Synopses & Reviews
A dramatic response to American racism occurred in Los Angeles during 1855 when a brilliant eighteen-year-old Mexican-American, Francisco P. Ramirez, published a Spanish-language newspaper, El Clamor Público. Ramirez called upon a Mexican-American majority to rebel and seize power by electing themselves to public office. Ramirez was a radical liberal in a town controlled by white conservative Southerners with antebellum values. Nevertheless, from 1855 to 1859, he railed against slavery and ridiculed those in Los Angeles who supported it. His demands for Mexican equality, the abolition of slavery, free elections, and education for women were well ahead of his time. He was the first civil rights activist in Los Angeles. In December 1859 El Clamor Público bankrupted for lack of popular support. For three decades afterward Ramirez was involved in every major political and social movement of his day. He continued to militate for equality and civil rights as a San Francisco newspaper editor and the only Mexican-American lawyer in Los Angeles. His lifes work has been the subject of academic seminars and mandatory reading in university classes. Historians have long recognized the need for a complete biography of Ramirez. Dr. Abraham Hoffman, a noted scholar in the history of Los Angeles, has written, “Another person more mentioned than profiled was Francisco P. Ramirez, a figure who truly cries for more biographical information.”
Synopsis
A biography of the first civil rights activist in Los Angeles, a brilliant eighteen-year-old Mexican-American, Francisco P. Ramirez, published a Spanish-language newspaper, El Clamor Público, from 1855 to 1859.
Synopsis
A dramatic response to American racism occurred in Los Angeles during 1855 when eighteen-year-old Francisco P. Ram rez published a Spanish-language newspaper, El Clamor P blico. Ram rez called upon a Mexican American majority to seize control of their destiny by electing themselves to public office. Ram rez was a radical liberal in a town controlled by white conservative Southerners with antebellum values. Nevertheless, from 1855 to 1859, he railed against slavery and ridiculed those in Los Angeles who supported it. His demands for Mexican equality, the abolition of slavery, free elections, and education for women were well ahead of his time. He was the first civil rights activist in Los Angeles. In December 1859 El Clamor P blico bankrupted for lack of popular support. For three decades afterward Ram rez was involved in every major political and social movement of his day. He continued to champion equality and civil rights as a San Francisco newspaper editor and the only Mexican American lawyer in Los Angeles. Ram rez's dramatic entry into public life to his previously veiled years of exile, Gray's illuminating biography speaks volumes about the history of ethnic conflict, politics, and violence in Southern California. From Ram rez's dramatic entry into public life to his previously veiled years of exile, Gray's illuminating biography speaks volumes about the history of ethnic conflict, politics, and violence in Southern California.
About the Author
Paul Bryan Gray, a California lawyer and historian, was honored in 2001 with the Historical Society of Southern Californias Donald H. Pflueger Award for distinguished research and writing, in connection with Forster vs. Pico: The Struggle for the Rancho Santa Margarita.Gordon Morris Bakken teaches American history at California State University, Fullerton. He is the author of twenty books as well as numerous articles and law reviews, book chapters and encyclopedia entries, and book reviews.