Planting the Seeds of Latino Diversity on the Farm

This is an Archive of a Past Event

If you were to leaf through the pages of Stanford Quad beginning in the 1890s through the mid-1960s, you would have to look very closely to find the faces of students of color pictured among the many thousands of their white classmates. Since its origins, Stanford—much to its credit—admitted Asian, Native, African American, and Latino students, but their numbers were infinitesimally small. The racial and ethnic diversity of Stanford's student body began to change, however, when the first small cohort of students of color were admitted in the late 1960s. During the 1970s and 1980s, the university's commitment to diversifying its student body helped foster the growth of vibrant communities of color on campus, forever changing the university’s student demographics, and the university in general.

Stanford historian Al Camarillo and journalist Frank Sotomayor (MA, Class of '67) will share personal stories about how one of these groups, Chicanas-os/Latinas-os, contributed to changing the campus culturally and academically.

Camarillo's presentation will draw on his recently published book, Compton in My Soul - A Life in Pursuit of Racial Equality (Stanford University Press), to recount stories of how a "Mexican kid" from Compton landed a faculty position at Stanford in 1975 and devoted decades to helping the university to become a more racially/ethnically inclusive institution. He will reflect on his 43-year career at the university from multiple perspectives – teacher/mentor, resident fellow in undergraduate dorms, associate dean for undergraduate studies, director of research centers, and special assistant to the provost for faculty diversity. 

Based on his book, The Dawning of Diversity – How Chicanos Helped Change Stanford University (West by Southwest Press, 2022), Sotomayor will blend historical fact with the experiences of Mexican Americans who entered the Farm in fall of 1969 or 1970. The university had launched the diversity initiative, which later became known as affirmative action, after pressure from both African Americans and Chicanos. Unlike most other Stanford students, the Chicanos were children of farm workers, janitors and factory workers. Many of them had never taken a college-prep course. One called it "diving into uncharted waters." Would they sink or swim? Over four years, the Chicanos underwent a gamut of emotions from culture shock to the joy of commencement. They felt satisfaction in helping to make Stanford a more welcoming university for people of color—and to make Stanford a better place for everyone.

 

About the Speakers

Camarillo headshot

Al Camarillo is the Leon Sloss Jr. Memorial Professor and Professor of American History, Emeritus. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the field of Mexican American history and Chicano studies (he is the first Mexican American in the nation’s history to receive a PhD in U.S. history with a specialization in Chicano history). He received his BA and PhD in history from UCLA. He has published and edited/co-edited eight books and dozens of articles on the history of Mexican Americans and other communities of color. He is the only faculty member in the history of Stanford to receive six of the highest awards for excellence in teaching and service to the university. 

Camarillo is the past president of the Organization of American Historians, the nation's largest membership association for historians of the United States, and former president of the American Historical Association-Pacific Coast Branch.
 

Sotomayor headshot

Frank O. Sotomayor was a Los Angeles Times editor for 35 years and co-editor and writer on the 1983 L.A. Times series "Latinos in Southern California." The 27-story series, considered a landmark in diversity storytelling, won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service. His online book, The Pulitzer Long Shot, chronicles the project’s backstory. While earning his master’s degree at Stanford in 1966–67, he and three other Chicano students pressed Admissions Dean Rixford Snyder for greater recruitment and admissions of Mexican Americans. After Sotomayor received his degree, other Chicanos continued their advocacy for a greater Latino presence at Stanford. In 2011, he was inducted into the Stanford Multicultural Alumni Hall of Fame. 

Sotomayor received his BA in journalism from the University of Arizona, and studied at Harvard on a Nieman Fellowship. He was born and raised in a Tucson barrio and has returned to live in his hometown.

This program is co-sponsored with the Stanford Historical Society.

Copies of the books, Compton in My Soul:A Life in Pursuit of Racial Equality and The Dawning of Diversity: How Chicanos Helped Change Stanford University, will be available for purchase at the event.