Rodolfo Gonzales
✓ Source-basedrisingMexican-American civil rights leader
Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales was a Mexican-American boxer, poet, political organizer, and activist. He was one of many leaders for the Crusade for Justice in Denver, Colorado.
Photos 6
Gonzales addresses 400 spectators at the Las Vegas Plaza Park, June 17, 1973
"Two of the most forceful personalities in the militant Mexican American movement lead a march to a La Raza Unida conference in El Paso. Beside a banner carrier is Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzalez, chairman, Crusade for Justice, Denver, Colo., and third from right, Reies Tijerina, president, Federal Alliance of Free City-States, Albuquerque, N.M. with his brother, Ramon, at his right arm, his wife, and another brother, Anselmo, on his left." Civil Rights Digest, Spring 1968
Three of the "Big Four" of the Chicano movement at the Raza Unida Party's 1972 convention: Reies Lopez Tijerina, New Mexico (second from left), Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales, Colorado (center), and José Ángel Gutiérrez, Texas (far right). Cesar Chavez, California, did not attend.
Gonzales c. 1968
Gonzales c. 1969Activists from United States 6
About this person
Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales was a Mexican-American boxer, poet, political organizer, and activist. He was one of many leaders for the Crusade for Justice in Denver, Colorado. The Crusade for Justice was an urban rights and Chicano cultural urban movement during the 1960s focusing on social, political, and economic justice for Chicanos. Gonzales convened the first-ever Chicano Youth Liberation Conference in 1968, which was poorly attended due to timing and weather conditions. He tried again in March 1969, and established what is commonly known as the First Chicano Youth Liberation Conference. This conference was attended by many future Chicano activists and artists. It also birthed the Plan Espiritual de Aztlán, a pro-indigenist manifesto advocating revolutionary Chicano nationalism and self-determination for all Chicanos. Through the Crusade for Justice, Gonzales organized the Mexican American people of Denver to fight for their cultural, political, and economic rights, leaving his mark on history. He was honored with a Google Doodle in continued celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States on October 1, 2021.
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