Mexican American Youth Organization

The Mexican American Youth Organization (acronym MAYO, also described as the Mexican Youth Organization) is a civil rights organization formed in 1967 in San Antonio, Texas, USA to fight for Mexican-American rights. The creators of MAYO, Los Cinco (meaning "the five"), consisted of José Ángel Gutiérrez, Willie Velásquez, Mario Compean, Ignacio Pérez, and Juan Patlán. MAYO and its political organization, Raza Unida Party, played an important part in Texas history during the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were a part of the larger Chicano movement in the United States, and played a role in bringing about civil rights for Mexican-Americans.

“MAYO was born in March 1967 in San Antonio, where Mexicanos, who constituted some 40 percent of the population, were powerless and impoverished. It was the brain child of five young Chicano student activists-Jose Angel Gutierrez, Mario Compean, William “Willie” Velasquez, Ignacio Perez, and Juan Patlan. All were graduate or undergraduate students at Saint Mary’s, a small liberal arts college in San Antonio (now Saint Mary's University). At the Fountain Room, a bar (still operating at 918 Bandera Rd. to this day,) several blocks form Saint Mary’s, Los Cinco (as they became known), over the course of several weeks, met on a regular basis and held a number of study sessions, which culminated in MAYO.” As quoted from: "La Raza Unida Party: a Chicano challenge to the U.S. two-party dictatorship." By: Armando Navarro, Page 24.

MAYO was involved in voter registration in South Texas. Founding member of MAYO Willie Velásquez was posthumously given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995 by President Bill Clinton for his work with voter registration. MAYO did well at getting voters registered, but they were not successful in getting the Hispanic voters out to the polls to vote, especially in metropolitan areas.

School walkouts were a major part of MAYO’s approach to achieving equality for Mexican Americans. They staged walkouts at least 18 times. which helped enable Mexican Americans to take over seats on Texas school boards. The major walkouts were in Crystal City, Kingsville, Edgewood and Lanier High Schools in San Antonio. By becoming members of previously all white school boards, MAYO was able to participate in deciding what was best for their own people.

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