In 1958, Acuña began teaching at San Fernando Junior High. He then transferred toCleveland High School, where he taught social studies until 1965, when he received a tenured position atLos Angeles Pierce College. To support his doctoral studies at theUniversity of Southern California, he also taught adult high school. During this time, he was active with the Latin American Civic Association and theMexican American Political Association. In 1969, he became the founding chair ofCalifornia State University, Northridge's Chicano/a Studies department, where he also began teaching.
In 1989, Acuña was a founding member of the Labor/Community Strategy Center, a civil rights advocacy group. Two years later, he traveled toEl Salvador as a correspondent for theTexas Observer covering its presidential elections, seeking to understand "how accurate were the interpretations of historians of the past."[4]
In 1990, Acuña sought a senior professorship in the Chicano Studies Department at theUniversity of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Although the department had invited him to apply and he was the sole recommended candidate, a faculty review committee rejected his application. In 1992, Acuña sued UCSB for discrimination. The race discrimination cause of action was dropped by the judge, and the political cause of action had previously been dropped because it missed thestatute of limitations filing. A jury found that Acuña had been discriminated against based on his age, but Federal JudgeAudrey Collins refused to compel the university to hire him. Instead, she awarded him a monetary compensation of $325,000, which Acuña stated he and his wife would use to assist victims of employment discrimination in higher education. The For Chicana Chicano Studies Foundation gives an average of $7,500 annually in scholarships.[5]
1980Occupied America: A History of Chicanos. 2nd Edition. New York: Harper & Row. pp. 437.
1981El Caudillo Sonorense: Ignacio Pesqueira y sus tiempos. Mexico D.F.: ERA. pp. 191.
1984Community Under Siege: A Chronicle of Chicanos East of the Los Angeles River, 1945-1975. UCLA. pp. 560.ISBN0-89551-066-9.
1988 Sound Recording:Occupied America a history of Chicanos. Publication: Salt Lake City, Utah : Utah State Library Division for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Cassette tape.
1988Occupied America: A History of Chicano. 3d Edition. New York: Harper and Row. pp. 475. Recipient of the Gustavus Myers Award for an Outstanding Book on Race Relations in North America.
1996Anything But Mexican: Chicanos in Contemporary Los Angeles. London: Verso Press, 1996. 320. Recipient of the Gustavus Myers Award for an Outstanding Book on Race Relations in North America.ISBN1-85984-936-9.
1997Truth and Objectivity and Chicano history. East Lansing: Julian Samora Research Institute, Michigan State University.ISBN0-8165-0370-2.
1998Sometimes There is No Other Side: Essays on Truth and Objectivity. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. pp. 291. Honorable Mention for Gustavus Myers Award for an Outstanding Book on Race Relations in North America.ISBN0-268-01763-8.
2000Occupied America: A History of Chicanos. 4th edition. New York: Addison, Wesley & Longman.
2004Occupied America: A History of Chicanos. 5th edition. New York: Longman.ISBN0-321-10330-0.
