Chicanos of La Raza: Latinos and Political Expression through Third Party Politics

Abstract

This project is an exploration of a political third party in the American southwest active in the 1970s called the Raza Unida Party. This party was formed by Chicanos (Mexican-Americans) and designed to address specific issues within the Chicano community at the local level. This investigation uses data from Census and other surveys to look at demographic data like housing, income, education rates, Hispanic population and more in certain areas where RUP was present and not present across time. This process will help determine whether there were significant differences between RUP counties and non-RUP counties and whether improvements were made across time where the party was prominent.