University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository American Studies ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations 8-31-2011 Los Tres Grandes - Herman Gallegos, Ernesto Galarza, Julian Samora: Rooted in Community, Guided by Friendship, Cultivating Leadership. Carmen Samora Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/amst_etds Recommended Citation Samora, Carmen. "Los Tres Grandes - Herman Gallegos, Ernesto Galarza, Julian Samora: Rooted in Community, Guided by Friendship, Cultivating Leadership.." (2011). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/amst_etds/39 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in American Studies ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LOS TRES GRANDES- HERMAN GALLEGOS, ERNESTO GALARZA, JULIAN SAMORA: ROOTED IN COMMUNITY, GUIDED BY FRIENDSHIP, CULTIVATING LEADERSHIP by CARMEN R. SAMORA B.F.A., Clay and Fiber Studio Art, Saint Mary’s College, 1973 M.F.A., Textile and Clay Studio Art, University of Notre Dame, 1982 M.A., Secondary Education and Licensure, University of New Mexico, 2006 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy American Studies The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico August 2011 DEDICATION To Lisiada Piedad Archuleta Samora My Mother iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank many people who were instrumental in the completion of this dissertation. Laura Gómez very generously agreed to be the chair-of- record of my committee several years into the process. M. Jane Young served as co-chair, reading many drafts and offering encouragement and advice. Thanks go to the other members of my committee, Kirsten Pai Buick, Ruth Trinidad Galvan for their encouragement. Alberto López Pulido offered valuable comments as well. Veronica Mendez-Cruz, director of El Centro de La Raza; Tobías Durán, director of the Center for Regional Studies; Miguel Gandert, chair of the Mellon Dissertation Fellowships; L.M. Garcia y Griego, director of the Southwest Hispanic Research Institute; Suzanne Ortega, Provost of the University of New Mexico; and Robert Otto Valdez, executive director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Center for Health Policy, all supported my research financially. Many thanks to all of you for your generosity. L.M. Garcia y Griego, Arturo Madrid, Kirsten Pai Buick, and M. Jane Young mentored me through the process of graduate school. Margaret Gonzales, in the Office of Graduate Studies, helped me find money and always knew the answers to my questions about financial resources. Sandy Rodrigue, administrative assistant in the American Studies Department, was very kind about making sure I had all the forms in order and in on time. Ms. Rodrigue was also very generous to me during the six-year process of course work and dissertation writing, helping me make the deadlines for teaching assignments. iv Rosemarie Romero, program manager at the Southwest Hispanic Research Institute, helped me format the chapters and prepare the final draft. Ms. Romero also helped keep my research project, Julian Samora Legacy Project, financially accountable. My dissertation support group, Melanie Cattrell, Karen Roybal, and Matthew Valnes read my chapters and cheered me on. Roberta Chavez selflessly bought groceries on many occasions during the three-year writing process. My brothers were very generous in answering my questions and helping me remember certain events. Thank you David, Geoff, and John Samora for your supportive encouragement at every stage. Thanks also to my aunts, Ruth Medina, Ida Trujillo, Bridget Olguin, and Edna Alexander, who helped confirm family stories and set records straight. Thank you to my first cousins, Cindy Braley, Monica Olguin, and Veronica Medina who helped me negotiate the terrain with my aunts and uncles. Thanks to my uncles, Alfred Archuleta and Mose Trujillo, who gave me valuable insights into my father’s early mentoring and teaching practices. Special thanks to Herman Gallegos, the surviving Grande, who answered many questions and patiently helped me to understand what was at stake for Mexican Americans during those years of the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. Gallegos very generously shed light onto the many facets of their complex relationships. And finally, Stephen Moffat served as a sounding board for my ideas and copy edited my chapters. His support has been good humored and unending. Thank you. v LOS TRES GRANDES - HERMAN GALLEGOS, ERNESTO GALARZA, JULIAN SAMORA: ROOTED IN COMMUNITY, GUIDED BY FRIENDSHIP, CULTIVATING LEADERSHIP by CARMEN R. SAMORA ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy American Studies The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico August 2011 LOS TRES GRANDES - HERMAN GALLEGOS, ERNESTO GALARZA, JULIAN SAMORA: ROOTED IN COMMUNITY, GUIDED BY FRIENDSHIP, CULTIVATING LEADERSHIP By CARMEN R. SAMORA B.F.A., Clay and Fiber Studio Art, Saint Mary’s College, 1973 M.F.A., Textile and Clay Studio Art, University of Notre Dame, 1982 M.A., Secondary Education with Licensure, University of New Mexico, 2006 Doctor of Philosophy, American Studies, University of New Mexico, 2011 ABSTRACT Los Tres Grandes, Ernesto Galarza, Herman Gallegos, and Julian Samora, fused intellectual constructs and grassroots strategies to reverse the societal dynamics they understood had marginalized Mexican Americans at both governmental and social levels. In 1968, the three scholar/activists launched the Southwest Council of La Raza (SWCLR), which four years later became the National Council of La Raza. My dissertation explores the relationship of these three men, a nexus of history and personality that launched what became the largest civil rights organization for Latinos in the United States. At a time when foundations earmarked minority support primarily for African Americans, Los Tres brought philanthropic attention (through the Ford Foundation) to Mexican American concerns. This was a groundbreaking achievement. Their relationship vii honored their cultural teachings as they engaged the elite world of philanthropy. They established a paradigm for Mexican Americans within the dominant culture without compromising their culture and ethnic capital. The three leaders created an organization that focused on the development of leaders and on empowering communities to overcome political and economic marginalization. How Galarza, Gallegos, and Samora used scholarship as a pivotal ingredient of social and political change has been all but lost to history. I investigate the particular strengths each man brought to this dynamic political action. The story of their productive relationship is one that needs to be brought to light for a new generation to explore and celebrate. Their story demonstrates the importance of leadership development, which is an overarching theme of this study. To tell their story, this dissertation mines the archives of the three men and uses information from the oral histories of key associates. This primary data is useful in understanding how Los Tres supported one another and created a context within which to work. They created unnamed theoretical models that echoed how they lived and how they worked. Honoring the validity of their own standpoint, their own stories, their own culture, they set the table for future scholarship that employs these groundbreaking ideas. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: Making History......................................................................... 1 Author’s Personal Perspective ..........................................................................6 Research Methodology ...................................................................................11 Chapter Overview ...........................................................................................15 A Note About Terminology ..............................................................................18 Chapter One: Historical Background .........................................................23 Making Mexican Americans ..................................................................................... 28 Models of Identity ...................................................................................................... 30 Methodology/Critical Approaches/Theoretical Frameworks ............................... 37 Chicana Feminist Epistemologies and Methodologies ................................... 38 American Cultural Studies ................................................................................... 46 Folklore ................................................................................................................... 49 -Rituals and Traditions in Folklore ...................................................................... 51 -Telling Our Stories for Group Belonging .......................................................... 54 Chapter Two: From the Barrio to the Boardroom-Herman Gallegos .......59 Early Years ......................................................................................................59 An Education from the Community Service Organization ...............................71 Professional Life .............................................................................................81 Into the Boardroom ........................................................................................