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In Mexico, theSpanish expressionla Raza[1] ('the people'[2] or 'the community';[3]literal translation: 'the race'[2]) has historically been used to refer to themixed-race populations (primarily though not always exclusively in theWestern Hemisphere),[4] considered as anethnic or racial unit[5] historically deriving from theSpanish Empire, and the process ofracial intermixing during theSpanish colonization of the Americas with theIndigenous populations of theAmericas.
The term was not widely used inLatin America in the early-to-mid-20th century but has been redefined and reclaimed inChicanismo and the United Farm Worker organization since 1968. It still remains in active use specifically in the context ofMexican-American identity politics in theUnited States (seeChicano).[6] This terminology for mixed-race originated as a reference to "La Raza Cosmica" by José Vasconcelos, although it is no longer used in this context or associated with "La Raza Cosmica" ideology by Mexican-American, Native rights movements and activists in the United States.
The termla raza was in use by 1858 in local California newspapers such asEl Clamor Publico bycalifornios writing aboutAmerica latina andlatinoamerica (Latin America), and identifying aslatinos as the abbreviated term for their membership in the newly named Latin America'sla raza.[7]
The shortened name ofDía de la Raza (now often, though not always, with a capitalizedR) was used in 1939, when the feast day was celebrated in Zaragoza in combination with a special devotion to theVirgen del Pilar (Our Lady of the Pillar). Chilean foreign vice-secretary Germán Vergara Donoso commented that the "profound significance of the celebration was the intimate inter-penetration of the homage to the Race and the devotion to Our Lady of the Pillar, i.e. the symbol of the ever more extensive union between America and Spain."[8]
Francisco Franco wrote a novel under thepen name "Jaime de Andrade" which was turned into the filmRaza of 1942.[9] It celebrates idealized "Spanish national qualities", and exemplifies this usage ofraza española as referring specifically to SpanishRoman Catholic heritage. TheMonumento a la Raza was inaugurated inMexico City in 1940.La Raza metro station in Mexico City was inaugurated in 1978.
The termChicano (feminineChicana) likewise arose in the early 20th century as a designation ofMexicans. In the 1960s to 1970s, the term became associated with theChicano Movement in relation to Mexican-Americanidentity politics activism.In the United States, the termsla Raza andChicano subsequently became closely associated.[10] Various Hispanic groups in the United States still use the term.[11] TheRaza Unida Party was active as a political party representing Mexican-American racial identity politics in the 1970s. The Hispanic advocacy organizationNational Council of La Raza was formed in 1968 (renamed toUnidosUS in 2017).
La Raza was the name of a Chicano community newspaper edited by Eliezer Risco in 1968. Risco was one of the "LA Thirteen", a group of young Mexican-American men who were political activists identified by the government as being leaders of a Brown Power movement inLos Angeles. Raul Ruiz joined the staff ofLa Raza while a student atCalifornia State University, Los Angeles. Other community newspapers of the time wereInside Eastside andChicano Student Movement. Ruiz, a key journalist in the movement, eventually became the editor ofLa Raza.[12] It became the most influential Chicano-movement publication in southern California. The publications filled a void: for the most part, there had heretofore been no media coverage of any type for the Brown Power movement and its activities. The movement's own print-media publications were really the only forum that the Brown Power movement had to keep party members informed about what was going on in the movement across the Los Angeles area. The lack of the mainstream media coverage contributed to silencing the movement and its activities, unlike with theBlack Power movement; the latter received much more coverage, which contributed to that movement's success in spreading their message and growing their movement.[13]
By the late 1850s,californios were writing in newspapers about their membership inAmérica latina (Latin America) andlatinoamerica, calling themselveslatinos as the shortened name for their hemispheric membership in ala raza latina (a Latin race). Reprinting an 1858 opinion piece by a correspondent in Havana on race relations in the Americas,El Clamor Publico of Los Angeles surmised that 'two rival races are competing with each other ... the Anglo Saxon and the Latin one.'
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