Mexican American Political Association - History

History

The Mexican American Political Association (MAPA) was organized by 150 volunteer delegates at Fresno in April 1960 as a means to elect Mexican American candidates to public office. Edward R. Roybal, later elected to the United States House of Representatives, served as its first chair/president. Throughout the 1960s, MAPA was active in the Civil Rights Movement and the Chicano political movement. MAPA members also aided Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers in political and labor negotiations. They also realized their first electoral victories that year. During the 1970s, MAPA saw more successful campaigns by Mexican American candidates, but also won important appointments in the administration of California Governor Jerry Brown. The 1980s were characterized by continued efforts to elect Mexican American candidates, and in the 1990s MAPA was a co-filer of the suit against California Proposition 187 (1994).