Oral history interview with Raúl Yzaguirre, 1998 [videorecording].

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Oral history interview with Raúl Yzaguirre, 1998 [videorecording].

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/449807181

Raúl Yzaguirre begins with his personal background and his family's history in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. He notes a family member's involvement with Pancho Villa and recalls his grandfather's ice business, a franchise of the Central Power and Light Company. He recounts his youthful adventures out of Corpus Christi on a fishing crew in the Gulf of Mexico and refers to Dr. Hector P. Garcia as the mentor who led Yzaguirre to organize the junior auxiliary of the American G.I. Forum. He describes the struggle with the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD for early childhood education and elucidates his reasons for the walkout demonstration at Alamo High School in 1957. He notes his success on the high school debate team which resulted in his teacher's dismissal and cites race discrimination as the basis for the dismissal, and comments on his participation in Henry B. Gonzales' gubanatorial campaign in Texas. He speaks at length on his military service and medical training in the United States Air Force near Washington, D.C., and explains his career choice favoring political activism over medicine. He discusses the creation of the National Organization for Mexican American Services (NOMAS), the umbrella organization he formed to unify Mexican American groups, and declares Lyndon B. Johnson's Mexican American summit meeting undermined the organization's chances of success. He exposes Manuel Aragón as a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency infiltrator and agitator in his organization, refers to his work in the War on Poverty as an aide to Sargent Shriver in the Migrant Division of the Office of Economic Opportunity, and touches on the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO). He provides details on the forming of two consulting firms, Interstate Research Associates (IRA) and InterAmerica Research Associates, Inc., and relates their part in empowering the Raza Unida Party. He talks about working with members of the Southwest Council of La Raza, the forerunner of the National Council of La Raza, and starting up lobbying operations with El Congreso (National Congress of Hispanic American Citizens). He explains his selection as head of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) despite the objection of founding chairman Maclovio Barraza and shares the process of convincing Paul N. Ylvisaker to provide financial backing for the NCLR through the Ford Foundation. He mentions Willie Velasquez's role in instituting the Mexican American Unity Council and the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project and speaks at length about the formative years of the National Council of La Raza. He delves into his work with Mexico's Fundación Solidaridad Mexicano-Americana (Mexican-American Solidarity Foundation) which was established in 1994, and Mexico's then Secretary of Education Ernesto Zedillo (who was president of Mexico at the time of the interview) and addresses American foreign policy in Mexico. He refers to Mexican American politicians Polly Baca (Baca-Baragán), Graciela Olivarez, U.S. Senator Joe (Joseph Manuel) Montoya of New Mexico, and New Mexico governor Bill Richardson and states his own opinions on race relations between Hispanic Americans and African Americans.

1 videocassette (VHS) : col. ; 1/2 in.Transcript : 62 p. ; 28 cm.

eng,

spa,

University of Texas at Arlington, Central Library

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SNAC Resource ID: 7548256

University of Texas at Arlington, Central Library

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