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
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