The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the largest and oldest Hispanic and Latin-American
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...
organization in the United States.
It was established on February 17, 1929, in
Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi ( ; ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, Texas, Nueces County with portions extending into Aransas County, T ...
, largely by
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
s returning from
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
who sought to end ethnic
discrimination
Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...
against Latinos in the United States. The goal of LULAC is to advance the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, housing, health, and civil rights of Hispanic people in the United States. LULAC uses nationwide councils and group community organizations to achieve all these goals. LULAC has about 132,000 members in the United States.
Organization
LULAC helps to promote education among Latin Americans in America. LULAC councils provide about one million dollars in scholarships to Hispanics every year. LULAC provides educational programming to disadvantaged youth throughout America. They help out 18,000 Hispanics every year. They also help Hispanics train for jobs. They have programs that provide job skills and literacy training to the Hispanic community in America.
Comparisons with the NAACP
With respect to organizational structure, the League of Latin American Citizens was similar to the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...
(NAACP). David G. Gutierrez said, "considering themselves part of a progressive and enlightened leadership elite, LULAC's leaders set out to implement general goals and a political strategy that were similar in form and content to those advocated early in the century by
W.E.B. Du Bois and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People: for an 'educated elite'".
Though the two
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...
groups may have possessed some institutional similarities, LULAC tried to establish distance from the
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
civil rights struggle. As LULAC believed that blacks were more oppressed than Latinos; its members thought that joining forces would not strengthen its own struggle for equality. LULAC asserted that Hispanics properly fell into the "white" category of the
dichotomous
A dichotomy () is a partition of a set, partition of a whole (or a set) into two parts (subsets). In other words, this couple of parts must be
* jointly exhaustive: everything must belong to one part or the other, and
* mutually exclusive: nothi ...
black-white construction of race. In 1936 the league "engaged in a series of lobbying activities as soon as it
he USCBperceived that Mexican Americans would be categorized as part of a group of dark-skinned minorities." They lobbied to demonstrate that
Hispanic, Latino and
Mexican American
Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexico, Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the Unite ...
were not racial classifications, but cultural groups who were racially diverse, sharing a common
Ethno-linguistic ancestry.
History
Founders
Ben Garza; Manuel C. Gonzales; Andres de Luna; Louis Wilmot;
Alonso S. Perales; Rafael Galvan Sr.; Juan Galvan; Vicente Lozano;
José Tomás Canales
José Tomás Canales (March 7, 1877 – March 30, 1976) was an American businessman, lawyer, and politician based in Texas. He served five terms in the State House, where he was the only Mexican-American representative at the time. He is best kno ...
; Edwardo Idar; Mauro Machado;
José de la Luz Sáenz; Juan C. Solis; E.H. Marin
Formation
LULAC was formed in 1929 as a result of the merger of several small groups also concerned with the status of Mexican Americans: the
Order of the Sons of America (El Orden Hijos de America), the
Order of the Knights of America (El Orden Caballeros de America) and the
League of Latino American Citizens.
From an early date, women organized separate
Ladies Councils within LULAC.
Overall, LULAC struggled to use the political system 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.
The first LULAC General Convention was held in Corpus Christi, Texas on May 18, 1929, at Allende Hall owned by Rafael Galvan, Sr. and Samuel Hinojosa. The first LULAC constitution was adopted.
During the 1930s, LULAC's activities included voter-registration and petition drives; attempts to repeal the
poll tax
A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. ''Poll'' is an archaic term for "head" or "top of the head". The sen ...
imposed in several states, which reduced its members' ability to register; 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 existing institutional structures in the United States. A major event was the 1930 court case of ''
Del Rio ISD v. Salvatierra'', in which LULAC sued Del Rio Independent School District in for segregating Mexican Americans due to their race. Although the court was not fully favorable in its ruling, the case made an important inroad for desegregation cases to come.
Mexican Repatriation
LULAC followed an assimilation ideology which emerged among ''
cholos'' groups around the time of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
in the United States.
Although the United States had recruited Mexican workers during the first quarter century, the economic problems of the depression increased animosity against immigrants and minority groups as people competed for work. In response to such sentiment, the federal government deported an estimated 500,000 Mexican nationals and Mexican Americans (including some American citizens) during the Depression to keep more work for US citizens. As a result, the proportion of native-born Americans among the total ethnic Mexican population was higher than had been the case in previous decades, and many grew up in United States culture rather than among immigrant communities. Benjamin Marquez asserts, "This demographic shift favored the rise of a more assimilated political leadership".
Earlier organizations, such as mutual-aid associations (''mutualistas'') and labor-based groups, had emphasized pan-Mexican cooperation among recent immigrants from Mexico, Mexican national residents, and Mexican Americans to combat economic, cultural, and political discrimination. But as LULAC has been interested in assimilation to the US, it admitted as members only those ethnic Mexicans who were United States citizens.
Migration and assimilation
LULAC promoted the full adaptation of its members into the dominant European-American culture, in the belief that this strategy would be the most successful way to combat discrimination. The organization claimed that discrimination was caused by
racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
, not by the economic or political systems. LULAC promoted
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...
and individualism; its leaders believed that, through hard work and assimilation into
American culture
The culture of the United States encompasses various social behaviors, institutions, and Social norm, norms, including forms of Languages of the United States, speech, American literature, literature, Music of the United States, music, Visual a ...
, Mexican Americans could improve their socio-economic standing.
LULAC emphasized American patriotism as a path to assimilation. It asserted that Mexican Americans should disavow any allegiance to
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
, remain permanently in the United States, and commit fully to democratic ideals.
The league's official song is "America"; its official language is
English; and its official prayer is the "George Washington Prayer". The LULAC's constitution is modeled on the
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...
.
Because of LULAC's assimilation ideology and its advancement of the interests of Mexican-American citizens, it advocated restrictions on immigration. LULAC's central means of achieving equal status with European Americans was dependent on promoting the image of Mexican residents as conforming to the cultural norms of the United States. The League recognized that most of the dominant society did not distinguish among the cultures and attitudes of immigrants, citizens, and naturalized persons of Mexican descent.
New immigrants from Mexico resisted the assimilation strategy, as they had stronger ties to their native culture, limited English proficiency, and were willing to work for low wages. Some Mexican Americans knew that they would be lumped together with the recent immigrants and be perceived as "un-American", "backward", and "poor," and would be discriminated against. The league members shared the fear of many working-class Americans that the new immigrants, willing to work for low wages and contributing to job competition against Mexican Americans due to their numbers, would economically harm Mexican American citizens. While other ethnic groups had similar tensions between more settled citizens and new immigrants (such as between German Jews and more recent immigrants of Eastern European Ashkenazi Jews at the end of the nineteenth century), a major difference for Mexicans and Mexican Americans was the continuing high rate of immigration into the United States, strengthening ties to the homeland culture and language.
Role of women
LULAC was one of the first national organizations to place emphasis on the role of women.
It created ladies' auxiliaries in 1932. The following year, in LULAC's annual statewide convention,
Ladies LULAC councils were established. By 1938, the first women's national office was created. State coordinators for women carry out local programs for women. There are many different programs and conferences for women created by the league. Like "Adelante Mujer Hispana" and two-day conferences that discuss education and employment.
Belen Robles served as the first national president of LULAC, starting in 1994.
After World War II
During World War II the membership and activity of the organization decreased significantly. Many of its members joined or were drafted into the armed forces. LULAC campaigned against the Emergency Farm Labor Program (also known as the
Bracero Program
The Bracero Program (from the Spanish term ''bracero'' , meaning " manual laborer" or "one who works using his arms") was a temporary labor initiative between the United States and Mexico that allowed Mexican workers to be employed in the U.S. ...
), which began in 1942 to fill the farm-labor shortage that resulted from the draft following the US entry into
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Although Mexican workers in this program were under contract with the government to go to the United States to work and to return to Mexico after a set amount of time, LULAC saw the program as paving the way for increased permanent immigration from Mexico. LULAC's opposition to the Bracero Program was consistent with its support for restricted immigration, as described earlier.
After the war, LULAC was revived by the enthusiasm of returning veterans who sought to claim the civil liberties they believed they had earned by their loyal military service. The group continued to help the Mexican community with local activities such as Christmas toy drives, sponsoring Boy Scout troops, and campaigns against poll taxes.
School desegregation

During the 1950s, LULAC began the
Little School of the 400 program, which was designed to teach Mexican-American children 400 English words before they began first grade. The project was initially run by volunteers, and shown after the first class to be successful in preparing children to do better in school; out of 60 participating children, only one had to repeat the first grade. The program expanded, and LULAC convinced the
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
legislature to underwrite it. Between 1960 and 1964 over 92,000 children benefited from the LULAC-initiated, English-centered preschool program.
LULAC also sued school districts which practiced segregation. Examples of successful cases include ''
Mendez v. Westminster'' in 1945 and ''
Delgado v. Bastrop ISD'' in 1948. In the Mendez case,
Thurgood Marshall
Thoroughgood "Thurgood" Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme C ...
, then a lawyer for the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...
(NAACP) filed an
amicus brief
An amicus curiae (; ) is an individual or organization that is not a party to a legal case, but that is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. Whether an ''amic ...
in support of LULAC. As Marquez notes, "Relying strictly on the volunteer labor of LULAC attorneys and their staff, from 1950 to 1957, approximately fifteen suits or complaints were filed against school districts throughout the Southwest". These victories contributed precedents that were consulted in the deliberation by the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
in the ''
Brown v. Board of Education
''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the ...
'' (1954) case. In 1965, the 146 Councils were distributed among eight states, and by 1977, LULAC had offices in 21 states.
Benjamin Marquez asserts, "Segregated schools, inferior equipment, and the lack of qualified teachers were seen as the primary obstacles to the full economic and social assimilation of the Mexican American". LULAC believed that the public-school system, with the aforementioned issues corrected, would serve as a central instrument in the assimilation process of children, and thereby the Mexican-American community as a whole. It fully supported education of its members and adoption of fluent English. They believed that through formal education, Mexican Americans would learn how to function in American institutions, socialize with European-American children, and gain education to qualify for higher skilled jobs.
Chicano Movement
The rise of more radical groups in the 1960s brought change to LULAC. They began to turn away from supporting assimilation. They began to use public protest to bring attention to their cause. The group also began to seek government funding and grants to help build support for the group.
Late-20th century

Despite national visibility, LULAC lost strength since the late-twentieth century, with declines in membership and operating funds because of competition from other Mexican-American groups. According to Benjamin Marquez, LULAC found it difficult to meet the needs and desires of an increasingly diverse Mexican-American population, in which immigrants have made up an increasingly higher proportion. He writes, "While the league's public profile grew in the mid-1960s, and the group was involved in a wide range of political activities, these events occurred with decreasing mass participation".
Local council impact
Founded in Corpus Christi in 1929, LULAC expanded first in Texas, adding 18 councils the next year. More were added in the next decade, but again mostly in Texas. With World War II, LULAC began to extend its reach to California, Arizona, New Mexico, and later Colorado. Victory in a precedent-setting 1945 lawsuit challenging segregation of Mexican American students in Orange County, California, helped the organization grow. LULAC claimed 2,500 members in 1951 and the number of chapters reached 83 in 1955 shortly after another pivotal legal victory (''Hernandez v. Texas''). The next decade brought LULAC new influence and a new geography, reflecting the Tejano diaspora that was now spreading into the upper Midwest. In 1965 the 146 Councils were distributed among eight states. By 1977, LULAC had a presence in 21 states yet the total number of Councils had declined. But in 1988, LULAC saw a resurgence in new Councils as 551 were founded bringing the total to over 600. LULAC Councils and state offices were in 32 states including Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, and reaching new geographies in the Upper East Coast and Florida. From an early date women organized separate Ladies Councils.
Current activities

Education
The LULAC National Educational Service Centers (LNESC) are part of a non-profit educational advancement organization which helps students with direct-service programs and scholarships.
Legal campaigns
Roger Rocha (born ), a health-care analyst from
Laredo, Texas
Laredo ( ; ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Webb County, Texas, Webb County, on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Founded in 1755, Laredo grew from a villag ...
, was elected as the 2015 LULAC president at the annual meeting held in
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...
. He vowed to push for unity in the organization.
In July 2017, Rocha strongly endorsed the lawsuit against Texas Senate Bill 4 which ends
sanctuary cities in the state. The measure, signed into law by
Governor
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
Greg Abbott
Gregory Wayne Abbott ( ; born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and jurist who has served since 2015 as the 48th governor of Texas. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served from 2002 to ...
, permits law enforcement officers to inquire about the legal documentation of suspects detained for other reasons. Rocha claims that the bill was "specifically created to target Latinos," the largest minority group in Texas.
In 2018, the Richmond Council for LULAC and four individual voters filed a federal lawsuit, ''LULAC of Richmond v. Public Interest Legal Foundation'', in the Eastern District of Virginia against the
Public Interest Legal Foundation
The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is an American conservative legal group based in Alexandria, Virginia, which is known for suing states and local governments to purge voters from election rolls. The nonprofit was constituted in 2012.
...
for false reports about non-citizen voters published online. The lawsuit claimed violations of the
Ku Klux Klan Act
The Enforcement Act of 1871 (), also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, Third Enforcement Act, Third Ku Klux Klan Act, Civil Rights Act of 1871, or Force Act of 1871, is an Act of the United States Congress that was intended to combat the paramilit ...
and the
Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movem ...
, as well as state defamation laws. The plaintiffs were successful.
See also
*
American GI Forum (AGIF)
*
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans who have a Spaniards, Spanish or Latin Americans, Latin American background, culture, or family origin. This demographic group includes all Americans who identify as Hispanic or Latino (demonym), ...
*
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement
The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) is a Non-profit organization, nonprofit, Nonpartisanism, nonpartisan Hispanic and Latino Americans, Latino organization affiliated with the AFL-CIO and the Change to Win federation. It was ...
(LCLAA)
* ''
League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry
''League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry'', 548 U.S. 399 (2006), is a Supreme Court of the United States case in which the Court ruled that only District 23 of the 2003 Texas redistricting violated the Voting Rights Act. The Court refu ...
''
*
MALDEF
*
Mexican-American Education Council (MAEC)
*
Mi Familia Vota
*
National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO)
*
National Council of La Raza
UnidosUS, formerly National Council of La Raza (NCLR) ( La Raza), is the United States's largest Latino nonprofit advocacy organization. It advocates in favor of progressive public policy changes including immigration reform, a path to citize ...
(NCLR)
*
National Immigration Forum
*
Nativism (politics) in the United States#Hispanic targets
*
Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, (SVREP)
*
History of education in Texas
*
History of education in California
References
Further reading
* Gutiérrez, David G. ''LULAC and the Assimilationist Perspective'' (New York University Press, 1998).
* Kaplowitz, Craig A. ''LULAC, Mexican Americans, and national policy'' (Texas A&M University Press, 2005).
* Kaplowitz, Craig A. "A distinct minority: LULAC, Mexican American identity, and presidential policymaking, 1965–1972." ''Journal of Policy History'' 15.2 (2003): 192-222.
* Marquez, Benjamin. ''LULAC: The evolution of a Mexican American political organization'' (U of Texas Press, 1993).
*
*
* Rook, Brian W. "LULAC: Mexican-American Adult Learning, Collectivism, and Social Movement." ''Journal of Adult Education'' 42.2 (2013): 55-59
online
*
External links
*
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Councils 1929-1965 A map o
LUAACcouncils throughout the country from 1929 to 1965, based on information in LULAC annual reports.
LULAC council map Shows a map about current LULAC council.
*
''The MacNeil-Lehrer Report''; 7022; Reagan Immigration Policy, 1981-07-30, NewsHour Productions,
American Archive of Public Broadcasting
The American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB) is a collaboration between the Library of Congress and WGBH Educational Foundation, founded through the efforts of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The AAPB is a national effort to di ...
(
WGBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, D.C.
{{DEFAULTSORT:League Of United Latin American Citizens
1929 establishments in Texas
Civil rights organizations in the United States
Hispanic and Latino American organizations
Organizations established in 1929
Political advocacy groups in the United States