The "MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán) Collection" was compiled by students who were members of the MEChA organization. Six of these students were appointed by UC President Hitch to an advisory committee on the operations of a newly established Center for Chicano Studies. Ernesto Perez was one such student and a number of these files were addressed to him. The materials are associated with the creation and inception of MEChA, through the JUNTA directiva.

The civil rights and student movements of the 1960's resulted in the birth of numerous activist and militant organizations. Within the Chicana/o Movement, groups such as the Brown Berets, La Junta and ALMA were organizing in communities and barrios, and by the late 1960's student groups such as MASA (Mexican American Student Association), UMAS (United Mexican American Students) and MASC (Mexican American Student Conference) in California and MAYO (Mexican American Youth Organization) in Texas were working to organize students, faculty and staff in colleges and universities.1) We are Chicanas and Chicanos of Aztlán reclaiming the land of our birth (Chicana/Chicano Nation); 2) Aztlan belongs to indigenous people, who are sovereign and not subject to a foreign culture; 3) We are a union of free pueblos forming a bronze Chicana/Chicano Nation; 4) Chicano nationalism, as the key to mobilization and organization, is the common denominator to bring consensus to the Chicana/Chicano Movement; 5) Cultural values strengthen our identity as La Familia de la Raza; 6) El Plan de Aztlán, as a basic plan of Chicana/Chicano liberation, sought the formation of an independent national political party that would represent the sentiments of the Chicana/Chicano community.

1.75 linear feet (4 boxes and 1 oversize box)

Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

The collection is open for research.