“Los Angeles Latino Families Photo Project”

Breaking UCLA Barriers: Chicano Style

Rachel Minden, Megan Martinez, Mitchell Fong, Beggs (Beau) Gardner (Fall 2020)

The photograph, taken in 1968 by photographer George Rodriguez, depicts Rosalio Muñoz, UCLA’s first Chicano Student Body President. The image represents a historic moment for the university, but it also reflects the Chicano movement for social justice that was prevalent in the 1960s.

Rosalio Muñoz is from the Highland Park neighborhood in Los Angeles and comes from a family of accomplished educators and Methodist ministers. He was among the first students from the east side of Los Angeles to attend UCLA, and he continued to pass social barriers by becoming the first Chicano Student Body President at the university. Before earning his role at UCLA, Muñoz held a similar position as Student Class President at Franklin High School, which provided him with proper experience and leadership training to become an effective student activist (“Collection Guide”). Muñoz was a passionate advocate for Chicano rights, and he used his position to point out injustices the Chicano community often faced.

After his time at UCLA, Rosalio Muñoz continued his activism work. Most notably, he served as Co-Chair of the Chicano Moratorium Committee, an anti-war organization that rallied against the Vietnam War’s disproportionate toll on Latino lives (Chavez). In 1970, the group saw about 20,000 protestors march near Laguna Park in East L.A. in order to spread the organization’s message. Met with hostility from the police department, the demonstration resulted in the tragic deaths of three marchers; in addition, countless others sustained injuries (Chavez). The same year, Muñoz refused his induction into the army and was indicted for draft evasion, although he was acquitted in the following years (Muñoz). In 1978, Muñoz ran for the L.A. Board of Supervisors, and while he did not win, his highly influential campaign resulted in increased Chicano representation in Los Angeles (“Collection Guide”). Committed to radical change and leftist politics, Muñoz became a member of the Communist Party of the United States and continually fought for his political beliefs, including influencing Latina and Latino voters to support Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential election. Muñoz greatly impacted Chicano and political activism, including areas of electoral politics, healthcare, housing, immigration reform, and labor unionizing (“Collection Guide”).

The photograph was taken in 1968, the same year as the East LA Chicano Student Walkouts, a series of mass walkout demonstrations to demand equality within the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) (Sahagun). Grievances regarding run-down facilities, poorly trained teachers, and a lack of college preparation and culturally relevant courses led approximately 22,000 students from five high schools within the district to demand change. Protesters were often met with hostility from law enforcement officers and school administrators, resulting in the arrests of multiple students (Sahagun). The Walkouts served as a catalyst for the Chicano Civil Rights Movement and are considered some of the first major Mexican American demonstrations of opposition against inequalities in the country.

As a result of the 1960s Chicano Movement in Los Angeles, the rate of Mexican Americans accepted into colleges steadily increased. In the year following the East L.A. Walkouts, the number of Chicano students enrolling at UCLA rose from 100 to 1,900 (Sahagun). Most, if not all, Chicano university students were involved in some form of activism. For instance, Muñoz was part of the United Mexican American Students (UMAS), which helped create affirmative action programs. Students also played a large role in the antiwar movement, and Muñoz influenced students to protest against the draft by refusing to go to war himself. His presence helped ignite a passion for political activism among students on campus, and he was a leading voice for change at the university.

In response to events at the time, including the Chicano Moratorium Committee that Muñoz spearheaded, campuses across Los Angeles established Chicano Studies majors and minors. UCLA was one of the first universities to experiment with the new curriculum. The program’s goal was to incorporate Chicano history and experiences into education, and help students understand how they could change their evolving communities (Castruita). Many schools followed guidelines based on the Plan de Santa Barbara, a document produced at a Chicano Movement Conference at UCSB that heavily encouraged the advancement of Chicano higher education.

While the Chicano movements of the 1960s and 1970s reaped enormous benefits, inequalities continue to exist today. In the University of California system, while 1 in 3 students are Latino, over 1 in 5 of those students reported not feeling respected on campus (Fabián Romero). Furthermore, in the LAUSD in 2017, the dropout rate among Latinos was 14%, and only 39% of Latino high school graduates were prepared for college or a career. Although Chicanos enroll in college at higher levels today, these statistics continue to reflect issues Chicano students faced in the 1960s. According to Mónica García, a member of the LAUSD school board, “We’re not there yet. There are gaps in opportunity, there are gaps in achievement, in performance, and those have rooted in the institutional racism and classism that our young people fought against back then” (Fabián Romero).

This is a black and white image of the first Chicano Student Body President at UCLA, Rosalio Muñoz. He is standing in front of a cabinet with images of the former student body presidents of UCLA, whom all are white except for one black man. His photo that is displayed is unique to the others not only because he is of a different racial background but because it is a photo of him standing with another person and wearing a sombrero whereas the other photos are solo head shots with no hats or accessories.

First Chicano UCLA Student Body President. George Rodriguez, 1968. Image courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Library & Archive.

Works cited

  1. Castruita, Phillip. “Interview of Phillip Castruita.” Oral History Collection, “La Batalla Está Aquí”: The Chicana/o Movement in Los Angeles Session 5, UCLA Center for Oral History Research, 16 Jul. 2010, http://oralhistory.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark= 21198/zz0026v459&fileSeq=null&xsl=null
  2. Chavez, Ernesto. “Op-Ed: The Chicano Moratorium of 1970 Still Has Plenty of Lessons for Today.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 28 Aug. 2020, www.latimes.com/opinio n/story/2020-08-28/chicano-moratorium-coronavirus-inspiration-change.
  3. “Collection Guide”, Rosalio Muñoz Papers (Collection 2115). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles
  4. Fabián Romero, Esmeralda. “50 Years after the Walkouts, Los Angeles Latino Students Are Still Fighting for Educational Equity.” LA School Report, 27 Feb. 2018, laschoolreport.c om/50-years-after-the-walkouts-los-angeles-latino-students-are-still-fighting-for-educational-equity/.
  5. Muñoz, Rosalio. “Rosalio Muñoz Papers”, Collection 93, UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, University of California, Los Angeles. https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c83j3kdh/entire_text/
  6. Sahagun, Louis. “East L.A., 1968: ‘Walkout!’ The Day High School Students Helped Ignite the Chicano Power Movement.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2018, www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-1968-east-la-walkouts-20180301-htmlstory.html.

Cite this article

Rachel Minden, Megan Martinez, Mitchell Fong, Beggs (Beau) Gardner. "Breaking UCLA Barriers: Chicano Style." Los Angeles: The City and the Library. Colleen Jauretche, Editor. Fall 2020. /article/2020-12-10-f20-lecture10-02