League of United Latin American Citizens
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| Founded | 1929 [1] |
|---|---|
| Founder | Pedro and Maria L. Hernandez (La Orden Caballeros de America) Ref. Library of Congress |
| Focus | Civil and social rights organization to protect the rights of Latinos. |
| Location | |
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Area served
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United States |
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Members
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115,000 |
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Key people
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Roger Rocha, President Brent A. Wilkes, National Executive Director |
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Volunteers
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115,000 (members) |
| Slogan | "All for One, One for All" |
| Website | http://www.lulac.org |
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the oldest surviving Latino civil rights organization in the U.S. It was established on February 17, 1929, in Corpus Christi, Texas, largely by Hispanic veterans of World War I who sought to end ethnic discrimination against Latinos in the United States. LULAC was a consolidation of smaller, like-minded civil rights groups already in existence. With a goal of achieving assimilation, the organization initially admitted only United States citizens as members. The organization has a national headquarters, active councils in many states, and a professional staff.
LULAC follows an assimilation ideology which emerged among cholos groups around the time of the Great Depression in the United States. Although the United States had recruited Mexican workers during the first quarter century, the economic problems of the depression increased animosity against immigrants and minority groups as people competed for work. In response to such sentiment, the federal government deported an estimated 500,000 Mexican nationals and Mexican Americans (including some American citizens) during the Depression to keep more work for US citizens. As a result, the proportion of native-born Americans among the total ethnic Mexican population was higher than had been the case in previous decades, and many grew up in United States culture rather than among immigrant communities. Benjamin Marquez asserts, "This demographic shift favored the rise of a more assimilated political leadership". Earlier organizations, such as mutual-aid associations (mutualistas) and labor-based groups, had emphasized pan-Mexican cooperation among recent immigrants from Mexico, Mexican national residents, and Mexican Americans to combat economic, cultural, and political discrimination. But as LULAC has been interested in assimilation to the US, it admitted as members only those ethnic Mexicans who were United States citizens.
LULAC promoted the full adaptation of its members into the dominant European-American culture, in the belief that this strategy would be the most successful way to combat discrimination. The organization claimed that discrimination was caused by racism, not by the economic or political systems. LULAC promoted capitalism and individualism; its leaders believed that, through hard work and assimilation into American culture, Mexican Americans could improve their socio-economic standing.
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