The Need for a Latino Research Institute

Newspaper article from the San Antonio Express about Chicanos protesting the controversial Hayes verdict.

Photo of young woman wearing the Mexican tri-colors at a peaceful Brown Berets rally following the deaths of Mexican Americans by police officers.

The 1960s and 1970s marked a turning point in the United States’ history. Protests for equality and civil rights sparked up across the country. One of the most influential was the Chicano movement in the late 20th century. While protests and the fight for equality has always been present in the United States, the incident credited with beginning a revolutionary uprising was the United Farm Workers Strike in 1962, led by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta.

This incident snowballed into the large Chicano Movement during the later decades of the 20th century. Many activisim groups were born from this period including the Brown Berets, the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF), the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP), the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and many more. Most of these organizations were also founded in San Antonio, Texas. There was a passionate fight brewing in the state of Texas, and all of Southwestern United States.

Brown Berets and sympathizers march to Howard County courthouse.

As the Chicano Movement spread, the goal of “El Movimiento” was to ensure equal educational, economic, and social opportunities for the nation’s Latino populations. Protestors demanded justice and equal treatment of Latinos who had faced decades of discrimination, police aggression, and societal biases.

There were impressive wins for the Latino community. Locally, with the appointments of such people as Henry B. Gonzalez as a United States legistlator, Pete Torres as a city council member, and Henry G. Cisneros, the first Hispanic mayor of a major San Antonio. Nationally, there were appoitnment of Latino legislators to influential positions, and the number of Latino educators in higher education was rapidly growing.

While the goal of these influencers was to improve the conditions for other Latinos and Hispanics in the United States, they soon realized that Hispanic communities in the United States were severely under-researched, which made policymaking targeting these groups difficult.

It became clear there was a need for a research and policy institute.