Every semester in my teacher education classes, I ask my students to raise their hand if they have ever heard of Utah civil rights icon, community leader, activist and educator Archie Archuleta. In the last three years, only one student raised their hand.

To understand the educational experiences of our Hispanic and Latino students, it’s essential to learn about the Chicano Movement here in Utah. I learned this while completing my graduate education. I soon formed a passion to increase recruitment and retention of Latino students in teacher licensure programs. I became curious about the low number of Latino teachers in Utah compared to the increasing Latino population. (Currently, they make up 2.5% of educators compared to 17% of the state’s student body.)

In 2007, while working as a graduate assistant with the Chicano Scholarship Fund, I heard about the vibrant work of Chicano and Black leaders in the 1970s in Salt Lake City. The scholarship was created in 1973 by Ateneo, a Chicano faculty and staff organization, to address the low number of Chicano students attending the university.

That’s when I came across Robert “Archie” Archuleta’s name and learned he was still active in the local community. I met Archie for coffee to talk about my dissertation. He said, “You know, I am one of the first Chicano educators in Salt Lake City. Well, that’s what I tell people, and no one has told me it’s not true.”

Archie and his wife, Lois, moved to Poplar Grove in 1962. He was the son of Mexican migrant farmers from Idaho. He shared stories of living in Pocatello and receiving his bachelor’s degree in education from Idaho State University. He moved to Salt Lake City in 1953 to teach elementary school, which he did for over 30 years.

He also told me about the Spanish-speaking Organization for Community, Integrity, and Opportunity. From 1968 to 1986, SOCIO helped develop reforms to improve educational, economic, social and political circumstances for Utah’s Hispanic and Latino population. SOCIO worked with then-Gov. Cal Rampton to create a Chicano ombudsman office and helped start the Minority Advisory Board. SOCIO had six chapters throughout Utah, including here in Weber County.

In the book “Hispanics in the Mormon Zion,” Jorge Iber documents that in December 1971, Luis Medina, a member of SOCIO and professor of social work at the University of Utah, led parents in petitioning for increased recruitment of Chicano instructors, the hiring of Spanish-surname administrators, the creation of specialized career services programs and increased use of bicultural materials in the classroom. By 1974, the Granite, Tooele, Weber and Salt Lake school districts had hired Hispanic administrators. This launched the creation of initiatives and offices formed to address the discrimination that Latino, Black and Native American students were facing in education and the workforce, including de facto segregation in our communities.

In a 2001 episode of “RadioWest,” Archuleta said that understanding history is the key to building bridges. In a time where “diversity” means different things to different people, the history of why it ultimately matters seems to have been forgotten. Utah history textbooks in K-12 do not contain the contributions and profound impacts of Archie and other Chicano leaders like Utah Sen. Pete Suazo, and the first woman to serve in Utah’s Office of Hispanic Affairs, Delores Blair Silva Velasquez-Ortega. One textbook, “Utah: A Hispanic History,” was created by Vincent Mayer in 1974 but never adopted. In 2022, Senate Bill 244 established a committee to study the contributions of ethnic minorities in Utah and recommended incorporating them into K-12 core standards, including the history of Utah’s Hispanic and Latino leaders. However, this is moving slowly.

Archie passed away on Jan. 25, 2019. As we begin a new year certain to be filled with more conversations regarding diversity, I hope we’ll remember the work of Utah’s Hispanic and Latino leaders. I look forward to a time when children will learn more about people like Archie Archuleta, along with many other outstanding educators and leaders who have shaped our history and brightened our future.

Andrea Garavito Martinez is an assistant professor of teacher education in the Jerry & Vickie Moyes College of Education at Weber State University.

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