Explore art and information made by student protesters and those inspired by their efforts along with documentation of their activism.
[Untitled poem], Adelante! 3 (November 10, 1974): 8.
Published in Topeka by El Centro de Servicios Para Mexicanos.
Our skins are different colors
Our foods are not the same
You even hate to talk to me
‘Cause you can’t pronounce my name
Our dances are also different
Of course that’s plain to see
But when I dance it my way
Why should you make fun of me.
You show discrimination
Prejudice and bigotry
And then you turn around and say
That you know what’s best for me.
I live a life so different
From the one you claim to see
My life is filled with happiness
And a love that’s always free.
My pride is very great
And very hard to please
You see I’d rather die on my feet
Than to ever live on my knees.
[Tino Villanueva, untitled poem], Adelante: Young People For Community Action 3 (April 1969)
I’m sitting in my history class,
The instructor commences rapping, I’m in my US history class
And I’m on the verge of napping.The Mayflower landed on Plymouth Rock. Tell me more, tell me more!
Thirteen colonies were settled
I’ve heard it all before.What did he say?
Dare I ask him to reiterate?
Oh why bother.
It sounded like he said,
George Washington’s my father.I’m reluctant to believe it,
I suddenly raise my mano.
If George Washington’s my father, Why wasn’t he Chicano?
A. Estrella [Untitled poem] InAmatlInXicanome 1, no.2, (December 1975), University Archives, University of Minnesota
Reason trying to bring order to
a Chaos that cries for
Its last break
Repressing the primal will to be free
The need to be free to think Without shackles
Of a society gone mad
The desire to be ones own self
Without having to fit a mold
The freedom to cry out! Raza!
Chicano!
Atzlán!
