Jump to Content

Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Rosalio Muñoz papers, 1938-2012
2115  
View entire collection guide What's This?
Search this collection
Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Conditions Governing Access
  • Conditions Governing Use and Reproduction
  • Preferred Citation
  • UCLA Catalog Record ID
  • Provenance/Source of Acquisition
  • Processing Information
  • Biography/History
  • Scope and Content
  • Organization and Arrangement
  • Related Material

  • Title: Rosalio Muñoz papers
    Collection number: 2115
    Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections
    Language of Material: English
    Physical Description: 27.6 linear ft. (68 document boxes and 1 flat box)
    Date (bulk): Bulk, 1970-2012
    Date (inclusive): 1930-2012
    Abstract: Rosalío Muñoz is a Chicano journalist and activist who has been a longtime member of the Communist Party. As a student activist, Muñoz developed his leadership through serving as Student Class President of Franklin high school and later as UCLA’s first Chicano Student Body President. He is mostly remembered for spearheading the 1970 Chicano Moratorium Committee as Co-Chair. This collection covers his participation in the Communist Party, USA from the 1970s to present through materials such as self-authored People’s World articles, newsletters, notebooks, notes, and ephemera. The remaining collection historicizes various community organizing efforts from the 1960s-present such as Human Services Coalition, Justice for Janitors, and Latinos for Peace through photographs, correspondence, research materials, clippings, notes, and ephemera.
    Language of Materials: Materials are primarily in English, some materials in Spanish
    Physical Location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Stored off-site at SRLF. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
    Creator: Muñoz, Rosalio, 1946-

    Conditions Governing Access

    COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

    Conditions Governing Use and Reproduction

    Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Rosalio Muñoz Papers (Collection 2115). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

    UCLA Catalog Record ID

    UCLA Catalog Record ID: 7045847 

    Provenance/Source of Acquisition

    This collection was donated by Rosalío Muñoz in July 2012.

    Processing Information

    Processed by Guadalupe Escobar in 2014 in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Jillian Cuellar.
    Mold remediation was performed on Boxes 62 and 64.

    Biography/History

    Born in Los Angeles, CA, Rosalío Muñoz is a Highland Park native and descendant of an accomplished family of educators and Methodist ministers. His father, Dr. Rosalío F. Muñoz, was one of the first Mexican-Americans to receive a U.S. doctoral degree. Traveling to Mexico on a family trip catalyzed Rosalío Muñoz’s political awakening while he was still in his teens. When he returned to the states, Muñoz was elected Student Class President at Franklin High School. Later as an undergraduate student, Muñoz was elected the first Chicano Student Body President in 1968. He and his older brother, retired Judge Ricardo Muñoz, were among the first students from East LA to attend UCLA. Muñoz is chiefly remembered as the Co-Chair of the Chicano Moratorium Committee, an anti-war movement which played a pivotal role in shaping one of Chicana/o history’s defining moments. On August 29, 1970, nearly 30,000 marchers gathered in Laguna Park, located in East L.A., to protest the high death tolls of Mexican-American servicemen in Vietnam. Three demonstrators died that day and countless others were injured. LA Times columnist and activist Ruben Salazar was among the causalities. While this event had a tragic ending due to police abuse—which was a microcosm of the macro military abuse—that grave injustice spurred a giant political awakening in the U.S. Mexican-American community. During the previous year, 1969, Muñoz, in collaboration with Ramsés Noreiga, had begun to raise community consciousness by creating the crusade and twelve-minute documentary “Chale con el Draft (to Hell with the Draft)” that assisted Chicanos seek deferment or resist the Vietnam War draft. On Mexican Independence Day, September 16, 1970, Muñoz refused induction into the army and was indicted for draft refusal. In 1972, Muñoz was acquitted of draft evasion. In 1978, Muñoz ran for the exclusive five-member L.A. Board of Supervisors as a representative of the Third District. The Board of Supervisors governs the sprawling metropolis. Although Muñoz did not win, he did ultimately increase Chicano electoral representation in Los Angeles by the mere act of running during an exceedingly thorny time. Muñoz has been a long time committed member of the Communist Party of USA. He began writing for their newspaper, People’s World, in 1981. From the 1980s-1990s, Muñoz served as an educator in Marxist-Leninism for the Instituto del Pueblo, an East L.A.-based community action center. As a community organizer, Muñoz has made invaluable contributions to various causes, some of which include anti-war activism, electoral politics, healthcare, housing, immigration reform, and labor unionizing. He has served as the Coordinator for Latinos for Peace among other leadership roles. His recent organizing efforts include greatly influencing Latinas and Latinos to vote for Obama during the 2008 presidential election. He continues to educate the youth through activities such as conducting interviews with Young Theatreworks. He still makes guest appearances for public events such as the 40th Anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium at the Plaza Olvera Mexican American Institute in downtown Los Angeles.

    Scope and Content

    The collection documents Muñoz’s writing and activist career and encompasses the broader Latina/o community’s struggles orbiting around issues such as war, housing, healthcare, taxes, unemployment, police brutality, electoral politics, immigration, and labor unionizing. It does so through materials such as photographs, clippings, notes, ephemera, correspondence, research files and other such original artifacts.

    Organization and Arrangement

    The collection is arranged in two series, both of which have been further arranged in subseries. The collection has maintained, for the most part, the original order of subject matter but has been resorted chronologically per topic. Subject files appear alphabetically. The series and subseries arrangement of the collection is as follows:
    • Series 1: Communist Party, USA, 1938-2012
      • Subseries 1.1: Journalism and Communist Teachings, 1938-2008
      • Subseries 1.2: Notebooks and Notes, 1970-2012
      • Subseries 1.3: Activism, 1972-2011
    • Series 2: Subject Files, 1960-2012
      • Subseries 2.1: Anti-War Protest, 1960-2012
      • Subseries 2.2: Community Organizing, 1970-2010
      • Subseries 2.3: Electoral Politics, 1965-2010
      • Subseries 2.4: Immigration Reform, 1970-2012
      • Subseries 2.5: Labor Unions, 1930-2012
      • Subseries 2.6: Clippings and Notes, 1969-2012

    Related Material

    This collection complements Muñoz’s oral history series available at UCLA Library’s Center for Oral History Research.
    Related materials documenting the Muñoz family may be found at UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center: Ricardo F. Muñoz Collection (1900-2005), 64.  Chicano Studies Research Center, UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Muñoz, Rosalio, 1946-
    Muñoz, Rosalio, 1946- -- Archives