Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee records, 1942-1945

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Summary

Abstract:
The Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee (formerly the Citizen's Committee for the Defense of Mexican American Youth) formed in 1942 in reaction to the indictment of 22 young men for murder. 12 defendants were convicted of first degree murder. The Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee raised funds to appeal the case and roused public opinion through education and publicity programs. In 1944 the original judgment was overturned. The collection contains correspondence, publications, publicity materials, radio scripts, office records, a transcript of the Sleepy Lagoon trial, and research materials including articles about Mexicans and Mexican Americans in Los Angeles. Portions of the collection are in Spanish.
Extent:
5.5 linear feet (11 boxes and 2 oversize boxes)
Language:
Materials are in English and Spanish.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee Records (Collection 107). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection contains correspondence, publications, publicity materials, radio scripts, office records, petitions, and research materials of the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee. Research materials include articles about Mexicans and Mexican Americans in Los Angeles. Also includes an article from Guy Endore. A transcript of the Sleepy Lagoon trial is also in the collection.

Materials in the archive include the following categories:

  1. a) Committee publicity
  2. b) Publications
  3. c) Correspondence
  4. d) Office materials
  5. e) Petitions
  6. f) Materials concerning the defendants, including Guy Endore's article, from Hoy (August to September 1944)
  7. g) Materials collected by the committee concerning the Mexican minority
  8. h) Miscellaneous materials collected by the committee
  9. i) Legal materials including a transcript of the appeal trial.
Biographical / historical:

The Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee (first known as the Citizens' Committee for the Defense of Mexican American Youth) was organized in October 1942 in response to the indictment of 22 young men for murder; all defendants but one were Mexican American; 12 defendants were convicted of first degree murder by Superior Court of Los Angeles County; Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee raised funds for the appeal of the case and roused public opinion through education and publicity programs; judgments and decisions of the lower court were reversed by the District Court of Appeal of the state of California, 2nd Appellate District, October 4, 1944.

In August 1942, 22 defendants, all Mexican Americans but one, were indicted by the grand jury of Los Angeles county for the murder of José Diaz, whose death occurred at a party on the Williams ranch in the city of Los Angeles near a little pond called the Sleepy Lagoon. 12 were convicted of first degree murder by the Superior Court of Los Angeles County; the case was appealed to the District Court of Appeal of the state of California, 2nd Appellate District, where the judgments and decisions of the lower court were reversed (October 4, 1944).

The Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee (first known as the Citizens' Committee for the Defense of Mexican-American Youth) was organized around October 1942, and dissolved January 1, 1945. It raised funds for the appeal of the boys' case and roused public opinion to their cause through an educational and publicity program. The Archive was transferred to the Library by Alice Greenfield, Executive Secretary of the committee, 1945.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Alice Greenfield McGrath, 1945.
Processing information:

Processed by Manuscripts Division staff.

Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices

We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special Collections.

Arrangement:

Arranged in the following series:

  1. Publicity.
  2. Publications.
  3. Correspondence.
  4. Office Materials and Records.
  5. Materials concerning defendants.
  6. Materials regarding minorities, especially Mexican minority problems in Los Angeles.
  7. Miscellaneous materials concerning minorities, labor, etc.
  8. Photographic plates and newspaper mats.
  9. Transcript of trial.
  10. Legal documents.
  11. Scrapbooks.
  12. Miscellaneous items.

Boxes 1-12 of the collection have been copied onto 8 reels of microfilm.

Physical location:
Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other 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.

The donor of this collection has requested that patrons who refer to the material in it should be informed as follows:

Access to the material in the UCLA Library does not in any way grant rights for the use of the materials aside from scholarly purposes. It does not grant rights for the use of materials for book or article publication (except in recognized scholarly journals) or for stage performances, films for theatre or television or any other public or commercial presentation.

In order to use the material for stage, film, television or other public or commercial publication or presentation, in which real people are implied, even in dramatized form, there would have to be releases signed by the real people so implied, or their heirs... (Letter, Alice Greenfield McGrath to James V. Mink, August 15, 1978)

Materials in Boxes 1-12 are available on microfilm in the Department of Special Collections. Boxes 1-12 are not available for consultation due to fragile condition.

Collection may not be copied for publication except with the permission of Alice McGrath.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee Records (Collection 107). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
Website