Walking out : Mexican Americans, white allies, and segregation in Texas public schools, 1969-1973

This report examines the involvement of white allies in the Mexican American student protest movement in Texas during the late 1960s and early 1970s. I examine the career of Frances Tarlton “Sissy” Farenthold, former attorney, politician, educator, and civil rights activist. It is important to study the role of historical actors who originate outside of the Mexican American community in order to understand the full scope of the Mexican American civil rights movement during this period. Including figures like Farenthold in the historical narrative also demonstrates how Mexicano activism in Texas affected the larger world of the legislative process, from grass-roots organizing, civil rights litigation, and the state’s school finance system.

I focus on student walkouts in Houston, San Antonio, and Crystal City beginning in 1969. I am especially interested in determining the extent that Farenthold was involved in these events. The walkouts were a critical turning point in the Mexican American civil rights movement and brought Chicano activists to the forefront of Texas politics. The movement also involved non-Mexican activists. Their participation provides a new vantage point from which to understand and appreciate Mexican American social movement as a broad phenomenon that incorporated a diverse group of people.

I have consulted the Frances Tarlton Farenthold Papers and the Crystal City Collection at the Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin, including her personal correspondence, memoranda, and interviews. Much of my research, however, relied on newspapers. I also relied on important secondary works by historians like Guadalupe San Miguel Jr., Max Krochmal, and Mario T. Garcia. Their studies provide critical insight into the Mexicano education movement, the multiracial political alliance in Texas, and the larger Mexican American civil rights movement.

I discovered that figures like Frances Farenthold played minor roles in the Mexican American civil rights movement, but they influenced it. Her influence was largely limited to the politics surrounding the state’s school finance system. The story of the Mexican American education movement, however, could not be complete without acknowledging Farenthold’s influence.