Today starts Hispanic Heritage Month which will continue
until October 15th. This month is designed to recognize the contributions
of Hispanic and Latino Americans to the group’s heritage and culture as well as
their contributions to the United States. September 15th was chosen
as the start of Hispanic Heritage Month as it is the anniversary of
independence for five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. All occurring in 1821. Other Latin American
countries celebrate their independence days in September as well: Mexico
(September 16), Chile (September 18) and Belize (September 21). In the coming
posts, I will focus on famous Hispanics and Latinos in the areas of literature,
movies and TV and music. For this post, I want to feature people who may not
have heard about; but their story has had an impact on our country.
First, Sylvia Mendez is a little girl who became the face of
segregation long before Brown v Board of Education (1954). Mendez v Westminster
(1946) successfully ended a de jure (law) segregation and paved the way for
integration and the American Civil Rights Movement. Sylvia was born in 1936 in
Santa Ana, California to Gonzalo Mendez, a Mexican immigrant, and his wife, Felicitas, a native of Juncos,
Puerto Rico. When the family moved to Westminster, California, there were two
schools: Hoover Elementary, a two room wooden shack in the middle of the city’s
Mexican neighborhood, and 17th Street Elementary, designated as
whites only. Realizing that 17th Street Elementary provided better
educational benefits, Gonzalo along with his sister Sally Vidaurri, attempted
to enroll their children there. Vidaurri’s children were permitted to enroll
because they were light skinned; however the Mendez children were not due to
their dark skin and Hispanic last name. The families immediately went into
action and filed suit with the city. The school board tried to claim a
“language barrier” but it was quickly proven false when the children testified
showing proficiently in English. The case made its way to the Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals where the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. Governor
Earl Warren moved to desegregate all public schools in California. Thurgood
Marshall used the Mendez case in his arguments in the Brown v Board of
Education. When Brown appeared before the Supreme Court, Earl Warren was now
Chief Justice and deeply influenced by the Mendez case, helping desegregate the
nation. Sylvia Mendez would become a nurse and after 30 years, retired from the
field. She has received many honors and recognition, the most recent being the
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.
Second, Ralph Lazo is the only known non-spouse,
non-Japanese American who voluntarily relocated to a World War II internment
camp. Born November 3, 1924 in Los Angeles, Lazo was of Mexican and Irish
descent. At 17, he learned his Japanese American friends and neighbors were
being forcibly removed and incarcerated at Manzanar. He was so outraged that he
joined them on the train to the camp in May 1942. The officials at the camp
never questioned his ancestry. He remained at Manzanar High School, where he
was elected class president, until August 1944 when he joined the army. He
served as a Staff Sergeant in the South Pacific and would receive a Bronze Star
for heroism in combat. After the war, Lazo would graduate from UCLA and earn a
master’s degree from California State University, Northridge. He would spend
his career teaching, mentoring disabled students and encouraging Hispanics to attend
college and vote. He was also instrumental in a class action lawsuit in which
Japanese Americans were seeking reparations which resulted in the Civil
Liberties Act of 1988. The act offered an apology to interned Japanese
Americans on behalf of the U.S. government and stated that the internment was
based on “race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.”
He died on January 1, 1992 from liver cancer. He was 67.
Third, Rodolfo Gonzales whose poem Yo Soy Joaquin (I am
Joaquin) helped solidify the Chicano movement. Born June 18, 1928 the youngest
of eight children, Gonzalez grew up in Denver, Colorado’s tough Eastside Barrio
where the Great Depression took a heavier toll on Mexican Americans. He would
graduate from Manual High School at 16. He was known for his fiery disposition
that he was given the nickname “Corky” because he was “always popping off like
a cork.” He is best known for his poem and his activism. The poem, Yo Soy
Joaquin, is viewed as the cosmological vision of the Chicano people. Neither
Indian nor European. Neither Mexican nor American but a combination of these
identifies. Where an individual can be all four without conflict or ridicule.
Scholars have credit Gonzalez with authoring the historical and political definition
of what it is to be Chicano. After a violent incident in Denver, Gonzalez
retreated to a private life in 1973 with family and Denver’s Chicano community.
He was still active in the movement; however, he maintained a lower profile. In
2005, he was diagnosed with renal and coronary distress with acute liver
disease. He refused treatment, preferring to live out his last days with his
family. He died April 12, 2005 at the age of 76. If you have the chance to read
his poem, Yo Soy Joaquin is a powerful trip through the historical inheritance
of the Chicano people as well as the current struggles. The opening stanza sets
the tone of this powerful poem:
“I am Joaquin,
Lost in a world of
confusion,
Caught up in a whirl
of a gringo society,
Confused by the
rules, Scorned by attitudes,
Suppressed by a
manipulations, And destroyed by modern society
My fathers have lost
the economic battle and won the struggle of cultural survival.
And now! I must
choose between the paradox of
Victory of the
spirit, despite the physical hunger”
In conclusion, everyone knows the most famous individuals
who have helped the Hispanic and Latino people. However, there are so many
other individuals, unsung heroes who have stood up against the oppression of
their own people and for the oppression of others. I thoroughly enjoyed write
about these three individuals. Although only eight at the time, the experience
of trying to enroll in school had a deep impact on Sylvia Mendez that she
continues to advocate education for Hispanics. Ralph Lazo was a wrong and stood
with his friends and suffered with them as they were interned due to hysteria
and fear. Rodolfo Gonzalez become the voice of a movement. While I had to brief
in terms of this post, their stories have had a great impact on me. I look forward
to researching and writing my future posts as I look into the impact that
Hispanics and Latinos have had on literature, movies and TV and music. I hope
you will come back to read more about these amazing individuals.
P.S. For those who may be confused by the differing terms.
Hispanic refers to people who are from Spain, Spanish heritage or Spanish
speaking. Latino refers to people are native of Latin American countries or
have a family past in those countries. Chicano is the chosen identity of those
who are Mexican origin or descent. Since I married my husband, I have learned
that many individuals do not like the terms Hispanic or Latino and prefer
Chicano. I will be using all three terms as it pertains a particular post or
individual
