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Maria Jimenez Brings 30 Years of Community Activism to the Classroom (HOUSTON, Jan. 20, 2005)—For activist Maria Jimenez, this spring semester at the University of Houston’s Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS) is a homecoming. A founder of the 32-year-old program and a graduate of the university, Jimenez will serve as a visiting lecturer. “I’m viewing it as a challenge to bring back 30 years of experiences in the field,” Jimenez said. “I’ll really enjoy sharing my knowledge with young people and learning from them as well.” Jimenez is teaching a course titled “Latino Activism and Organizing.” It is a subject that defines her personal and professional life. Jimenez says that from a young age she was aware of class differences and discrimination that marked people of different cultures. During her days at UH in the late 1960s and early ’70s, she eagerly participated in the Chicano Movement that sought to empower Mexican Americans. It was a mission that became her life. She now travels with various Latino groups to educate and organize border communities. Most recently, she served as a field coordinator for the Association for Communities Organized for Reform Now (ACORN), the nation’s largest organization of low to moderate income families whose priorities include better housing and education, fair wages and more community investment. “In terms of communities that are neglected or marginalized from opportunities, the only way to ensure that people and their rights are respected is to increase their participation in the political process,” Jimenez said. “The only way to change those inequities is to organize the people so that they can do for themselves.” Jimenez was part of the original effort that lobbied UH and the state legislature to support the creation of a Mexican American studies program at the university. The result was CMAS, an interdisciplinary program that encompassed the liberal arts, education, and social sciences, and focused on the Latino experience in the U.S. “Our role was not only to request that the university accept out petition, but also to guarantee that the program would continue,” Jimenez said. “We took our proposal to the state legislature, which created a special line item in the state budget to create the program. We even had a role in hiring the first staff and selecting the first courses.” Some 32 years later, CMAS now offers a minor in Mexican American studies that includes such courses as Chicano politics, Archeology of the Aztecs, and the Mexican American experience through Film. Since 1993, CMAS has awarded 20 graduate fellowships for students to pursue research in Mexican American or Latino studies. “Maria Jimenez is the embodiment of the Chicano movement and its ideals,” said Tatchto Mindiola, director of CMAS. “She truly is a product of her time and the perfect person to teach classes about grass roots organizing. CMAS and its students will benefit from her experience and her integrity.” Jimenez’s activist life included a term as president of the UH student government association—the first Latina voted to that position. She was a member of the committee that supported the lettuce boycott led by the late Cesar Chavez. She later ran for state representative in District 87 with the Raza Unida party. For the past 20 years, she has worked with state employees’ unions as well as border communities. Though Latino activism has had a historical impact in the United States, Jimenez says there is little documented about those efforts. One project her students will embark upon is connecting with various organizations across the country and documenting the stories of those involved. The result will be a database of information to be used for research purposes. Jimenez says the project will enable students to develop skills that engage communities around civic issues. “I hope that students will be able to use the knowledge
and skills gained from that project and from the class to promote
a collective approach to equality and social well being,”
Jimenez said. About the University of Houston For more information about UH visit the university’s ‘Newsroom’ at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom. |
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