Compton in my soul : a life in pursuit of racial equality
Publication Information
Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, [2024]
Physical Description
viii, 284 pages, 12 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm.
Summary
"When Al Camarillo grew up in Compton, California, racial segregation was the rule. His relatives were among the first Mexican immigrants to settle there--in the only neighborhood where Mexicans were allowed to live. The city's majority was then White, and Compton would shift to a predominantly Black community over Al's youth. Compton in My Soul weaves Al's personal story with histories of this now-infamous place and illuminates a changing US society--the progress and backslides over half a century for racial equality and educational opportunity. Entering UCLA in the mid 1960s, Camarillo was among the first students of color, and one of only forty-four Mexican Americans on a campus of thousands. He became the first Mexican American in the country to earn a PhD in Chicano/Mexican American history, and established himself as a preeminent US historian with a prestigious appointment at Stanford University. Through this memoir, his career offers a mirror for viewing the evolution of ethnic studies, and he reflects on intergenerational struggles to achieve racial equality through the eyes of an historian. Camarillo's story is a quintessential American chronicle and speaks to the best and worst of who we are as a people and as a nation. He unmasks fundamental contradictions in American life--racial injustice and interracial cooperation, inequality and equal opportunity, racial strife and racial harmony. Even as legacies of inequality still haunt American society, Camarillo writes with a message of hope for a better, more inclusive America--and the aspiration that his life's journey can inspire others as they start down their own path"--
Contents
- Part I. Rooted in Compton. My barrio playground
- El Norte, a new beginning
- Growing up, Chicano style
- Chasing California dreams
- Barrio boy's new neighborhood
- Changing Westside colors
- A different Westside story
- Eastside racial tensions
- Part II. Pursuing a social justice passion. Early UCLA days
- Awakening to social activism
- Authentic freedom
- A new lens on Compton
- Uncovering a hidden past
- Affirmative action baby
- Opening the higher ed door wider
- Building families
- Part III. Circling back to my origins. Challenges to equality
- Compton on my mind
- Detour to homecoming
- Our town, our kids
- Generations of change-makers.