnic activism after World War II.
Abstract: The efforts of ethnic and racial groups to obtain effective representation are deeply woven into the fabric of the United States. The election of Edward Roybal to the Los Angeles City Council in 1949 exemplifies the opportunities for political change that emerged from local cross-ethnic activism after World War II. It also suggests the limits of such change. Roybal, the city's first Latino council representative in the twentieth century, received support in his quest for office from an unusual combination of Mexican Americans, whites, and African Americans. To liberals and minorities his election was a
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TL;DR: In the early 1920s, Los Angeles city engineers improved Whittier Boulevard through the east side to keep costs low, the engineers took land from parks and playgrounds as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Faced with immense increases in automobile traffic, during the 1920s, Los Angeles city engineers improved Whittier Boulevard through the east side. To keep costs low, the engineers took land from parks and playgrounds. In short, local residents, mostly lower-income Mexican Americans, Jews, and other “undesirables,” wouldpaythe social costs ofhighway buildingin East Los Angeles.By the 1940s,poorlyde-signed roads helped fuel the reformist politics of Edward Roybal but also helped state transportation planners to justify extensive freeway constructionin the area. Spatial exploitationforhighways contributed to the projection of place-based ethnic identity among the Mexican American people who became a majority of east side population after World War II.
14 citations
Cites background from "Pioneering Minority Representation:..."
...Roybal’s campaign focused on community grievances that resulted from the imperious highway policies of the 1920s, and thus began the braiding together of Mexican American identity and the cultural landscape created by transportation infrastructure on the east side.(8) Since then, the spatial dominance of the freeways (Figure 2) has played such a significant part in the residents’ place-based ethnic identity that Chicano-studies scholar Raul Villa has characterized the Mexican Americans who came of age since World War II as the “expressway generation,” and Rodolfo Acuña has identified the freeways as a primary example of the invasive policies that made East Los Angeles “a community under siege....
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TL;DR: On December 25, 1951, approximately fifty Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers brutally beat seven young men in their custody, including five Mexican Americans as discussed by the authors, and the ensuing controversy became known as Bloody Christmas.
Abstract: On December 25, 1951, approximately fifty Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers brutally beat seven young men in their custody, including five Mexican Americans The ensuing controversy became known
as Bloody Christmas Mexican American activists demanded investigations into allegations of police brutality and LAPD accountability to civilian control The LAPD9s new chief, William Parker, however, had
just launched a reform campaign based on the police professionalism model, which stressed police autonomy, particularly about internal discipline Parker and his allies in city government stifled external
investigations into department matters, vilified LAPD critics, and even ignored perjury by officers They thus helped create an organizational culture that valued LAPD independence above the rule of law
and led to the LAPD9s estrangement from Mexican American and other minority communities
11 citations
TL;DR: The authors analyzes the Latino political organization Amigos de Wallace, created to support the 1948 presidential candidacy of Henry Wallace under the Progressive Party ticket, as the earliest known organized attempt to mobilize Latinos as a national voting bloc in a US presidential election.
Abstract: This essay analyzes the Latino political organization Amigos de Wallace, created to support the 1948 presidential candidacy of Henry Wallace under the Progressive Party ticket, as the earliest known organized attempt to mobilize Latinos as a national voting bloc in a US presidential election. Amigos de Wallace, the essay argues, rallied Latinos as a distinct electoral constituency who deserved to have their voices heard and votes counted in the national political arena, and thus serves as an important antecedent to the better-documented political efforts of the 1960s and onward, such as the Viva Kennedy clubs. The essay enlarges our understanding of Latinos’ political mobilizations and their contributions to the US Left prior to the 1960s and supports an earlier chronology and context in which to understand the construction of modern Latino political identities.
2 citations
01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: The demand by Mexican Americans for a just share of the benefits of full equality helped define a new era of civil rights activism as mentioned in this paper, which led Mexican Americans, America's second largest minority group, to welcome democratic organizations into their communities and to form new all-Mexican advocacy groups.
Abstract: When the Mexican American World War II veterans returned home, they confronted rampant discrimination. Like their African American counterparts, many wanted change, such as better educational opportunities, job training, and resources for purchasing homes and life insurance. This demand by Mexican Americans for a just share of the benefits of full equality helped define a new era of civil rights activism. It led Mexican Americans, America’s second largest minority group, to welcome democratic organizations into their communities and to form new all-Mexican advocacy groups.1
1 citations
References
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Book•
01 Jan 1981
TL;DR: The 1970s and 1980s: Beginning the Deconstruction of the Sixties; Becoming a National Minority: 1980-2001 Epilogue Book Notes Index.
Abstract: I. Not Just Pyramids, Explorers, and Heroes. II. Legacy of Hate: The Conquest of Mexico's Northwest. III. Remember the Alamo: The Colonization of Texas. IV. Freedom in a Cage: The Colonization of New Mexico. V. Sonora Invaded: The Occupation of Arizona. VI. California Lost: America for Euroamericans. VII. The Building of the Southwest: Mexican Labor, 1900-1930. VIII. The Roaring Twenties: The Americanization of the Mexicano. IX. Mexican American Communities in the Making: The Depression Years. X. World War II: The Betrayal of Promises Made. XI. "Happy Days": Chicano Communities Under Siege. XII. Goodbye America: The Chicano in the 1960s. XIII. The Age of the Brokers: The New Hispanics. XIV. Deconstructing the Sixties, 1980-1999
480 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1989
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a unique exploration of the origins and development of Chicano radicalism in America, including the student protests of the 1960s within the changing political scene of the time.
Abstract: This is the new and fully updated edition of this classic work on the development of Chicano radicalism in America. "Youth, Identity, Power" is a unique exploration of the origins and development of Chicano radicalism in America. Carlos Munoz Jr, himself a leader of the Chicano movement of the 1960s, places the movement in the wider context of the political development of Mexicans and their descendants in the US. He traces the emergence of Chicano student activists in the 1930s, the rise and fall of the Chicano Power Movement, and situates the student protests of the 1960s within the changing political scene of the time. Fully revised and updated throughout, "Youth, Identity, Power" fills a significant gap in the history of political protest in the United States, and a significant contribution to the cultural development of the Chicano population as a whole.
201 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1993
TL;DR: The roots of coalition politics in Los Angeles and New York City are discussed in this paper, where the Rodney King Case and Los Angeles Coalition Politics are discussed. But the focus is on the role of race in coalition politics.
Abstract: List of IllustrationsList of TablesPrefaceAcknowledgmentsPt. 1Background1Overview: Biracial Coalition Politics32Minorities in the Entrepreneurial City: 1781-1960213First Victories: 1960-196336Pt. 2The Road to Power4The Roots of Biracial Politics: The Tenth District555Race, Ideology, and the Formation of a New Citywide Coalition676The 1969 Mayoral Crusade857Biracial Victory: The 1973 Mayoral Election1018Factional Conflicts and the Consolidation of Biracial Power114Pt. 3The Coalition in Power9Political Change: Power Shifts13910Economic Change: A Mixed Record16311Political Hegemony: 1973-198517612The Breakdown of Consensus: 1985-199019113The Rodney King Case and Los Angeles Coalition Politics210Pt. 4Endings and Beginnings14Biracial Coalition Politics in Los Angeles and New York City22915Multiracial Coalitions in the Future of Los Angeles: Politics beyond Black and White24616Conclusions and Implications: Toward a New Contract for Biracial Politics269References283Index293
179 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1996
TL;DR: The authors describes the realities facing Chicanos in contemporary Los Angeles: their history, demography, politics, economic issues and labour culture, institutions, gangs and gang violence, police abuse and right-wing attacks on immigrants.
Abstract: This volume describes the realities facing Chicanos in contemporary Los Angeles: their history, demography, politics, economic issues and labour culture, institutions, gangs and gang violence, police abuse and right-wing attacks on immigrants. Rodolfo Acuna is the author of "Occupied America: A History of Chicanos", "The Sonoran Strongman" and "Community Under Siege".
100 citations