FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEXICAN AMERICANS AND PUBLIC EDUCATION: AUTHOR VICKI L. RUIZ EXPLORES
HISTORY OF SCHOOL DESEGREGATION IN THE US SOUTHWEST AT
LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY IN LOS ANGELES FEB. 18

January 26, 2004 -- School desegregation in the US Southwest and the Mendez v. Westminister case will be discussed by author and expert Vicki L. Ruiz at Loyola Marymount University on February 18 at 12 p.m. in University Hall’s Ahmanson Auditorium. The lecture is open to the public free of charge.

As part of a ongoing speakers series by LMU’s American Cultures Studies Program, Ruiz will explore the topic “Big Dreams, Rural Schools: Mexican Americans and Public Education, 1870-1950.”

The purpose of the American Cultures Speaker Series is to provide an opportunity to expand on cultural and ethnic issues that affect all communities, and to promote a greater understanding of these issues.

Ruiz is the author of From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth Century America (Oxford, 1998), Cannery Women, Cannery Lives: Unionization, Mexican Women and the California Food Processing Industry, 1930-1950 (University of New Mexico Press, 1987), co-edited with Ellen DuBois, Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in U.S. Women’s History (Routledge, 1999). Ruiz also has written numerous articles on 20th century U.S. history specializing in Chicana/o studies, oral narratives, gender studies, labor, as well as California and the West. She is a professor of Chicano/Latino Studies and History at UC Irvine, and in 2003, was awarded the UCI Humanities Associates Faculty Teaching Award. She is the current president of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians, and served as president of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association (2002-2003).

For more information on the speaker’s series, please contact César López, assistant professor, American Cultures, at 310.338.1710.

About the American Cultures Program at Loyola Marymount University
American Cultures Studies at LMU seeks to enhance appreciation of the diverse cultural and ethnic groups that comprise the United States. This program challenges participants to explore diverse cultures and the perspectives of others – factors that are essential to the creation of a more understanding and just society.

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