Before World War II
Overall, LULAC was consistently politically involved as it struggled to erase discriminatory laws and practices in the U.S. Southwest. Although it was a nonpartisan group, it encouraged members to vote for candidates who were supportive of the group’s ideals. During the 1930s, LULAC’s activities included voter-registration and petition drives, poll-tax repeal drives and litigation to improve the conditions of Mexican Americans. They also worked to improve education for Mexican Americans by conducting community-education campaigns and setting up a college scholarship program. These activities conformed with institutional structures already existing in the United States. A major event was the 1930 court case of Del Rio v. Salvatierra where LULAC sued Del Rio Independent School District for segregating Mexican Americans due to their race. Although it was not completely favorable in its ruling, the case made an important inroad for desegregation cases to come.
Read more about this topic: League Of United Latin American Citizens
Famous quotes containing the words world and/or war:
“In history the great moment is, when the savage is just ceasing to be a savage, with all his hairy Pelasgic strength directed on his opening sense of beauty;—and you have Pericles and Phidias,—and not yet passed over into the Corinthian civility. Everything good in nature and in the world is in that moment of transition, when the swarthy juices still flow plentifully from nature, but their astrigency or acridity is got out by ethics and humanity.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“How many people in the United States do you think will be willing to go to war to free Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania?”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)