Brown, Not White
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Brown, Not White: School Integration and the Chicano Movement in Houston'' is a 2005 book by Guadalupe San Miguel, Jr., published by the Texas A&M University Press. ''Brown, Not White'' discusses Chicano activism in Houston, Texas during the 20th century. It is the third volume in the University of Houston (UH) Series in Mexican American Studies, sponsored by the UH Center of Mexican American Studies. Dr. Tatcho Mindiola Jr. sponsored this publication series.Kreneck, p. 705.


Contents

Part one discusses the development of the Mexican-American community of Houston from 1900-1960.Shircliffe, p. 605. This section discusses how Hispanic activists of the day sought to have Hispanics classified as White Americans.Shircliffe, p. 605-606. Specifically chapter 1 discusses the Hispanic community prior to World War II, and chapter 2 discusses Mexican children in the schools and how they were affected by educational policies. Chapter 3 discusses efforts from Hispanic individuals to reform the school system.Rosales, p. 87. Chapter 4 documents debates on how to reform the education system that took place within the Hispanic community.Rosales, p. 88. Part two describes the campaign for the Hispanic community to be recognized as a non-white minority, rather than white, in regards to a Houston Independent School District (HISD) desegregation plan.Shircliffe, p. 606. In its initial 1970 desegregation plan,Quiroz, p. 228. HISD was trying to "desegregate" by mixing black and Mexican students together while not including Anglo Whites in the desegregation plan, and using the Mexican students' designation as "white" as a workaround. Mexicans responded by launching a strike, or ''huelga'', against HISD. Part three goes into detail regarding movements to classify Mexican-Americans as being a part of the racial minority groups. The book discusses the efforts of the Mexican American Educational Council (MAEC), an organization fighting HISD's original desegregation program, to be recognized by HISD and the court system.Alamillo, p. 221. José M. Alamillo of Washington State University wrote that " e of the most important contributions" of this book was saying that men and women of varying social classes and ages were central to the Chicano movement, rather than Carlos Muñoz's statements saying that students were central to the movement. Rodolfo Rosales of the University of Texas at San Antonio described chapters 5-7, which discuss the Mexican community's implementation of the school reform movement, as the "heart of the narrative".


Background

San Miguel previously wrote '' "Let All of Them Take Heed": Mexican Americans and the Campaign for Educational Equality in Texas, 1910-1981'', described by Thomas H. Kreneck of
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
as "an important history of Mexican American educational reform in the Lone Star State". San Miguel encountered information on the huelgas while researching the history of Houston's education system and decided to write a book about the subject. San Miguel used information from the
Houston Metropolitan Research Center Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
for this book.


Reception

Alamillo wrote that the book "contributes significantly to the history of Chicano movement and school desegregation in the
American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...
" and he recommended that teachers, community activists, and officials in school systems read the book. He argued that the author should have more fully explored racial conflicts between blacks and Hispanics. Barbara J. Shircliffe of the University of South Florida wrote that the author "greatly contributes to our understanding of the influence of the Chicano movement on local school activism among a broad group of Mexican Americans during the period."Shircliffe, p. 608. She suggested that the author could have added more information regarding Mexican-Black relations, especially regarding local politics and educational politics.Shircliffe, p. 607. Gilbert G. Gonzalez of the University of California, Irvine wrote that the author "examines and analyzes" the history "so well". Kreneck wrote that the book was "strong" but that it should have included a bibliography and acknowledgments section. Anthony Quiroz of TAMU Corpus Christi wrote that the book is "a fascinating and important account of the Chicano ''huelga'' in Houston" and he also stated that it could have benefited from more deeply discussing Black-Hispanic tensions.Quiroz, p. 229. Rosales supported how the author "made a conscious choice to provide an illuminating story where he provided more direction than analysis" but he added that sometimes the author provided "too much detail, which tended to clog, so to speak, the analysis."


See also

*
History of Mexican Americans in Houston The city of Houston has significant populations of Mexican Americans, Mexican immigrants, and Mexican citizen expatriates. Houston residents of Mexican origin make up the oldest Hispanic ethnic group in Houston, and Jessi Elana Aaron and José E ...
*
Huelga schools (Houston) Huelga, "strike" or "freedom" schools were alternative schools set up in Houston in order to continue the education of boycotting Mexican-American students between 1970 and 1972. The schools were coordinated by Sister Gloria Gallardo and Tina Reyes. ...
Other books by San Miguel: * '' Tejano Proud'' Non-fiction about Mexican-Americans in Houston: * '' The Church in the Barrio'' * '' Ethnicity in the Sunbelt'' Fiction about Mexican-Americans in Houston: * '' What Can't Wait''


References

* Alamillo, José M. ( Washington State University).
Brown, Not White: School Integration and the Chicano Movement in Houston
(Book Review). ''
The Western Historical Quarterly The Western History Association (WHA), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was founded in 1961 at Santa Fe, New Mexico by Ray Allen Billington et al. Included in the field of study are the American West and western Canada. The Western Histor ...
'', 1 July 2002, Vol.33(2), pp. 220–221
eer Reviewed Journal EER may refer to: * East of England Regiment, a British Army Reserve unit * Effective exchange rate * Energy efficiency rating in the Australian Capital Territory * Energy efficiency ratio, of a cooling device * Engineering education research * En ...
Available at
JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...
. * Gonzalez, Gilbert G. ( University of California, Irvine).
Brown, Not White: School Integration and the Chicano Movement in Houston
(book review). '' Journal of American History'', June, 2002, Vol.89(1), p. 310(1). Available at
JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...
. * Kreneck, Thomas H. (
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
)
Brown, Not White: School Integration and the Chicano Movement in Houston
(Book Review). ''
Southwestern Historical Quarterly The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is a non-profit educational organization, dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, on March 2, 1897. , TSHA moved their offices from Austin to the University of N ...
'', April, 2002, Vol.105(4), p. 704(2). Available at
JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...
. * Quiroz, Anthony (
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
).
Brown, Not White: School Integration and the Chicano Movement in Houston
(Book Review). '' The Journal of Southern History'', 1 February 2003, Vol.69(1), pp. 228–228. Available at
JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...
. * Rosales, Rodolfo ( University of Texas at San Antonio).
Brown, Not White: School Integration and the Chicano Movement in Houston
(Book Review). ''Journal of American Ethnic History'', 1 October 2002, Vol.22(1), pp. 86–88. Available at
JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...
. * Shircliffe, Barbara J. ( University of South Florida).
Brown, Not White: School Integration and the Chicano Movement in Houston
(Book Review). '' History of Education Quarterly'', 1 December 2002, Vol.42(4), pp. 605–608. Available at
JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...
.


Notes

{{Houston ISD 2001 non-fiction books History of Houston History of Mexican Americans Texas A&M University Press books Books about Houston Books about race and ethnicity in the United States