Mexican-American Education Council

The Mexican-American Educational Council (MAEC) was a post Chicano-movement non-profit organization in the Houston, Texas area. Its principal goal was to achieve equitable access to public education for Mexican Americans in Texas.

History

In late 1970, MAEC organized boycotts and walkouts of schools within the Houston Independent School District (HISD) in protest against the district's racist integration orders. In protest, MAEC established "huelga" schools where Mexican American children could attend school while the concerns were resolved. More than 3,500 students participated in the protests.[1]

MAEC was formed in the summer of 1970.[2] MAEC was headed by Leonel Castillo and an activist nun, Sister Gloria Gallardo, served as interim director for a while.[3]

On August 25, 1970, Castillo spoke at a hastily-planned press conference, explaining the position of MAEC.[4] On August 31, 1970 MAEC began aggressive boycotts, protests, and picketing. These actions lasted approximately three weeks, during which around 60% of the student bodies of some high schools participated in the boycotts.[5]

To advance their cause, they petitioned and received $65,000 in funding from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1970.[6]

During the protests MAEC demanded twenty issues to be resolved and HISD began rezoning school areas within its jurisdiction in response. However, this rezoning encouraged "white flight" since minorities were now entering "white schools" in large numbers.[7] At first the district used forced busing, but later switched to a voluntary magnet school program in order to discourage "white flight".[8] The district eventually integrated races in a semi-peaceful manner.

See also

References
  1. San Miguel Jr., Guadalupe Brown, Not White: School Integration and the Chicano Movement in Houston (College Station, TX: Texas A&M Press, 2007) pp. 97-99
  2. Bale, Jeff (January 2010). "The Fight for Bilingual Education". International Socialist Review. 69.
  3. Treviño, Roberto R. (2006). The Church in the Barrio: Mexican American Ethno-Catholicism in Houston. The University of North Carolina Press. p. 193. ISBN 9780807829967.
  4. Curtis, Tom (1976-07-31). "Will Success Spoil Leonel Castillo?". Texas Monthly. Retrieved 2017-09-22.
  5. Valenzuela, Angela (2010). Subtractive Schooling: U.S. - Mexican Youth and the Politics of Caring. SUNY Press. pp. 46–47. ISBN 9781438422626.
  6. San Miguel Jr., pp. 156-157
  7. Angela Valenzuela Subtractive Schooling: U.S.-Mexican Youth and the Politics of Caring (New York: State University of New York Press, 1999) pp. 39-49
  8. Berryhill, Michael. "What's Wrong With Wheatley?." Houston Press. April 17, 1997. p. 3. Retrieved on March 31, 2009.
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