Strikes, boycotts, rallies, negotiations, and litigation marked the 
efforts of Mexican-origin community members to achieve 
educational opportunities and oppose discrimination in Houston 
schools in the early 1970s.

    The Houston Independent School District sparked these 
responses because it circumvented a court order to desegregate by 
classifying Mexican American children as "white" and integrating 
them with African American children—leaving Anglos in segregated 
schools.

    In Brown, Not White Guadalupe San Miguel, Jr., traces the 
evolution of the community's political activism in education during 
the Chicano Movement era of the early 1970s. San Miguel also 
identifies the important implications of this struggle for Mexican 
Americans and for public education.

    The political mobilization in Houston signaled a shift in the activist 
community's identity from the assimilationist "Mexican American 
Generation" to the rising Chicano Movement with its "nationalist" 
ideology. It also introduced Mexican American interests into 
educational policy making in general and into the national 
desegregation struggles in particular.

    This important study will engage those interested in public school 
policy as well as scholars of Mexican American history and the 
history of desegregation in America.

_________________________________________________________

GUADALUPE SAN MIGUEL, JR., who holds a Ph.D. from Stanford 
University, is a professor of history at the University of Houston.


Number Three: University of Houston Series in Mexican American 
Studies


What people are saying about this book

". . . a much-needed work that focuses on the politics and strategies 
of the Chicano movement in metropolitan areas. Its historical 
importance for the future of Hispanics in higher education is crucial, 
because the public school education of young Mexican-Americans 
lays the foundation for young people to have the necessary tools for 
pursuing university training and careers. Brown, Not White’s 
interpretation of Houston’s struggles documents the importance of an 
earlier generation’s accomplishments."—Hispanic Outlook in Higher 
Education

"Brown, Not White contributes significantly to the history of the 
Chicano movement and school desegregation in the American West 
and is a must read for public school officials, community activists, 
and educators interested in seeking educational equality for all groups, 
including Mexican Americans."—Western Historical Quarterly