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Table of contents What's This?
  • 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

    UCLA Catalog Record ID: 9929769213606533 

    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:
    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.

    Organization and 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.

    Existence and Location of Copies

    Select digitzed images from this collection are available electronically via the UCLA Digital Library. 

    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