50 Years Later: A Look Into Lives of Students in East L.A.

On March 1, 1968, students at five high schools across East Los Angeles walked out of their classes to protest the school district’s treatment of Mexican-American students, pushing back against policies that included punishment for speaking Spanish.

These high schools — Garfield, Roosevelt, Lincoln, Belmont, and Wilson — all had the highest dropout rates in the district.

Angelica Ramos ’20 lives with this history every day. As a resident of East Los Angeles, Ramos attended James A. Garfield High School, where some of the walkouts occurred 50 years ago.

“The walkouts were an important part of my community and the empowerment of my community,” Ramos said. “They focused national attention on the Chicano movement and helped students push back against discrimination and lack of resources in their schools.”

After learning about the history of the Chicano movement, Ramos thought back to her high school years. “Some of these issues are still present today,” she said. “Some new issues have surfaced that weren’t happening 50 years ago. The Mexican-American experience in high school hasn’t really changed all that much—it’s just evolved.”

For her Emerson project, Ramos is taking a closer look into the lives of Mexican-American students in East L.A., 50 years after the walkouts. Through interviews with students from James A. Garfield High School and Roosevelt High School, she aims to document their experiences in order to learn more about how things have changed since 1968.

Her research will culminate in a research paper exploring the lives of Mexican-American students at these high schools today, including the resources and opportunities available on campus, how students view their own education, and the ways they prepare for life after high school. By the end of the summer, she plans to create a presentation outlining the progress the schools have made—and the inequalities that students still face.

After compiling her research, Ramos hopes to return to East L.A. and present the findings to her community. “Nobody can say: ‘That was 50 years ago, things have changed’ when they’re faced with real students experiencing real issues. I think a lot about our history has been forgotten. This project is about focusing from the ground up and reforming from within,” she said.

Above all, Ramos is grateful for the opportunity to be a voice for her community. “It’s not common for students to go to four-year universities where I’m from,” she said. “Much less out of state private colleges with a lot of money. Knowing that I have that educational privilege and I’m using that privilege to benefit my community is the most rewarding.”

Through her major in social justice education, Ramos hopes to work with at-risk youth in East L.A. “I never want to lose that personal touch,” she said. “When you work in policy, you start to focus too much on the bigger picture. You lose that emotional connection and it’s too easy to make a decision that affects thousands of students. I want to put myself in a position where I can have the power to change things — starting with the students themselves.”