Chicano / Mexican American Digital History Project.

For the Updated version go to.

For the updated version of this project go to http://MexicanAmericanDigitalHistory.org , please go there.

A Chicano, Mexican-American Digital History Project for the Sacramento region.

For the updated version of this project go to http://MexicanAmericanDigitalHistory.org

Goals

To create an on-line history collection of Chicano / Mexican American /Latino history in the Sacramento region.

Encourage participation and contributions by others based upon the model established by the Farmworker Movement documentation project. See example. http://www.farmworkermovement.us/

The project has begun to assemble and to create a digital history of Chicano and Mexican American history and activism in the Sacramento region 1940 – present. Directors include Dr. Duane E. Campbell, Professor (emeritus) CSU-Sacramento and Professor Dolores Delgado Campbell, Professor of History at American River College.

During its initial stages, the project is housed at the Institute for Democracy and Education in Sacramento. http://sites.google.com/site/democracyandeducationorg/chicano-mexican-american-digital-history-project

We will collect, write, and post this history so that it is not lost nor discarded.

Our goal is to unleash the collective wisdom of members of the progressive community using social media tools and the web as interactive tools. We encourage readers to consider what is written here as a starting point for further development.

These are samples of the kind of histories we plan to collect and post.

The Mexican American Education Project at Sacramento State- CSU-Sacramento.

Mexican American Education Project. By Duane Campbell.

The Mexican American Education Project was established in 1968 directed by Clark Taylor, in the Department ofAnthropology on the campus (1968–1973). The project was an attempt to prepare educational change agents to overcome the decades of educational neglect suffered by Mexican American students in schools. The U.S. Office of Education first funded the program as an Experienced Teacher Fellowship Program. We recruited Mexican American Teachers and others to prepare them as change agents. Some of the students in this program include Olivia Castellano, Jose Montoya, Steve Arvizu, Rene Merino, Dolores Delgado (Campbell), and Armando Ayala.

The program was originally located in the Department of Anthropology. The degree granted was an MA in Social Science with an emphasis in Anthropology. The project produced significant funds for the university ($5 million in five years) and led to the hiring of many new Chicano and Mexicano faculty. At the founding of the program in 1968, the CSU system only had 30 Mexican American graduate students in the entire system. The effort at Sacramento produced 25 graduate students each year in Sacramento alone. The mission of this project was to improve the educational opportunities of Mexican, Chicano and migrant students in California. The author (Duane Campbell )was hired in 1969 by the project to develop a curriculum intervention system. We began to work with Dos Rios Elementary School in North Sacramento as a laboratory school site and he was later appointed as an Assistant Professor in the School of Education.

See the following pages on the Mexican American Education Project.

Excerpt. The United Farmworkers in Sacramento.

This except is from an essay by Duane Campbell from the Farmworker Movement Documentation Project. We hope to follow in their footsteps in developing a useful archive of local history. http://www.farmworkermovement.us/

The United Farm Workers in Sacramento 1972-1977. By Duane Campbell

Prior to 1972 our activism had been concentrated on antiwar (Viet Nam) work, and for Dolores Delgado-Campbell, in the Chicano community. We worked together in the 1972 McGovern for President campaign and Proposition 22. The antiwar work was winding down.

In the summer of 1972 the Teamsters union raided the UFW and sought to represent farm workers even though they failed at organizing farmworkers; this is the ultimate violation of labor democratic rights. Because of my long history of union activism, I (Duane Campbell) was moved by this betrayal of union solidarity by a corrupt union. Dolores Campbell and I discussed the situation and decided to work together to help the United Farm Workers.

Dolores called the UFW headquarters and said we would volunteer. They said there already was a support committee in Sacramento, headed by Joe Serna. We both knew Joe because he and I worked in the same union and Dolores had been a student in one of his classes as a part of the MAEP. We contacted Joe and found out what was being done. A boycott committee had existed in Sacramento during the prior boycott.

The existing committee was centered on the Chicano artistas, who eventually become the Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF). Jose Montoya was perhaps the best known. They helped the UFW with posters and hosted Cesar when he came to town. They also educated people about the UFW within their circle.

We decided to take a more labor union/ church centered approach, and to not only concentrate on the Chicano/Mexicano community but to spread the boycott to new groups. We began by organizing picket lines at local Safeway stores and asking people to not buy grapes. We stayed in touch with Joe Serna. We did not meet regularly with him, but we relied upon Joe for our political front. He handled all political matters, including the Democratic Party. For example, the UFW shared a desk in the Mc Govern campaign for their Proposition 22. One time when we were bill boarding over a freeway overpass he called to tell us to get down from there. He said the call had come in from La Paz.

We began to picket regularly and recruited supporters. This began a four year experience of picketing each week at a local store. At times we would have 10-12 volunteers, at times only 3-4. The Catholic Newman Center served as a place to meet and to plan. A small group of regulars formed, which sustained the effort. Picketing taught us a great deal about political discipline and staying on the subject. The Sacramento effort remained a volunteer effort from 1972-1977. Sacramento can get to 108 degrees in the summer, and it is cold and wet in the winter - but we kept the picket lines going. We did not have any fulltime UFW staff except on brief projects, such as Proposition 14.

More at http://www.farmworkermovement.us/

See the following pages on the United Farmworkers in Sacramento 1972-1977.

Teaching materials on the United Farm Workers. https://sites.google.com/site/democracyandeducationorg/Home/lessons-cesar-chavez-and-dolores-huerta

The establishment of the Department of Bilingual/Multicultural Education at Sac State - and it termination. Excerpts.

By 1990, as a consequence of the changing demographics in the state, and in our programs, we achieved a teacher preparation center where a majority of the students were fromlanguage minority backgrounds. The small and struggling cohort of language minority students became the majority. Our Bilingual, Multicultural Center within the Department of Teacher Education developed new perspectives.

In 1991, the faculty held a year long self-study directed by Dr. Victoria Jew on new developments in Bilingual and Multicultural education. In 1992, Professor Cintrón urged the name change to the Multicultural/Multilingual Center, and he accepted the position of advisor to the Multilingual/Multicultural Teacher Preparation Association. Dr. Nadeen Ruiz brought the OLE project to CSU Sacramento which had a defining impact on our own reading courses, and which established a school intervention model in 3 California School Districts.

By 1993, the faculty associated with the Multicultural/Multilingual Center decided that they wished to leave the department of Teacher Education and to become their own department at Sac State. The growth of bilingual education, and multicultural education at both the graduate and under graduate level had developed to a faculty of over 8 full-time faculty.Typical departments at the university are 8-12 faculty.

By becoming our own department, we gained more local control over our budget, hiring, and decision-making. While we were in Teacher Education, it would often require 2–3 years of advocacy to achieve a single faculty position. And, faculty outside of our area controlled our tenure and promotion processes.

We proposed to the Dean's Advisory Council that we become a department. Dean Gregorich placed the issue to a vote of the entire School faculty. Several members of other departments assisted us in this effort, usually through the Bilingual Core Faculty.

We won the vote. The Dean recommended to the President, and we became our own department in 1994. Dr. Forrest Davis was interviewed and selected by a hiring committee in Teacher Education, and became the first new hire in our new department of Bilingual/Multicultural Education.

Duane Campbell was elected as the first Chair, and Katy Romo was hired as the first Department Secretary. Dr. Rene Merino was elected as the second Chair in 1997. Since becoming a new department we have added several new faculty. By 1997 we had prepared over 320 bilingual teachers for the Sacramento region.

In 1994, Dr. Diane Cordero de Noriega became the Dean of the School of Education. This position assisted our development as a department. In 1996 we began our single subject program based on the long history of success with the multiple subject program. In 1996, California voters passed Proposition 187, and in 1998, they passed Proposition 227 to eliminate bilingual education.

The Bilingual Multicultural Education Dept. at CSU Sacramento was established in 1994 as one of the first major Bilingual Departments in the CSU system. Since then it has graduated over 800 bilingual teachers, administrations, college professors, and educational leaders. The department at one time had a faculty of 18 tenure track members.

In response to the severe crisis in teacher preparation in California, the department was voted out of existence during this semester. See more of the history here.

See also on this site for the California History Framework and “Why California students do not know Chicano/Latino History”, and Chicano History. The latter is an excerpt from Choosing Democracy: a practical guide to multicultural education. Merrill, Prentice Hall. By Duane Campbell. (2004).

See following pages on Why California Students Do Know Know Chicano History. 1986-2010.

The Anti Bilingual Education Campaign; Proposition 227 in Sacramento.

Anti Immigrant California Proposition 187.

CAMP. College Assistance Migratory Program.

California Dream Act: for students.

California Civic Engagement Project ( Latino and Asian Voter Registration Rates) Policy Brief #1.

El Centro Mexicano (1945- 1975) http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/16/3914484/plaque-dedication-to-remind-sacramento.html

Cesar Chavez Youth Leadership Conference

Challenging Borders to Higher Education; Faculty Retention at CSU-Sacramento

Changing demographics in California .

Hispanics and the Changing Face of the Sacramento Region. 2010. Sacramento Diaspora Project,

U.C. Davis.