Reies Tijerina

Reies Tijerina

Reies Lopez Tijerina (born September 21, 1926 near Falls City, Texas) led a struggle in the 1960s and 1970s to restore New Mexican land grants to the descendants of their Spanish colonial and Mexican owners. As a vocal spokesman for the rights of Hispanics and Mexican Americans, he became a major figure of the early Chicano Movement (although he prefers "Indohispano" as a name for his people). As an activist, he worked in community education and organization, media relations, and land reclamations. He became famous internationally for his 1967 armed raid on the Tierra Amarilla courthouse.