Conditions Governing Access
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Preferred Citation
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Processing Information
UCLA Catalog Record ID
History
Additional Historical Narrative
Scope and Content
Extended Scope and Content Note
Organization and Arrangement
Existence and Location of Copies
Related Material
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee records
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.0107
Physical Description:
5.5 Linear Feet
(11 boxes and 2 oversize boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1942-1945
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.
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.
Language of Material: Materials are in English and
Spanish.
Conditions Governing Access
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in
advance using the request button located on this page.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
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.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
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.
UCLA Catalog Record ID
History
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.
Additional Historical Narrative
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.
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.
Extended Scope and Content Note
Materials in the archive include the following categories:
- a) Committee publicity
- b) Publications
- c) Correspondence
- d) Office materials
- e) Petitions
- f) Materials concerning the defendants, including Guy Endore's article, from
Hoy (August to September 1944)
- g) Materials collected by the committee concerning the Mexican minority
- h) Miscellaneous materials collected by the committee
- i) Legal materials including a transcript of the appeal trial.
Organization and Arrangement
Arranged in the following series:
- Publicity.
- Publications.
- Correspondence.
- Office Materials and Records.
- Materials concerning defendants.
- Materials regarding minorities, especially Mexican minority problems in Los
Angeles.
- Miscellaneous materials concerning minorities, labor, etc.
- Photographic plates and newspaper mats.
- Transcript of trial.
- Legal documents.
- Scrapbooks.
- Miscellaneous items.
Boxes 1-12 of the collection have been copied onto 8 reels of microfilm.
Existence and Location of Copies
Related Material
The Education of Alice McGrath [oral history transcript] / Alice Greenfield
McGrath, interviewee. Center for Oral History Research interview, 1987. [Call number:
300/269]. Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library,
UCLA.
Alice Greenfield McGrath Papers (
Collection 1490
). Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, UCLA.
S. Guy Endore Papers (
Collection 279
). Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, UCLA.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Civil Rights--California--Los Angeles.
Los Angeles (Calif.)--Race relations.
Mexican-American youth--California--Los Angeles.
Sleepy Lagoon Trial, Los Angeles, Calif., 1942-1943.
McGrath, Alice, 1917-2009
Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee (Los Angeles, Calif.) --
Archives