Rodolfo Acuña, Writer, Professor And Chicano Studies Pioneer, Dies At 93

Rodolfo “Rudy” Acuña lived his life pursuing a elemental credo: “If you cognize thing is wrong, you person a work (not an obligation) to do thing astir it.”

From thoroughfare protests to field debates, successful writings and speeches, nan boy of Mexican immigrants made a profession retired of fighting: for his students, against racism successful higher acquisition and nine and particularly to beforehand and sphere Chicano studies, a subject he helped to create and push to go much than conscionable an world major.

“My strategy,” he erstwhile told an interviewer, “has ever been to return my origin of nan infinitesimal to nan separator of nan cliff and beryllium prepared to spell complete nan cliff if necessary.”

Acuña died Monday of unspecified causes. His decease was announced successful a Facebook station by Cal State Northidge’s Department of Chicano and Chicana Studies, which Acuña helped found and wherever he taught for complete 4 decades.

“We are indebted to his galore contributions and will everlastingly transportation pinch america nan galore lessons learned,” wrote existent chair Gabriel Gutierrez. “¡Dr. Rodolfo Acuña, Presente!”

Laura Casas, a trustee of nan Foothill-De Anza Community College District successful Northern California, said that taking Acuña’s classes astatine CSUN awakened her politically. The professor, she said, “spoke pinch assurance and knowledge and inspired my procreation into activism and governmental awareness. ... He told america that we matter and that we count. That we make a quality and that we belong.”

Acuña was 93.

Frequently wearing sunglasses moreover indoors, Acuña trim an imposing fig during his classes and successful lectures and rallies crossed nan country. Crowds stayed enraptured arsenic nan profe cited hundreds of years of Mexican American history to decry nan powers that persecuted Latinos successful an impassioned, somewhat hoarse sound that ne'er mislaid successful powerfulness nary matter really agelong he spoke.

Cal State Fullerton Chicano studies professor Alexandro José Gradilla remembered inviting Acuña to speak connected his field successful 2011.

“As a newbie to Orange County, I thought Rudy would beryllium excessively overmuch for” nan area, Gradilla said. “Rudy knew better. He had nan expertise to pivot from holding a workfellow and younger clever clever accountable to moving nan attraction to organization racism successful higher ed caused by nan world leadership. And nan crowd of students, module and unit were fresh for him.”

Acuña contributed chapters successful dozens of anthologies and scholarly texts and wrote galore book reviews, respective children’s books, scholarly articles and sentiment pieces successful world journals, magazines, listservs and newspapers, including nan Los Angeles Times. His subjects ranged from L.A. authorities to issues successful higher education, U.S.-waged wars to Donald Trump to his agelong conflict pinch Parkinson’s disease.

Though fluent successful world lingo, his verse was approachable, written pinch students and nan nationalist successful mind and suggestive of personification who ever made judge to not enactment stuck successful nan proverbial ivory tower.

“I’m for illustration Doubting Thomas: I want to touch nan wounds,” he told an oral historian successful 2022. “I want to spot what they are.”

Among nan much than 22 books Acuña wrote connected Chicano and Mexican history, his 1972 tome, “Occupied America: A History of Chicanos,” which recounted nan history of Mexican Americans from nan indigenous empires conquered by nan Spaniards to nan coming day, would go a foundational matter for Chicano studies successful precocious schools and universities crossed nan country.

“The book created a knowledge guidelines that we didn’t have,” said Carlos G. Velez-Ibanez, an Arizona State University professor. Never retired of print, “Occupied America” is now it its ninth edition.

Chicano studies was much than conscionable a group of classes for Acuña — it was a accuracy that underscored nan taste pridefulness and taste consciousness spurred by nan Chicano activity of nan precocious 1960s and ’70s. Its purpose, he wrote, “was to liberate students done literacy.”

“An taste group incapable to specify its past is incapable to return pridefulness successful its accomplishments,” Acuña wrote successful his 1996 book, “Anything But Mexican: Chicanos successful Contemporary Los Angeles.” “History is much than conscionable an esoteric hunt for facts; it involves a surviving organization and its communal memory.”

His activity was often targeted by conservatives. In 2011, Acuña was 1 of galore authors who saw their useful lambasted by then-Arizona Atty. Gen. Tom Horne and others arsenic they campaigned to prohibition taste and Mexican American studies programs successful Tucson. At nan time, Horne accused nan professor of fostering “ethnic chauvinism.”

Years later, Donald Trump’s 2024 statesmanlike run rallies often displayed mug shots of undocumented immigrants accused of crimes beneath nan title “Occupied America.” But immoderate controversies shadowed him, Acuña ne'er backed down from what he wrote and said about, whether successful nan schoolroom aliases astatine protests.

“I’m proud of being a militant,” he told The Times successful 1993. “I’m proud of being a radical. I’m very proud of my age. ... I’m very proud of being a Mexican!”

Acuña was calved successful Boyle Heights successful 1932, and his upbringing successful South L.A. and East Hollywood helped found his beardown group personality arsenic a youth. In first grade, he was placed successful a slow learners’ group successful first people schoolhouse because he didn’t speak English. Another time, a main astatine a nationalist schoolhouse asked whether he and his sister, who was darker-skinned, had nan aforesaid father.

“Even though I was first-generation and calved successful nan U.S., we ever had that consciousness of being Mexican,” he told The Times successful 2016.

The early world served successful nan Army during nan Korean War and was besides stationed successful Germany, which he described successful his 2022 oral history arsenic “an atrocious batch of title riots.” He later enrolled successful what’s now Cal State L.A. nether nan G.I. Bill and earned his bachelor’s grade successful societal sciences earlier pursuing a master’s successful history from nan aforesaid schoolhouse earlier yet earning a doctorate astatine USC.

Acuña went into school “because it was nan fastest point that I could do.” He bounced astir schools successful nan San Fernando Valley — including a stint astatine a yeshiva wherever he was required to deterioration a yarmulke during people — earlier moving astatine what’s now Pierce College and Mount Saint Mary’s University, wherever he taught his first people connected Mexican American history astir 1965.

It didn’t return agelong for Acuña to spearhead an world gyration he knew was emerging.

In 1969, he became nan first professor successful CSUN’s Mexican American studies department, now called nan Chicano and Chicana Studies Department, which became an incubator for Latino activism successful L.A. and beyond. He mentored thousands of students and module members for decades, and often confronted administrators for what he believed was their deficiency of interest complete nan needs of number students and staffers.

Harry Gamboa Jr., a Chicano artist, writer and educator, recalled seeing Acuña beforehand adjacent acquisition and decry restrictions connected nan Chicana and Chicano studies section during a mid-1990s rally connected nan section of CSUN’s Oviatt Library.

“Here you person a Chicano studies professor speaking to 10,000 group of rather perchance each ethnicity and each represented connection successful Southern California coming earlier him and being moved by his words,” said Gamboa, who photographed Acuña successful his later years. “He ne'er wavered from speaking his mind, and erstwhile he did, group listened.”

Around that era, Acuña made nationalist news for suing UC Santa Barbara, wherever he had applied for a school position. In nan suit, Acuña accused nan field of discriminating against him because of his property and race. When nan professor’s occupation exertion was rejected, much than 500 students, galore from nan Mexican American student group MEChA, converged connected field to protestation nan university’s decision.

A jury recovered that Acuña had been discriminated against based connected his property and awarded him $326,000 successful 1996. In denying Acuña’s petition for a tenured position, nan judge based on that nan hostility betwixt Acuña and his imaginable co-workers would make his assignment “both impractical and inappropriate.”

That conflict inspired him to make nan movie “Barbara & We” astir his thoughts connected nan assemblage and its chancellor, Barbara S. Uehling, who he believed was incapable of helping Latinos. Uehling died successful 2020.

Acuña utilized nan judgement from his suit to money a instauration to thief group who knowledgeable employment favoritism successful higher education. He chose to enactment astatine Cal State Northridge for nan remainder of his career.

On societal media, dozens of group posted remembrances of their encounters pinch Acuña, relationships he prided himself successful maintaining complete nan decades.

“You go for illustration a grandfather and look astatine nan kids, and you return pridefulness successful them,” Acuña told a Cal State Northridge publication successful 2016. “Life has been bully to me, and I person to springiness back. That’s astir it.”

He is survived by his wife, Guadalupe Compean, and girl Angela.

Pineda is simply a erstwhile Times reporter.