Latino Activists
The Latino movement continues today, as the struggle for immigrant rights has become a primary concern for the Latino community in the U.S. and abroad. Housing, education, inclusion, and worker rights are topics still addressed by Latino activists and are also tied to the immigration issue.
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Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales
Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales (June 18, 1928–April 12, 2005) was an American boxer, poet, and political activist.
He convened the first-ever Chicano youth conference in 1968, which was attended by many future Chicano activists and artists. The conference also promulgated the Plan Espiritual de Aztlán, a manifesto demanding self-determination for Chicanos.
As an early figure of the movement for the equal rights of Mexican Americans, he is often considered one of the founders of the Chicano Movement. At this time Latinos in the
In 1968, Corky led the Southwestern contingent at the Poor People's March on Washington, D.C.
He also convened what became known as the Crusade for Justice, the first national Chicano youth conference. At a time when the first generation of Mexican Americans had received their GI Bill educations and the next generation of Chicanos were being drafted to fight in Vietnam, the conference became an important meeting place between historical injustice and inclusion in American society. It placed the majority of Mexican Americans, at that point known as Chicanos, in the camp of the anti-war activists who increasingly became associated with anti-colonial movements in the Third World.
In 2005, he was diagnosed with renal and coronary distress. Astounding his doctors, he refused treatment and checked out of the hospital, stating, "I'm indigenous. I'm going to die at home among my family.” Gonzales passed away surrounded by friends and family in 2005.
He is remembered as an invigorating spirit, or "the fist" of the Chicano Movement.
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Reies López Tijerina
Reies López Tijerina (born
As an activist, he was involved in community education and organization, media relations, and land reclamations. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed after the
In 1967 Tijerina led a raid on the Tierra Amarilla (
Tijerina lives in
Henry Gabriel Cisneros 
Henry Gabriel Cisneros (born
While he was mayor of
Within 18 months of his appointment, Cisneros's tactics began to make a noticeable difference. Old and dangerous housing projects were torn down in cities in Washington and across the nation, and tenants were moved to better housing in better neighborhoods. Housing experts across the nation almost universally praised Cisneros for transforming HUD from a scandal-ridden agency into one that has actively worked against racial segregation and poverty in inner cities.
Cisneros remained optimistic about the future. We can go four whole years wallowing in examples of absolute despair, he told Lori Montgomery of the Detroit Free Press, "but it's time to say to people: You can do it. We can do it. I have seen it done."
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