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Artist
George Rodríguez, born 11 Aug 1937
Sitter
Sal Castro, 1933 - 2013
Date
1974
Type
Photograph
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Image: 29.3 × 19.5cm (11 9/16 × 7 11/16")
Sheet: 34.6 × 27.1cm (13 5/8 × 10 11/16")
Mat: 55.9 × 40.6cm (22 × 16")
Topic
Interior\Classroom
Costume\Jewelry\Watch
Artwork\Photograph
Symbols & Motifs\Flag
Artwork\Poster
Sal Castro: Male
Sal Castro: Education and Scholarship\Educator\Teacher
Sal Castro: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist
Portrait
Place
United States\California\Los Angeles\East Los Angeles
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; acquisition made possible through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center
Sal Castro began teaching social studies in Eastside Los Angeles in the early 1960s, when public schools reinforced the city’s social inequality. Not only did they exclude Mexican American students from college preparation courses, but they also steered them toward vocational careers and disregarded their disproportionate dropout rates.
In March 1968, Mexican American students walked out of five east L.A. schools, demanding bicultural and bilingual education and teachers, along with the end of vocational tracking. Soon, approximately 15,000 students from ten other schools joined in a multi-day protest that became known as the Chicano School Blowouts. For his role in instigating the blowouts, Castro was arrested on conspiracy charges. Eventually he was exonerated, reinstated to his position, and honored in 2010 when the school where he taught for forty-three years was renamed after him.
George Rodríguez chronicled the blowouts and many other manifestations of the 1960s and 1970s Chicano movement.
Nacido en Los Angeles, California
Sal Castro comenzó a enseñar estudios sociales en el este de Los Angeles a principios de la década de 1960, cuando las escuelas públicas de la ciudad promovían la desigualdad social. No solo excluían a los estudiantes mexicano-americanos de los cursos preparatorios para la universidad, sino que los dirigían hacia oficios vocacionales e ignoraban la enorme tasa de deserción escolar entre ellos.
En marzo de 1968, los estudiantes mexicano-americanos de cinco escuelas de la zona abandonaron los salones de clases para exigir que hubiera enseñanza y maestros biculturales y bilingües, y que no se les encasillara más en carreras vocacionales. Unos 15,000 estudiantes de otras diez escuelas pronto se les unieron en varios días de protestas que se conocieron como los Chicano School Blowouts. Por instigar las protestas, Castro fue arrestado y acusado de conspiración. Más tarde se le exoneró y no solo pudo reintegrarse a su empleo, sino que en 2010 la escuela donde trabajó cuarenta y tres años fue bautizada en su honor.
George Rodríguez documentó estas y muchas otras manifestaciones del movimiento chicano en las décadas de 1960 y 1970.
