Oral history interview with Marʹia Elena Martʹinez, 1997 [videorecording].

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Oral history interview with Marʹia Elena Martʹinez, 1997 [videorecording].

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50442506

Ms. Martínez discusses her family history and genealogy. She tells about working as migrant labor during her youth and she describes some racial discrimination practices she experienced. Ms. Martínez talks about how she became involved in the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO). She tells about her participation in the Del Rio, Texas, civil rights march in 1969, her involvement with the Economy Furniture Labor Strike, and the Casita Farm Workers strike. Ms. Martínez discusses Mexican American women as leaders and organizers of political movements. She talks about the issues surrounding the decision of the MAYO group to establish an independent statewide Raza Unida Party in Texas and she tells about some of the key issues they faced as they organized it. She gives her opinion on Ramsey Muníz's appeal as gubernatorial candidate on the Raza Unida Party's ticket and the effect that Muníz's legal troubles had on the Mexican American community's subsequent political aspirations. She recollects the demise of the Raza Unida Party movement after 1972 and gives her thoughts on why the effort to organize a national Raza Unida Party failed. Ms. Martínez explains her fascination with the socialist movement in Cuba and talks about her trips to Cuba with the Venceremos Brigade. She gives her opinion on the Cuban revolution and Fidel Castro as its leader. She expresses her opinion about the continuation of the socialist movement experience in Cuba. Ms. Martínez elaborates upon the failure of the two party system in the United States to address Mexican American issues and she laments the failure at coalition politics with other minorities such as African-Americans. She concludes the interview with a discussion of her interest in folk healing and her desire to begin a second career as a spiritual healer.

2 videocassettes (VHS) (3 hr.) : col. ; 1/2 in.Transcript : 83 p. ; 28 cm.

University of Texas at Arlington, Central Library

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 7625623

University of Texas at Arlington, Central Library

Related Entities

There are 9 Entities related to this resource.

University of Texas at Arlington. Center for Mexican American Studies

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63c6s61 (corporateBody)

MAYO (Organization)

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Castro, Fidel, 1926-2016

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Fidel Castro (b. August 13, 1926, Birán, Cuba–d. November 25, 2016, Havana, Cuba) was a Cuban communist revolutionary and politician who governed the Republic of Cuba as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976 and then as President from 1976 to 2008. Under his administration, Cuba became a one-party communist state, while industry and business were nationalized and state socialist reforms were implemented throughout society. The son of a wealthy Spanish farmer, Castro adopted leftist anti-imper...

Martʹinez, Marʹia Elena,

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dz28p7 (person)

Born in November 1941, Ms. Martʹinez was the first Mexican American woman to head a political party in Texas. She received her Bacherlor's degree in Spanish and History from North Texas State University and her Master's in Education at the University of Texas. From the description of Oral history interview with Marʹia Elena Martʹinez, 1997 [videorecording]. (University of Texas at Arlington). WorldCat record id: 50442506 ...

Muñʹiz, Ramsey.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pg3rrz (person)

Raza Unida Party (Tex.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6d262nv (corporateBody)

The Raza Unida Party (RUP) was first established as a third political party in Crystal City, Texas, in January, 1970. As an alternative to the two-party system in Texas, Raza Unida sought social, economic, and political self-determination for Chicanos, other minorities, and the disenfranchised through local and, later, state politics. At its start, the party organized around county, local, and school district elections in south Texas; winning city council elections in Cotulla, Carri...

Martiʹnez, Marʹia Elena

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Martʹinez family.

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Gutiérrez, José Angel,

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62r404b (person)

José Angel Gutierrez was born Oct. 25, 1944, in Crystal City, Texas. An activist, educator, organizer, and lawyer, Gutierrez co-founded the La Raza Unida Party and played many leadership roles in the early Chicano civil rights movement. He served as President of the Crystal City Independent School District Board in the early 1970s and as a County Judge for Zavala County, Tex. (1975-1980). In the 1980s, Gutierrez pursued a teaching career and moved to Oregon where he taught at Colegio Cesar Chav...