Testimonio: A Documentary History of the Mexican-American Struggle for Civil Rights

Testimonio is a major overview of crucial historical documents in the Mexican-American pursuit of life, liberty and justice in the United States.

Beginning with the early 1800s and extending his survey up to the modern era, F. Arturo Rosales has gathered a wealth of essential, illuminating papers such as petitions, correspondence (personal and official), government reports, political proclamations, newspaper items (both news articles and editorials), first-hand accounts, manifestos, congressional testimony, memoirs and even international treaties.

Proceeding chronologically, the author examines topics such as Mexicans in the nineteenth-century Southwest; the internal and international effects of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and the regimes that followed; massive immigration during the 1920s; the establishment of a México de afuera by nostalgic exiles; the mobilizing of Mexican Americans in civil-rights groups to combat discrimination, particularly following World War II; workplace and labor groups such as the United Farm Workers; and the rise of militant groups and movements such as the Brown Berets, the Raza Unida political party and the Chicano Moratorium.

Each chapter begins with an extended introduction, in which Rosales sets the scene and establishes the context in which these records were produced. In addition, each individual item is given its own preface, and Rosales has also carefully documented his sources for further exploration. All sides—from the fervently militant to the rabidly xenophobic and those in between—are represented, and the voices included range from the famous and powerful to the wholly obscure.

This is a touchstone volume, a definitive work for reference and study that scholars and students will find indispensable.