LATINO ACTIVIST DEMONSTRATES COMMITMENT
TO THE FIELD AND TO UH
Maria Jimenez Brings 30 Years of Community Activism to the Classroom
(HOUSTON, Jan. 20, 2005)—For activist Maria Jimenez, this
spring semester at the University of Houston’s Center for
Mexican American Studies (CMAS) is a homecoming. A founder of the
32-year-old program and a graduate of the university, Jimenez will
serve as a visiting lecturer.
“I’m viewing it as a challenge to bring back 30 years
of experiences in the field,” Jimenez said. “I’ll
really enjoy sharing my knowledge with young people and learning
from them as well.”
Jimenez is teaching a course titled “Latino Activism and
Organizing.” It is a subject that defines her personal and
professional life. Jimenez says that from a young age she was aware
of class differences and discrimination that marked people of different
cultures. During her days at UH in the late 1960s and early ’70s,
she eagerly participated in the Chicano Movement that sought to
empower Mexican Americans. It was a mission that became her life.
She now travels with various Latino groups to educate and organize
border communities. Most recently, she served as a field coordinator
for the Association for Communities Organized for Reform Now (ACORN),
the nation’s largest organization of low to moderate income
families whose priorities include better housing and education,
fair wages and more community investment.
“In terms of communities that are neglected or marginalized
from opportunities, the only way to ensure that people and their
rights are respected is to increase their participation in the political
process,” Jimenez said. “The only way to change those
inequities is to organize the people so that they can do for themselves.”
Jimenez was part of the original effort that lobbied UH and the
state legislature to support the creation of a Mexican American
studies program at the university. The result was CMAS, an interdisciplinary
program that encompassed the liberal arts, education, and social
sciences, and focused on the Latino experience in the U.S.
“Our role was not only to request that the university accept
out petition, but also to guarantee that the program would continue,”
Jimenez said. “We took our proposal to the state legislature,
which created a special line item in the state budget to create
the program. We even had a role in hiring the first staff and selecting
the first courses.”
Some 32 years later, CMAS now offers a minor in Mexican American
studies that includes such courses as Chicano politics, Archeology
of the Aztecs, and the Mexican American experience through Film.
Since 1993, CMAS has awarded 20 graduate fellowships for students
to pursue research in Mexican American or Latino studies.
“Maria Jimenez is the embodiment of the Chicano movement
and its ideals,” said Tatchto Mindiola, director of CMAS.
“She truly is a product of her time and the perfect person
to teach classes about grass roots organizing. CMAS and its students
will benefit from her experience and her integrity.”
Jimenez’s activist life included a term as president of
the UH student government association—the first Latina voted
to that position. She was a member of the committee that supported
the lettuce boycott led by the late Cesar Chavez. She later ran
for state representative in District 87 with the Raza Unida party.
For the past 20 years, she has worked with state employees’
unions as well as border communities.
Though Latino activism has had a historical impact in the United
States, Jimenez says there is little documented about those efforts.
One project her students will embark upon is connecting with various
organizations across the country and documenting the stories of
those involved. The result will be a database of information to
be used for research purposes. Jimenez says the project will enable
students to develop skills that engage communities around civic
issues.
“I hope that students will be able to use the knowledge
and skills gained from that project and from the class to promote
a collective approach to equality and social well being,”
Jimenez said.
For more information about UH Center for Mexican American Studies,
please visit www.class.uh.edu/CMAS/
About the University of Houston
The University of Houston, Texas’ premier metropolitan research
and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 research centers
and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate,
civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university
in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and
service with more than 35,000 students.
For more information about UH visit the universitys Newsroom at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.
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