Rodolfo Gonzales

Message to Aztlan: Selected Writings of Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales (Hispanic Civil Rights) Rodolfo Gonzales

One of the most famous leaders of the Chicano civil rights movement, Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales was a multifaceted and charismatic, bigger-than-life hero who inspired his followers not only by taking direct political action but also by making eloquent speeches, writing incisive essays, and creating the kind of socially engaged poetry and drama that could be communicated easily through the barrios of Aztlán, populated by Chicanos in the United States.

Gonzales is the author of I Am Joaquín, an epic poem of the Chicano movement that lives on in film, sound recording, and hundreds of anthologies. Gonzales and other Chicanos established the Crusade for Justice, a Denver-based civil rights organization, school, and community center, in 1966. The school, La Escuela Tlatelolco, lives on today some three decades after its founding.

In Message to Aztlán, Dr. Antonio Esquibel, Professor Emeritus of Metropolitan State College of Denver, has compiled the first collection of Gonzales' diverse writings: the original I Am Joaquín (1967), along with a new Spanish translation, seven major speeches (1968-78); two plays, The Revolutionist and A Cross for Malcovio (1966-67); various poems written during the 1970s and a selection of letters. Published as part of of Arte Público Press' Hispanic Civil Rights Series, these varied works demonstrate the evolution of Gonzales' thought on human and civil rights. Any examination of the Chicano movement is incomplete without this volume. More than 35 photographs accompany the text.