Timeline

1929: founded in Corpus Christi on February 17th to confront racial segregation, racist employment practices, lack of educational access, lack of fairness in the justice system, and lack of political representation; Alonso S. Perales, a World War I veteran, served as principal founder; followed civil rights activism begun in 1921 by the Order Sons of America in San Antonio and with seven chapters in South Texas and which initiated the Mexican American civil rights movement(1)

1930: testified against racist rationales to exclude Mexican immigration in the Box bill in Congress

1930s: began decades-long fight to desegregate hundreds of schools and public places such as restaurants, hotels, swimming pools, drinking fountains, hospitals, barber shops, and beauty shops throughout the nation

1930s: began decades-long tradition of advocating for paying the poll tax, registering voters, and getting out the vote

1930s: began decades-long relationship with Mexican consulates to protect the rights of Mexicans living in the United States(2)

1931: created LULAC News as official news magazine to communicate with membership and allies

1931: provided organizational and financial base for Salvatierra v Del Rio ISD, the first class-action lawsuit against segregated Mexican schools in Texas; Del Rio provided a two-room school for Mexican descent children

1932: established scholarships, a signature LULAC activity, which increased the number of Latino professionals/leaders across the decades

1937: established honorary council in Washington DC, the first on the East Coast(3)

1933: San Antonio LULAC Council 16’s committee led to the formation of the Liga Defensa Pro-Escolar (later known as the School Improvement League) which fought for more schools and equal resources beginning a decades-long struggle for equitable school funding

1933: organized council in Sacramento, the first in California(4)

1933: “permitted” women to join LULAC via Ladies LULAC; twenty-six women’s councils by 1940

1933: accessed Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds for a new inclusive school in Hondo, Texas(5)

1934-1962: US Senator Dennis Chavez joined Albuquerque LULAC in 1934; became the principal advocate for the Latino cause and LULAC’s agenda in Congress during his tenure there(6)

1934: LULAC National President Ermilo Lozano met with Texas governor to address prisoners punished for non-compliance due to language barrier; pressed for bilingual prison guards(7)

1935: Laredo LULAC supported onion workers’ strike for better pay (versus 60 cents a day) and better working conditions; provided food fund(8)

1936: beginning in El Paso, pressured the US Census Bureau to reclassify persons of Mexican descent from “Mexican” in 1930 (previously “white” in 1920) and back to “white” in 1940 to avoid more discrimination associated with “colored” label in the US’ narrow construction of race as either “white” or “colored”

1938: accessed funds from the Depression era federal agency, National Youth Administration, to establish the Barelas Community Center in Albuquerque, providing social services to Latinos(9)

1938: established legislative committee to monitor federal legislation and to provide policy makers with a Latino perspective

1938-39: published women’s rights essays in LULAC News written by Alice Dickerson Montemayor of Laredo

1939: advocated for the Alazan-Apache courts in San Antonio, the first public housing units in the US

1938: supported pecan shellers’ strike for higher wages in San Antonio after shellers’ Communist leadership ended

1939: LULAC National President Ezequiel Salinas addressed 100 Texas school superintendents critiquing racist Texas history books and called for Tejano inclusion(10)

1939: passed resolution calling for a scholars specializing in Latin American culture and literature be provided the position of “chair” at all major universities

1940: established chapters in New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona before this year 1940(11)

1940: FBI began surveillance of LULAC due to suspicion of “Communist” activity(12)

1940: New Mexico LULAC involved in Coronado Cuarto Centennial Commemoration (CCCC) commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Francisco Coronado expedition(13)

1941: Phoenix LULAC 110, founded by Latinas Placida Garcia Smith and Maria A. Garcia as well as the American Legion Thunderbird Post 41 composed of Latinos, organized major conference to address race-based wages and racial segregation in the state’s mining industry and in the cities; residents from Tempe and Mesa and rural communities Miami, Globe, Superior, Clifton, and Morenci attended(14)

1941-45: some LULAC members such as 1942-43 National LULAC President Benjamin Osuna drafted to fight into World War II; World War I veteran Modesto Gomez replaced him 1943-1944; Ladies LULAC supported domestic wartime efforts(15)

1942-1945: utilized US Good Neighbor policy with Latin America to argue against discriminatory practices in the US and promoted Pan-Americanism

1942-46: served as the major Latino advocate in US government’s Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC), a wartime federal agency, established to address racial discrimination and race-based wages in defense industries; LULAC member, Dr. Carlos E. Castaneda (senior FEPC examiner), employed as the highest-ranking Latino filed work-place complaints; FEPC was a precursor to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission created after 1964(16)

1942-1964: advocated against the Bracero program, a US/Mexico labor program, due to its labor exploitation and competition (between Mexicans and Mexican Americans)

1943: cooperated with Texas Good Neighbor Commission established by governor to address local discriminatory practices(17)

1943: LULAC member Antonio M. Fernandez of Springer, New Mexico joined Congress serving until 1956(18)

1945: Texas LULAC mailed 500 letters to American Legion posts for support of anti-discrimination bill before the state legislature(19)

1945: worked with the federal government’s Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (CIAA) headed by Nelson Rockefeller; LULAC members and university professors Dr. George I. Sanchez and Dr. Carlos E. Castaneda organized the Regional Conference on the Education of Spanish-speaking People in the Southwest, the first Latino Studies conference to address school segregation and bilingual curriculum(20)

1945: World War II veteran Macario Garcia was refused restaurant service in Sugar Land, Texas and beaten by police with a baseball bat; led to LULAC legal defense

1945: LULAC founder and attorney Alonso S. Perales who was a Nicaraguan Consul General and attorney Gus Garcia attended the inaugural founding of the United Nations and submitted a revised resolution calling for civil rights legislation(21)

1945: Santa Ana, California LULAC successfully sued to integrate the Orange County school system; segregated on the grounds that Mexican children were “more poorly clothed and mentally inferior to white children” per school official

1946: Santa Ana, California LULAC instigated and funded Mendez v Westminster ISD which challenged the practice of segregated Mexican schools-- a precedent for “Brown v Topeka Board of Education” that also led to desegregation of “Mexican schools” throughout the nation(22)

1947: protested a white-owned funeral home’s refusal to permit chapel services for military veteran Felix Longoria of Three Rivers, Texas; Congressman Lyndon Baines Johnson facilitated his burial at the Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, DC

1948: facilitated the founding of the American GI Forum, an organization for Latino veterans formed by Corpus Christi LULAC council 1 veteran committee member Dr. Hector Garcia(23)

1948: LULAC founder Alonso S. Perales and LULAC member/attorney Carlos Cadena file Clifton v Puente challenging racial covenants in real estate deeds(24)

1948: LULAC attorneys filed Minerva Delgado v Bastrop ISD ending the segregation of Latino school children in Texas; 122 schools in fifty-nine counties impacted

1949: contributed to enacting a New Mexico state fair employment law(25)

1950s: LULAC members and past LULAC members created the Texas Council on Human Relations, another civil rights watchdog organization for Latinos

1950: worked to clarify personnel classification at Fort Benning, Georgia(26)

1950: LULAC National President George G. Garza invited to attend White House Conference on Children and Youth(27)

1950-57: LULAC and American GI Forum filed fifteen school desegregation lawsuits in Texas(28)

1951: spawned creation of the American Council of Spanish Speaking Persons, another civil rights organization created by past National LULAC president Dr. George I. Sanchez; funded by the Robert Marshall Trust of New York, providing grants-in-aid and legal assistance for Latino civil rights cases in Arizona, California, and Texas(29)pl

1951: compiled report of Texas migrant workers’ health and housing allowing Dr. Hector P. Garcia to use data to testify before the President’s Commission on Migratory Labor under President Harry Truman’s administration(30)

1952: opposed the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952 (McCarran-Walter Act)(31) due to LULAC concern for immigrant family members(32)

1954: LULAC attorneys took the Hernandez v State of Texas to the US Supreme Court; case recognized Mexicans as a distinctive population (a class apart), winning the right for Latinos to serve on juries; impacted juries in seventy Texas counties(33)

1954: LULAC National President Raoul Cortez met with Mexico President Miguel Aleman and then US President Harry Truman to address the offensively named “Operation Wetback” which deported undocumented migrants; support due to concern for competitive employment of Mexican American laborers and their living wage(34)

1954: LULAC’s twenty-fifth anniversary celebrated in LULAC News

1955: cooperated with the New Mexico American GI Forum, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), American Federation of Labor, and New Mexico Catholic representatives to obtain anti-discrimination legislation in this state(35)

1956-57: LULAC councils organized in the Midwest in Chicago (Illinois), Indiana, Wisconsin, and Iowa(36)

1956: first university council called College LULAC formed at the University of Texas at Austin with Mario Obledo as president; active in poll tax drive(37)

1957: Isabel Verver of Ganado, Texas witnessed Latino school children who dropped out due to language barrier and contacted National LULAC President Felix Tijerina about teaching children a basic English vocabulary; vocabulary list developed by Allen Middle School teacher Mrs. Carlos Calderon in Austin(38)

1958: Houston LULAC Council 60 initiated and conceptualized the “Little School of 400” program which taught Spanish-speaking children 400 words fostering English-language acquisition during the era of English-only curriculum; program prevented drop-outs, and saved taxpayer funds; authorized by state of Texas serving 92,000 children from 1960 to 1964;(39) a precursor to Head Start program

1960: facilitated the election of Raymond Telles, first Mexican American mayor in a major Texas city in 20th century (El Paso), through poll tax drives, voter registrations, and get-out-the-vote campaigns of 1960

1960: members independently involved in formation of Viva Kennedy clubs, the first pan-Latino partisan national network, attempting to elect John F. Kennedy to the US presidency(40)

1960: members independently involved in formation of PASSO, Political Association of Spanish-speaking Organization, an associated dedicated to the advancement of Latinos in electoral politics; past National LULAC President Dr. George I. Sanchez, an author of its constitution

1961-62: LULAC chapters located in seventeen states(41)

1962: accessed federal funding for housing projects for Latinos; two dozen housing projects by the mid-1960s(42) ; valued at over $17 million by 1973(43)

1963: President John F. Kennedy visited with LULAC Council 60 at the Rice Hotel in Houston the day before he was assassinated-- the first time a sitting president attended a LULAC event

1963: supported appointment of Raymond Telles, the first Latino ambassador in the US, to a post in Costa Rica

1963: Minnesota LULAC councils sought statement of support for Blacks in Birmingham, Alabama(44)

1964: LULAC National President William D. Bonilla met with President Lyndon Johnson about housing later resulting in funding for units in Corpus Christi, Kingsville, El Paso, and San Antonio(45)

1964: began movement to reclassify Corpus Christi, Texas sanitation workers as civil service servants rather than at-will employees(46)

1965: LULAC Council 60 of Houston piloted job placement center leading to the federally funded SER - Jobs for Progress (Service, Employment, and Redevelopment) now the largest and the most successful employment program in the nation; American GI Forum joined LULAC forces; SER funded $5 million in 1967(47)

1965: National LULAC President Alfred J. Hernandez led walk-out of fifty Mexican American leaders at a national Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) meeting since the Commission itself lacked Latino staff and fostered little change against racist hiring practices in the US(48)

1966: marched with and financially supported the United Farm Workers’ Minimum Wage March in their struggle for workers’ rights and dignity(49)

ca. 1966: LULAC called for national boycott against H.J. Heinz in the food product business(50)

ca. 1966: LULAC National President Alfred J. Hernandez testified before the Indiana Human Rights Commission about farm workers’ living conditions(51)

1968: after decades of providing LULAC attorneys for the Latino cause, LULAC obtained a Ford Foundation $2.2 million grant to create the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) as the official legal arm of the Latino community

ca. 1969: Santa Ana LULAC filed class-action lawsuit against City of Santa Ana Police and Fire Department due to discriminatory hiring practices; $500,000 paid in back wages(52)

1970: filed Cisneros v Corpus ISD which resulting in defining Latinos as a minority for the first time

1972-73: San Francisco, California LULAC obtained $2 million from Office for Economic Opportunity; piloted LULAC Educational Service Center which transitioned to LULAC National Educational Service Centers, Inc. (LNESC); 96 programs by 1985,(53) serving over 20,000 low-income students annually (and over 607,000 students by 2023) in sixteen centers collaborating with 90 schools across the nation and Puerto Rico(54)

1973: initiated White v Regester challenging Texas reapportionment leading to single member voting districts(55)

1974: Phoenix LULAC founded Abrazar (Embrace) program to assist elderly; received $126,685 grant from federal sources(56)

1974: supported Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) favoring women’s rights

1974: in a controversial move, LULAC ended its boycott of Coors Brewing Company in Golden, Colorado(57)

1974: established the LULAC Foundation allowing for corporate donations; forty donors by 1980(58)

1974: testified before Congress about the 1980 census to ensure better statistical data on Latinos and avoid an undercount and thus underfunding(59)

1975: LULAC National Scholarship Fund (LNSF) formalized; centralized scholarships dating back to 1932; $4.5 million donated to students by 1992(60)

1975: According to historian Craig Kaplowitz, by this date “the key ideological, legislative, and bureaucratic elements of Mexican American and Latino civil-rights policy were in place.”(61)

1976: Project Amistad (Friendship) formed under auspices of El Paso LULAC to provide services to the elderly; $17 million budget and 140 employees by 2024(62)

1976: first council with majority Puerto Rican membership formed in Los Angeles(63)

1977-78: met with Mexico President Jose Lopez Portillo four times; increased number of scholarships for Latinos to study in Mexico’s graduate programs to fifty annually; (program initiated by the Raza Unida Party lasted from 1972 to 1984)(64)

1978: condemned police brutality of Jose Campos Torres in Houston, Texas; met with Houston Police Department to improve Latino and police relations; sponsored a peaceful march of 60,000(65)

1979: first council in Puerto Rico formed (council14001)(66)

1979: held first national LULAC women’s conference “What is the challenge of the Hispanic women in LULAC today?”(67)

1979: LULAC 50th anniversary; commissioned book by Moises Sandoval’s Our Legacy: the First Fifty Years, a history of the League; Texas LULAC published booklet “LULAC: 50 Years of Serving Hispanics, Golden Anniversary, 1929-1979”

1979-80: established the LULAC archives at University of Texas, Austin to preserve LULAC documents and history

1980s: joined MALDEF and Southwest Voter Education Project in lawsuits seeking single member districts

1980-83: National LULAC President Tony Bonilla met with TV, movie, and newspaper executives calling for better and more representation of Latinos in the media; met with the three existing TV networks to address media stereotypes of Latinos and to get more Latinos in front and behind cameras; met with Jack Delanti of the Motion Picture Association of America; met with the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Sun, and Readers’ Digest demanding greater inclusion(68)

1980-83: increased outreach to Black civil rights leadership including Coretta Scott King who addressed LULAC in Dallas and Atlanta(69)

1981: National LULAC President Tony Bonilla debated Linda Chavez favoring English-Plus versus English-Only(70)

1984: called for normalization of Cuban/US relations(71)

1984: initiated annual LULAC Washington DC Youth Leadership seminar to empower youth(72)

1986: defined a Mexican American position in the national Immigration and Reform Act of 1986

1986: successfully lobbied Texas Senate subcommittee on English-Only advocating instead for English Plus

1986: LULAC Education Service Center (LNESC) started the “Young Readers Program”(73)

1987: filed LULAC v INS class-action lawsuit to force the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to speed up processing of amnesty applications

1987: filed LULAC v Richards against unequal access to a quality college education along the Texas border region; lost case but followed by LULAC v Clements

1989: filed LULAC v Mattox challenging selection of judges by appointment; led to election (not appointment) of judges in Texas

1989: authorized new type of council, the LULAC Collegiate Council, for university students

1990: filed LULAC v Clements challenging lack of equal funding to Texas universities; led to formation of South Texas Border Initiative which provided funding to nine four-year universities and colleges in the border region

1992: created LULAC Women’s Commission to advance women’s empowerment

1994: elected first woman LULAC President Belen Robles of El Paso

1995: acted as lead plaintiff in LULAC v Wilson against California’s Proposition 187 which required public agencies, such as hospitals and schools, to reject and report suspected undocumented migrants(74)

1995: defined the “Commitment with America” plan to better serve Latino communities in response to the “Contract to America”

1995: founded LULAC Corporate Alliance, an advisory board of Fortune 500 companies offering a formal mechanism for corporate support(75)

1996: established the LULAC Institute to provide model volunteer programs promoting computer and financial literacy

1998: opened a permanent office in Washington DC to facilitate contact with the White House and Congress

1998: filed a brief in support of “better sampling techniques” which would adequately count Latinos in the 2000 census

1998-2000: initiated LULAC Civil Rights Manual, a guide on how to handle employment, education, and law enforcement issues(76)

1999: LULAC Central American Medical Relief Fund created to aid victims of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras(77)

2001: Virginia LULAC spearheaded fundraising drive for El Salvador earthquake victims raising over $215,000(78)

2002: initiated coalition work with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) at national level(79)

2002: co-chaired Hispanic Track of the Center for Disease Control AIDS: Act Now! Alliance(80)

2003: co-sponsored open letter with twelve other Latino organizations to President George W. Bush in support of affirmative action in education(81)

2003: filed LULAC v INS class-action lawsuit providing an avenue for 100,000 migrants to become permanent legal residents through the Legal Immigration Family Equity Act (LIFE)

2004: created the LULAC Leadership Initiative to revitalize Latino neighborhoods with innovative grassroots programs in over 700 Latino communities served by LULAC councils; established 23 community technology centers, 26 housing counseling programs and 10 middle school science programs in mid-year 2004(82)

2004: commemorated LULAC’s 75th anniversary, largest national LULAC convention ever held

2004: 75th anniversary Partnership monies totaling $3 million granted by Ford, General Motors, and SBC Communications(83)

2005: responded to natural disaster with the LULAC Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund(84)

2005: formed LULAC National Housing Commission to facilitate Latino home ownership(85)

2005: created Empower Hispanic America with Technology (EHAT) providing internet access and training; by 2014 was the most expansive free technology center network in the nation(86); by 2020 provided over 67 tech centers(87)

2005: invited white supremacist organization, the White Revolutionists, to the LULAC table for discussion at 76th National LULAC convention in Little Rock, Arkansas after the group protested this LULAC event(88)

2006: National LULAC President Rosa Rosales sparred with CNN’s Financial Anchor Lou Dobbs about immigration on national TV; successfully asked his advertisers to withdraw support in 2009(89)

2006: LULAC v Perry challenged Texas legislature’s redistricting plan on grounds that it violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and hindered Latino representation; LULAC’s legal experts testified before Congress; reached Supreme Court in 2012(90)

2006: commissioned book All for One and One for All: A Celebration of 75 Years of the League of United Latin American Citizens by Amy Waters Yarsinske

2006: demonstrated against proposed law to criminalize all undocumented persons in the US from a misdemeanor to a felony(91)

2006: founded first Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Queer (later LGBTQ) council in Dallas(92)

2006: partnered with the US Department of Labor to educate Gulf Coast Latino workers about labor laws and workers’ rights in post-Katrina era(93)

2006: fought for reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; mobilized over half a million participants in Dallas, the largest civil rights march in Texas history(94)

2006: met with Mexico’s president and labor leaders to discuss undocumented Mexican migration as well as Mexican and Latino rights in the US(95)

2006: marched for comprehensive immigration reform with over one million in the largest civil rights march in California history(96)

ca. 2006: obtained an Executive Order from President George Bush to the Office of Personnel Management to diversify the federal workforce; signed Memorandum of Understanding with the FBI and other federal agencies to diversify

ca. 2006: Worked successfully to increase the number of Latinos in the federal judiciary(97)

2007: developed LULAC Internship Program benefitting 100 young emerging leaders annually(98)

2008: obtained pledge from Tyson Foods to donate one ton of food to combat hunger over three years(99)

2008: passed resolution at National LULAC convention supporting repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” an anti-LGBTQ measure(100)

2008: filed LULAC v Texas Democratic Party arguing the Party’s “Two Step” system that discriminated against Latino voters by giving them fewer delegates

2008: filed friend of the court petition with Sierra Club opposing the US Department of Homeland Security US/Mexico border fence(101)

2008: three US presidential candidates (Senators Obama, McCain and Clinton) addressed national LULAC convention

2008: registered over 50,000 voters for the general presidential election

2009: provided the groundwork for the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor as the first Latina U.S. Supreme Court Justice

2010: joined by the Center for Human Rights of Los Angeles, LULAC filed a class-action lawsuit against Senate bill 1070 challenging Arizona from preventing random traffic stops which would have criminalizing migrants; settled in 2016

2011: condemned Latino voter suppression efforts funded by the conservative group Latinos for Reform which ran a Spanish-language ad in Nevada and California encouraging Latinos not to vote in upcoming elections(102)

2012: joined by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), filed a lawsuit to counter the 2011 redistricting map plan which would have furthered the loss of Latino representation in elected positions

2012: advocated for passage of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) under President Barack Obama administration

2012: endorsed Marriage Equality Act in support of LGBTQ rights(103)

2013: denounced Florida voter purging efforts based on the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, which was updated infrequently and riddled with inaccuracies(104)

2013: LULAC and Dallas County, Texas filed lawsuit against Governor Rick Perry for Texas Senate bill 14, a voter ID law, which required a certificate-- a second voter registration method--discriminating against Latinos and Blacks

2013: released co-branded report “Growing Up LGBT Latino in America” (105)

2013: initiated Hispanic Immigrant Integration Project to provide services to migrants(106)

2014: filed successful lawsuit by Iowa LULAC and American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to stop intimidation and suppression of Latino voters by its Secretary of State, Matt Schultz, who sought to use a federal immigration database to locate voters who were not citizens but registered in Iowa(107)

2015: sponsored LULAC’s Latinos Living Healthy Feria De Salud in Ponce, Puerto Rico; 10,000 attended(108)

2016: Iowa LULAC mobilized over 10,000 Latino participants in Iowa caucus(109)

2017: launched the Latina Entrepreneur Academy (LEA) under LULAC’s new Women’s Empowerment Initiative (WEI) encouraging and supporting Latinas to start businesses; launched Technochicas (Tech girls); funded by Coca-Cola in 2021(110)

2017: issued report with Clean Air Task Force and the National Hispanic Medical Association showing that half of Latinos live in the most polluted cities(111)

2017: founded council in Hawaii(112)

2017: LULAC v. Texas Senate bill 4 stopped the banning of ‘sanctuary cities’ and which would have extended federal law enforcement to local law enforcement; initiated on behalf of El Cenizo, a small border town(113)

2017: LULAC women join historic Women’s March in Washington DC(114)

2018: filed LULAC of Richmond v Public Interest Legal Foundation due to false reports about non-citizen voters published online(115)

2018: Texas LULAC and the NAACP challenged how states allocate their electors in the electoral college seeing a fairer popular vote instead

2018: called for Puerto Rico’s statehood after its plebiscite voted for statehood as a future goal(116)

2019: called for economic aid through a Latin American Marshall Plan for Central American Northern Triangle nations of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala(117)

2019: filed lawsuit with American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Texas Civil Rights Project and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund against the Texas Secretary of State stopping county officials from purging 95,000 persons in the voting rolls over the possibility of non-US citizenship

2018: filed LULAC v Wheeler allowing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban the pesticide chlorpyrifos so as to protect farmworkers and consumers(118)

2019: guaranteed accessible polling sites for Latino voters in Dodge City, Kansas(119(

2019: ensured nearly $1 billion in disaster relief for Puerto Rico(120)

2019: fought for the return from Mexico of US Latino military veterans who had been deported to Mexico(121)

2019: first LULAC LGBTQ national summit held in Dallas(122)

2019: first-ever National Dreamer Summit (children brought into US by immigrant parents) hosted by LULAC in Dallas(123)

2019: LULAC condemned hate crime toward Latinos at El Paso Walmart where twenty-three were murdered(124)

2019: co-sponsored LULAC Presidential Town Hall with Spanish language TV station Univision allowing listeners to hear US presidential candidates discuss issues(125)

2020-2022: provided “Ayuda en Español” (Help in Spanish), a one-stop online resource center, during Covid pandemic(126)

2020: responded to military sexual trauma and murder of female army service member (Vanessa Guillen) launching a national movement leading to the Vanessa Guillen Act and the Army’s Independent Review Commission which outlined eighty-three recommendations(127)

2021: won legal victory against 2017 Iowa state law that had caused Latino voter suppression

2021: filed a brief in Colorado against 2020 redistricting which diminished Latino electoral influence(128)

2021: co-sponsored town hall “21st Century Latino Agenda Prioritizes Climate Action” with the Environmental Defense Fund; LULAC News published the League’s historic record of resolutions calling for environmental protections(129)

2021: succeeded in requiring Franklin County in Washington to maintain single member voting districts(130)

2021: federal court struck down Texas Senate bill 1111 on burdensome voter residency requirements in lawsuit by LULAC and Voto Latino

2022: championed improvement of 600,000 meat processing workers’ lives and working conditions in twenty-one states during Covid; called for worker safety(131)

2022: achieved more than 7.6 billion media impressions and 3,776 news stories mentioning LULAC’s work(132)

2022: filed redistricting lawsuit against city of Houston, the last major Texas city without single member districts, to allow fair and open elections for one million Latinos residents

2023: advocated for and secured the renaming of the U.S. Army’s largest military installation from Fort Hood to Fort Ricardo M. Cavazos honoring General Cavazos, the Army’s first four-star Latino general and a decorated soldier in two wars(133)

2023: lobbied for passage of Brandon Act, historic legislation addressing military service members’ mental health; impacted all branches of the US military stationed worldwide(134)

2023: raised and distributed over $2 million for families of the Uvalde, Texas Robb Elementary School mass shooting(135)

2023: responded to Washington State Redistricting Commission report following the 2020 census; succeeded in allowing for a new legislative district preventing a diluted Latino vote(136)

2023: issued an historic travel advisory warning Latinos about traveling to Florida due to anti-immigrant legislation leading to racial profiling and immigrant persecution(137)

2024: responded to Texas Senate Bill 4 which allowed law enforcement to question residents about their citizenship status and that also led to racial profiling

2029: to commemorate LULAC centennial, a century of serving the Latino community

References

1) This timeline is based on seven major sources: 1) Moises Sandoval, Our Legacy: The First Fifty Years (Washington DC: LULAC, 1979); 2) Orozco original timeline based on research from 1978 to 1990; 3) current LULAC website, April 2024; 4) A Civil Rights Guide to Building a Prosperous America, 3rd ed., (Washington DC: LULAC: 2010), xvi; 5) LULAC California State Directors’ Papers, 1976-2004, California State University, Fullerton, Center for Oral and Public History website; 6) LULAC.org website www.lulac.org/about/history/interactive_milestones/ and 7) David Contreras, “LULAC Recent Historical Highlights Partial list,” September 2023. All internet sources were accessed before May 15, 2024.

2) Jose Angel Guttierrez, FBI Surveillance of Mexicans and Chicanos, 1920-1980 (Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2020), 177; Emilio Zamora, Claiming Rights and Righting Wrongs in Texas: Mexican Workers and Job Politics during World War II (College Station: Texas A&M University, 2008).

3) Sandoval, 82.

4) Margie de la Torre Aguirre, “LULAC Project: Patriots with Civil rights, Early History of the League of United Latin American Citizens (1929-1957) and Gonzalo Mendez et. al. vs. Westminster School District of Orange County, et. al. (Fullerton?: Abrazo Productions, 2009), 9, Dr. Cynthia E. Orozco archives, Cuero, Texas.

5) Sandoval, 35.

6) Cynthia E. Orozco, “Regionalism, Politics, and Gender in Southwest History: The League of United Latin American Citizens’ Expansion into New Mexico from Texas, 1929-1945,” Western Historical Quarterly 29 (Winter 1998): 459-483. See pp. 463-464. According to Jose Angel Gutierrez ties were developed in 1932. See Gutierrez, FBI Surveillance, 177.

7) Sandoval, 81; Ermilio Lozano, Past LULAC National President, www.lulac.org/about/history/past_presidents/

8) Laura Cannon email to Cynthia Orozco, April 8, 2024; Sandoval, 25.

9) Orozco, “Regionalism.”

10) Sandoval, 34.

11) Cynthia E. Orozco, “Alice Dickerson Montemayor: Feminism and Mexican American Politics in Texas in the 1930s,” Writing the Range: Race, Class, and Culture in the American Women’s West ed. Elizabeth Jameson and Susan Armitage (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997): 436; Benjamin Marquez, LULAC: The Evolution of a Mexican American Political Organization (Austin: University of Texas, 1993), 36.

12) Gutierrez, FBI Surveillance, 153.

13) Orozco, “Regionalism,” 466-467.

14) Christine Marin and Luis F.B. Plascencia, “Mexicano Miners, Dual Wage, and the Pursuit of Wage Equality in Miami, Arizona,” in Mexican Workers and the Making of Arizona, ed. Luis B. Plascencia and Gloria H. Cuadraz (Tucson: University of Arizona), 215; Christine Marin, “LULAC and Veterans Organizing for Civil Rights in Tempe and Phoenix, 1940-1947,” Mexican American Studies Research Center Working Paper Series, No. 29, University of Arizona, Tucson, 1.

15) Benjamin Osuna, Modesto Gomez, Past LULAC National Presidents, www.lulac.org/about/history/past_presidents/

16 ) Matthew Gritter, Mexican Inclusion: The Origins of Anti-Discrimination Policy in Texas and the Southwest (College Station: Texas A&M University, 2012); Gritter, “Federal Employment Practices Commission,” Handbook of Texas (hereafter HOT) www.tshaonline.org/handbook

17) Juan Gomez-Quinones, Chicano Politics: Reality & Promise (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1990), 37.

18) Antonio M. Fernandez, Past LULAC National President, lulac.org/about/history/past_presidents/

19) Gabriela Gonzalez, Redeeming La Raza: Transborder Modernity, Race, Respectability, and Rights (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), 167.

20) Marjorie Jean Fuquay, “The League of United Latin American Citizens and Education,” 9, ED H 385T on April 6, 1970, 7, Edward Morga Papers, Box 2, Folder 9, Benson Latin American Collection, 9, Benson Latin American Collection (hereafter BLAC), University of Texas at Austin; Gomez-Quinones, Chicano Politics, 37.

21) Cynthia E. Orozco, Pioneer of Mexican American Civil Rights: Alonso S. Perales (Houston: Arte Publico Press, 2022), 255.

22) “Order Banning Segregation in Schools called Epochal,” LULAC News, May 1946, 7; Fuquay, 10.

23) Carl Allsup, The American GI Forum: Origins and Evolution (Austin: Center for Mexican American Studies, University of Texas at Austin, 1992), 32-33.

24) Cynthia E. Orozco, Pioneer of Mexican-American Civil Rights (Houston: Arte Publico Press, 2021), 170.

25) Gomez-Quinones, 63.

26) George J. Garza, Past LULAC National President, www.lulac.org/about/history/past_presidents/ Accessed May 7, 2024.

27) George J. Garza, Past LULAC National President, www.lulac.org/about/history/past_presidents/

28) Craig A. Kaplowitz, LULAC, Mexican Americans, and National Policy (College Station: Texas A&M University, 2005), 172. The figure is based on Guadalupe San Miguel’s work.

29) Orozco, “American Council of Spanish-Speaking Persons,” HOT.

30) Malcolm Konicek, “The Origins and Contribution of LULAC,” South Texas Stories, Exhibit, Mary & Jeff Bell Library, Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi, no date (ca. 2019). www.library.tamucc.edu/exhibits/s/sts/page/lulac

31) Orozco, “League of United Latin American Citizens,” HOT.

32) Kaplowitz, 52.

33) Gomez-Quinones, 63.

34) Juan Ramon Garcia, Operation Wetback, the Mass Deportation of Mexican Undocumented Workers in 1954 (Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1980), 88, 210; Sandoval, 88.

35) Henry A. J Ramos, The American GI Forum: In Pursuit of the Dream, 1948-1983 (Houston: Arte Publico Press, 1983), 77.

36) Janet Weaver, “65 Years of LULAC in Iowa,” Hola Iowa. See www.holaamericanews.com/65-years-of-lulac-in-iowa/?fbclid=IwAR0GdJC6DVHLAddUp3DI3XSa9ZmqsQF4Yjjuniz7XzvZJnxJZQu_3nWo52U_aem_AQXq26aXmXGzbvZjb2gi_eGPwWQ8Jbbxs6S-lDBqjgnm46KsH2UbfE9kD3Ggo4MmT7lLs0pyj9FUCEPcXUjZK0m6

37) A History of Council 296 at the University of Texas,” LULAC News, February 1957, 9.

38) Leo Cardenas, “Latin American Children to Learn English Thru Radio,” LULAC News, May 1957, 4.

39) “League of United Latin American Citizens,” Wikipedia  www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_United_Latin_American_Citizens Accessed April 27, 2024.

40) Ignacio M. Garcia, Viva Kennedy: Mexican Americans in Search of Camelot, (College Station: Texas A&M University, 2000), 101.

41) Frank Valdez, Past LULAC National President, www,lulac.org/about/history/past_presidents/ Accessed May 7, 2024.

42) Amy Waters Yarsinske, All for One and One for All: A Celebration of 75 Years of the League of United Latin American Citizens (Virginia: Donning Co., 2006), 11.

43) Marquez, 74.

44) Kaplowitz, 80.

45) Telephone interview with William D. Bonilla, May 8, 2024.

46) Telephone interview with William D. Bonilla, May 8, 2024.

47) Ramos, 102.

48) Marquez, 69.

49) Marquez, 69.

50) Sandoval, 27.

51) Sandoval, 27.

52) Sandoval, 62.

53) Marquez, 79.

54) Carolyn Hernandez, “LULAC: The History of a Grass Roots Organization and Its Influence on Educational Policies, 1929-1983.” Ph.D. diss., Loyola University, 1995, 114; “50 Years of Empowering Students and Building Leaders,” LULAC News, Summer 2023, 10.

55) A Civil Rights Guide to building a Prosperous America, 3rd ed. (Washington DC: LULAC, 2020), xvi.

56) “Women in LULAC: From Breaking Barriers to Setting the Curve, Women’s Lasting Contributions have Forever changed LULAC,” LULAC News, Spring 1999, 23, Raul Vasquez Papers, Box 7, Folder 11, BLAC; “Government’s Response to the Elderly” (National Clearinghouse on Aging) November 6, 1975, US House of Representatives, Select Committee on Aging, 15, www.books.google.com/books?id=2uar8rSgHBsC&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=abrazar+phoenix+elderly+lulac&source=bl&ots=JXMSVL4BlV&sig=ACfU3U3eD5tGgADg3Wz5EbPXKHP-_iK79g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiB__iGyI2GAxWK38kDHRJ3CoIQ6AF6BAgxEAM#v=onepage&q=abrazar%20phoenix%20elderly%20lulac&f=false

57) Marquez, 96.

58) Marquez, 77.

59) Kaplowitz, 194

60) Hernandez, 120.

61) Kaplowitz, 186.

62) www.projectamistad.org/history/

Accessed May 2, 2024.

63) “Puerto Rican Week celebration set,” LULAC News, June 1979, 19, Raul Vasquez Papers, Box 7, Folder 9, BLAC.

64) Eduardo Morga, Past LULAC National President, www.lulac.org/about/history/past_presidents/

65)  Cynthia E. Orozco, “League of United Latin American Citizens,” Handbook of Texas; Council 19 AZ, “Joe Campos Torres Story,” LULAC News, Fall 2021, 47.

66) “Council in Puerto Rico chartered,” LULAC News, March 1979, 4, Raul Vasquez Papers, Box 7, Folder 9, BLAC.

67) A Salute to La Mujer,” LULAC News, March 1979, 1, Raul Vasquez Papers, Box 7, Folder 9, BLAC.

68) Tony Bonilla phone conversation with Dr. Cynthia E. Orozco, May 13, 2024.

69) Tony Bonilla phone conversation.

70) Tony Bonilla phone conversation.

71) Marquez, 91.

72) “18th Annual LULAC Washington Youth Leadership Seminar,” LULAC News, November 2002, 16.

73) LULAC News, Winter 2017.

74) David A. Badillo, book review, Benjamin Marquez, The Politics of Patronage: Lawyers, Philanthropy, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, in American Historical Review, March 2024, 282.

75) Yarsinske, 13, 80.

77) Yarsinske, 83.

78) “LULAC Virginia Helps Raise Funds for Earthquake Victims,” LULAC News, Mar./Apr. 2001, 11; “LULAC Index,” LULAC News, June 2001, 7.

79) “LULAC Leader Addresses the NAACP,” LULAC News, Sept./Oct. 2002, 28.

80) “World AIDS Day,” LULAC News, November 2002, 20.

81) “Policy and Legislation,” LULAC News, January 2003, 13.

82) “Executive Director Wilkes Marks 20 Years at LULAC,” LULAC News, Summer 2008, 4.

83) Yarsinske, 81.

84) “A Message from the President,” LULAC News, January/February 2006, 6; “LULAC Mobilizes to Provide Support Along the Gulf Coast,” LULAC News, January/Feb. 2006, 12.

85) “LULAC National Housing Commission Generates $4.5 Million in Mortgages,” LULAC News, Jan-Feb. 2006, 6; “Housing Commission Mission,” LULAC News, June 2006, 23.

86) “Fractured by Slow Internet Connectivity Speeds and Inefficiency, E-Rate Program Due for Goal Reevaluation,” LULAC News, Spring 2014, 37.

87) “Empower Hispanic America Through Technology,” LULAC News, Fall 2020, 27.

88) Brenda Alvarez, “Protestors Have Little Impact on LULAC Convention,” LULAC News, January/February 2006, 15.

89) Steve Walker, “Rosa Rosales,” La Prensa, July 22, 2008; “Rosa Rosales Turns on Spigot on Lou Dobbs,” Banned Books, October 26, 2006 www.bannedbookscafe.blogspot.com/2006/10/rosa-rosales-turns-on-spigot-on-lou.html 

90) “LULAC Gets Its Day in Court,” LULAC News, January/February 2006, 8; “LULAC legal experts brief Congress and provide testimony on the Voting Rights Act of 1965,” LULAC News, January/Feb. 2006, 11; “LULAC’s Most Recent Fight to Protect the Right to Vote,” LULAC News, Summer 2014, 6.

91) Email from Hector Flores to Cynthia Orozco, May 10, 2024.

92) “The History of LULAC LGBT Equality,” LULAC News, Autumn 2013, 14.

93) The Gulf Coast Initiative,” LULAC News, June 2006, 8.

94) “Photos from Around the League, LULAC News, June 2006, 27; “LULAC’s Most Recent Fight to Protect the Right to Vote,” LULAC News, Summer 2014, 6; Domingo Garcia, “A Letter from the LULAC National President,” LULAC News, Summer 2019, 4.

95) “Photos from Around the League,” LULAC News, June 2006, 18.

96) “Photos from Around the League,” LULAC News, June 2006, 27.

97) Email from Hector Flores to Cynthia Orozco, May 10, 2024.

98) “LULAC Provides Enriching Professional Experience to 100 Emerging Young Leaders,” LULAC News, Spring 2014, 38.

99) “Tyson Foods Makes Major Pledge to Help LULAC Combat Hunger,” LULAC News, Summer 2008, 13.

100) “The History of LULAC LGBT Equality,” LULAC News, Autumn 2013, 14.

101) “LULAC Joins Environmental Group Opposing Border Fence Construction,” LULAC News, Summer 2009, 16.

102) “LULAC’s Most Recent Fight to Protect the Right to Vote,” LULAC News, Summer 2014, 6.

103) Jesse Garcia, “LGBT Community Scores Victory at National Convention,” LULAC News, Fall 2012, 6

104) “LULAC’s Most Recent Fight to Protect the Right to Vote,” LULAC News, Summer 2014, 6.

105) “A Message From the President,” LULAC News, Autumn 2013, 4.

106) LULAC’s Hispanic Immigrant Integration Project, Thousands with Immigration Status,” LULAC News, Spring 2016, 14.

107)  “LULAC Councils Take Charge of Major Civil Rights Battles,” LULAC News, Spring 2014, 12.

108) Over 10,000 Attend LULAC’s Latinos Living Healthy Feria De Salud in Ponce, Puerto Rico,” LULAC News, Spring 2015, 52-53.

109) Melissa Walker, “LULAC of Iowa Mobilizes Over 10,000 Latinos to participate in Iowa Caucus,” LULAC News, Spring 2016, 12.

110) Geoffrey Nolan, “LULAC Women’s Commission Brings Annual Conference to Atlanta, Georgia,” LULAC News, Summer 2017, 14-15; Cristina Sandoval, “Investing in a Better Future for Latinas: LULAC Launches New Women’s Empowerment Initiative,” LULAC News, Summer 2017, 39; “Aiding in Economic Recovery: Establishing Latina Entrepreneurs in America,” LULAC News, Fall 2021, 30.

111) Juan Perez, “With Environmental Protection Under Attack, LULAC Fights to Enure that Latino Community Remains and Protects,” LULAC News, Summer 2017, 27.

112) “LULAC Charters Council in Hawaii,” LULAC News, Summer 2017, 25.

113) “LULAC,” Wikipedia. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_United_Latin_American_Citizens

114) LULAC on Twitter, January 21, 2017.

115) “LULAC,” Wikipedia. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_United_Latin_American_Citizens

116) Lucas Martinez, “Puerto Rico: Isla de Encanto,” LULAC News, Summer 2022, 41.

117) “LULAC’s Support for a Central American Marshall Plan,” LULAC News, Summer 2019, 25; “A Letter from the LULAC National President,” LULAC News, Summer 2019, 4.

118) LULAC on Twitter, August 9, 2018.

119) “A Letter.”

120) “A Letter.”

121) “A Letter.”

122) “First-ever LGBTQ Summit: LULAC Making Strides,” LULAC News, Summer 2019, 19.

123) Jose Ignacio Gaona, “First-Ever National Dreamer Summit Hosted by LULAC,” LULAC News, Summer 2019, 31.

124) www.lulac.org/news/pr/Federal_Hate_Crime_Charges_Against_El_Paso_Walmart_Suspect/

125) LULAC on Twitter, July 11, 2019.

126) ’Ayuda en Espanol’ when Latinos Need it Most,” LULAC News, Fall 2020, 8.

127) David Contreras, “LULAC Recent Historical Highlights Partial list,” September 2023.

128) chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://redistricting.lls.edu/wp-content/uploads/CO-in-re-CICRC-20211007-LULAC-challenge-brief.pdf/ Accessed May 8, 2024.

129) Cintia Ortiz, “Climate Change: Time for Climate Action,” LULAC News, Fall 2021, 16.

130) Domingo Garcia, “Our Right to Vote,” LULAC News, Fall 2021, 26; “LULAC Achieves Historic Victory for Latino Voting Rights in Washington State,” LULAC News, Summer 2023, 7.

131) Contreras.

132) Domingo Garcia, “A Message from the LULAC National President,” LULAC News, Summer 2022, 5.

133) Contreras; Col. Chad R. Foster, “Redesignating After Hero,” LULAC News, Summer 2023, 28.

134) Contreras; Saul Leon Dubon, “Let’s Pass the Brandon Act,” LULAC News, Fall 2021, 8.

135) Contreras.

136) www.nbcrightnow.com/news/3-washington-state-counties-facing-a-lawsuit-for-latino-voter-suppression/article_4f4e6cda-bcf8-11eb-817a-43e11f752665.html , Accessed May 4, 2024.

137) “Florida LULAC Standing Strong in the Facing of Blowing Winds Against Latino Immigrants,” LULAC News, Summer 2023, 40.