Bert Corona - Education

Education

Corona began his education at Mexican Protestant kindergartens, but enrolled in public school in the first grade. There his command of English, which his mother had taught him, caused him to excel. He remained in the Texas public system until the fourth grade, when his mother, disgusted with the mistreatment of Mexican-American and Mexican immigrant students, sent him to Harwood Boys School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There, he learned a sense of discipline, but also experienced racism. In protest of the threatened expulsion of students who spoke out against physical abuse from a coach charged with disciplining students, in addition to negative portrayals of the Mexican War, the Mexican Revolution, and Pancho Villa, the students struck, refusing to attend classes. The administration rescinded the expulsions and forced the coach to apologize.

He returned to El Paso for high school, attending the "Mexican" (segregated) Bowie High School, and later, El Paso High School, a "White" school that had recently begun to integrate some middle- and upper-class Mexican students. Humberto, whose name had by this point been Americanized to Bert, played on the varsity basketball team for three years. As a young student, he was particularly struck by the impact of the Great Depression on the Mexican repatriados and Dust Bowl migrants, many of whom were treated by his grandmother.

During high school he became politicized through reading the work of muckrakers and engaging in an anarchosyndicalist discussion group. He and other Mexican students strategized to elect a Mexican student body president, the first ever at El Paso High.

After graduating in 1934, Corona worked in a drug store and played in a local basketball league. In 1936 he accepted an athletic scholarship from the University of Southern California (USC). He moved in with an aunt and uncle in Boyle Heights, then a predominantly Jewish area of East Los Angeles. He quickly became acquainted with the barrios, however, through volunteer work with El Salvador Church. In collaboration with Reverend Kendrick Watson, he organized for better housing conditions.

During his time in Los Angeles, Corona was exposed to Communist-influenced International Workers Order (IWO) and Workers Alliance, who agitated for government relief. He also listened to Magonista anarchosyndicalist speakers at La Placita Olvera.

At USC, Corona undertook a five-year law program. He hurt his ankle early in his freshman year, and subsequently sat out the rest of the season. As a result, he dedicated his energy to his studies and to the "Non-Org Association", a coalition of lower-class students who soon came to dominate school politics.

By 1937, Corona was involved with the CIO, and shortly afterward he decided he preferred labor organizing to basketball. He remained in school, however, and became active in the Mexican American Movement (MAM) of Los Angeles-area college students. MAM focused attention on the unequal educational opportunities of Mexican American students, as well as police brutality. MAM disbanded with the entry of the United States into World War II, when many of its members volunteered for military service.