The activist Chicano student organization MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlan) was founded in Santa Barbara, California, in 1969, and was active at high schools and colleges for 50 years. MEChA worked to promote Chicanx culture, advocated for Chicano Studies programs, faculty, and staff, and fought for social justice. In 2019, MEChA student leaders voted to drop the words "Chicano" and "Aztlán" from the organization's name over concern that the words were homeophobic, anti-indigenous, and anti-Black. Some groups changed the name of their chapters to Movimiento Estudiantil Progressive Action (MEPA).
This poster advertises a MEChA rally at Seattle Central Community College (SCCC) in May 1977. The rally was a response to the adminstration's failure to provide services to Latino and Chicano students, including the hiring of a Latino-Chicano counselor, after agreements were reached in November 1976 to fulfill that promise by January 3, 1977. The back of the poster describes the 1976 protests and the current demands of MEChA to improve education at SCCC for Latino-Chicano students.
Caption information source: "MEChA and Chicano Student Organizations 1967-2012" for the Mapping American Social Movements Project at the University of Washington, retrieved from https://depts.washington.edu/moves/MEChA_map.shtml Caption information source: "Student Group MEChA Holds Vote to Change Name, Prompting Strong Reactions" by Amanda Alcantara, April 3, 2019, retrieved from Latino USA website at https://www.latinousa.org/2019/04/03/mechanamechange/ Captin information source: "Chicanos stage Seattle Central demonstration," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 12, 1977, p. A3.
