For rural Mexican families living in the Coachella Valley of inland Southern California, the 1970s is remembered as a difficult time, when a divisive “fight in the fields” between members of the United Farmworkers Union (UFW) and the Teamsters tore at the fabric of the local community. Although painful, these struggles inspired young Mexican Americans–many now identifying as “Chicano”–to question the treatment of Mexican people in all sectors of society, including education.
Educating Change: Latina Activism and the Struggle for Educational Equity remembers the victorious struggle for bilingual education and educational equity for Mexican Americans. Parents, teachers, and youth dared to challenge child abuse and educational neglect in their schools. Powerfully illustrated through the lives of three Mexican/Chicana women—Ramona Medina, Socorro Gómez-Potter, and Yolanda Almaraz-Esquivel—Educating Change documents a history of Mexican women’s migration and activism, and considers its relevance for today’s US Latino communities, including Providence.
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