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Gloria Arellanes
Gloria Arellanes (March 4, 1946 – October 12, 2024) was a political activist known for her involvement with the Brown Berets during the Chicano Movement and has been influential in the development of Chicana feminism. As the first female Prime Minister of the Brown Berets, Arellanes worked to include the Chicana perspective in fighting for Mexican rights in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s.
Conflicts of covert "macho attitude" within the delegation of labor in the Brown Berets led Gloria Arellanes along with other female Brown Berets to leave the organization and create Las Adelitas de Aztlán. Similar to the Brown Berets, Las Adelitas de Aztlán strived to assist its community members in creating awareness for better bilingual education in Los Angeles as well as protesting against the Vietnam War. Arellanes was also a prominent figure in the National Chicano Moratorium Committee, leading Las Adelitas de Aztlán to participate in marches against the violence of the Vietnam War.
Arellanes was born in East Los Angeles, and a few years later her family moved to El Monte, California. Gloria's father, César Barron Arellanes, was a Mexican immigrant. Her mother was Aurora Arellanes. Gloria identified her mother as being of Indigenous Mexican descent from present-day Azusa. William (Bill) Cesar was Gloria's brother.
Gloria attended El Monte High School from 1960 to 1964, which is where her political consciousness began to develop. Her high school had a large mix of white and Chicano population. The Chicanos, although from different barrios, often stuck together and supported each other. Fights would break out in her high school constantly until a counselor named John Bartan held a Human Relations Club where white and Latino kids could work through their problems. Through this engagement and community-building, her identity as a Chicana began to grow. She identified many racist aspects of her high school, including discriminatory arrests made in school, teachers ignoring Chicano/a students when they raised their hands, and tracking Chicano/a students into vocational classes. After graduating high school, Gloria enrolled in East Los Angeles College but quit after one year. She went on to become involved in community work and got a full-time job with the Neighborhood Adult Participation Project, an anti-poverty program where she organized Black and Chicano communities and worked on voter registration.
In 1967, Arellanes and some of her friends visited La Piranya, a coffeehouse owned and operated by the Brown Berets. Arellanes met future Prime Minister of the Brown Berets, David Sánchez, and was encouraged by Sánchez to join the Berets at the coffeehouse. She began attending community meetings and events, and eventually decided to join. In 1968, Arellanes was named the Minister of Finance and Correspondence, the first female minister of the Brown Berets. Early in her career she represented the Brown Berets when they were awarded the Ghetto Freedom Award by the Greater Los Angeles Urban League in 1968.
The Brown Berets worked to raise their community by calling for improvement on education and employment, demanding more resources for the Chicano/a movement, and exposing police brutality against the Mexican-American people. The first important move the Brown Berets made was their involvement in the 1968 East L.A. blowouts, which Arellanes had been forced to sit out by her boss at the time. She was informed that her friend and companion Andrea Sánchez was arrested by Sergeant Arias of the Special Operation Conspiracy Force of LAPD under the assumption that he had arrested Arellanes.
Arellanes organized marches during her time with the Brown Berets in partnership with the East L.A. Blowouts, in opposition to policy brutality against Chicanos, and for El Barrio Free Clinic. In 1969, she arranged for the Brown Berets to use a tank for their float in the September 16 parade. She requested it without informing the clinic it would be used for Brown Berets because of the known sentiments against the Brown Berets. Arellanes was also in charge of fundraising for the Berets on a couple occasions. She organized a "Zoot Suit Party" where they made money selling beer to fund the Brown Berets' activities.
Arellanes, among many other women Berets, chiefly arranged and assembled the newsletter that went out for Mexicans and Chicanos to read, titled La Causa. However, limited resources and funds made the production and distribution of the paper difficult.
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Gloria Arellanes
Gloria Arellanes (March 4, 1946 – October 12, 2024) was a political activist known for her involvement with the Brown Berets during the Chicano Movement and has been influential in the development of Chicana feminism. As the first female Prime Minister of the Brown Berets, Arellanes worked to include the Chicana perspective in fighting for Mexican rights in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s.
Conflicts of covert "macho attitude" within the delegation of labor in the Brown Berets led Gloria Arellanes along with other female Brown Berets to leave the organization and create Las Adelitas de Aztlán. Similar to the Brown Berets, Las Adelitas de Aztlán strived to assist its community members in creating awareness for better bilingual education in Los Angeles as well as protesting against the Vietnam War. Arellanes was also a prominent figure in the National Chicano Moratorium Committee, leading Las Adelitas de Aztlán to participate in marches against the violence of the Vietnam War.
Arellanes was born in East Los Angeles, and a few years later her family moved to El Monte, California. Gloria's father, César Barron Arellanes, was a Mexican immigrant. Her mother was Aurora Arellanes. Gloria identified her mother as being of Indigenous Mexican descent from present-day Azusa. William (Bill) Cesar was Gloria's brother.
Gloria attended El Monte High School from 1960 to 1964, which is where her political consciousness began to develop. Her high school had a large mix of white and Chicano population. The Chicanos, although from different barrios, often stuck together and supported each other. Fights would break out in her high school constantly until a counselor named John Bartan held a Human Relations Club where white and Latino kids could work through their problems. Through this engagement and community-building, her identity as a Chicana began to grow. She identified many racist aspects of her high school, including discriminatory arrests made in school, teachers ignoring Chicano/a students when they raised their hands, and tracking Chicano/a students into vocational classes. After graduating high school, Gloria enrolled in East Los Angeles College but quit after one year. She went on to become involved in community work and got a full-time job with the Neighborhood Adult Participation Project, an anti-poverty program where she organized Black and Chicano communities and worked on voter registration.
In 1967, Arellanes and some of her friends visited La Piranya, a coffeehouse owned and operated by the Brown Berets. Arellanes met future Prime Minister of the Brown Berets, David Sánchez, and was encouraged by Sánchez to join the Berets at the coffeehouse. She began attending community meetings and events, and eventually decided to join. In 1968, Arellanes was named the Minister of Finance and Correspondence, the first female minister of the Brown Berets. Early in her career she represented the Brown Berets when they were awarded the Ghetto Freedom Award by the Greater Los Angeles Urban League in 1968.
The Brown Berets worked to raise their community by calling for improvement on education and employment, demanding more resources for the Chicano/a movement, and exposing police brutality against the Mexican-American people. The first important move the Brown Berets made was their involvement in the 1968 East L.A. blowouts, which Arellanes had been forced to sit out by her boss at the time. She was informed that her friend and companion Andrea Sánchez was arrested by Sergeant Arias of the Special Operation Conspiracy Force of LAPD under the assumption that he had arrested Arellanes.
Arellanes organized marches during her time with the Brown Berets in partnership with the East L.A. Blowouts, in opposition to policy brutality against Chicanos, and for El Barrio Free Clinic. In 1969, she arranged for the Brown Berets to use a tank for their float in the September 16 parade. She requested it without informing the clinic it would be used for Brown Berets because of the known sentiments against the Brown Berets. Arellanes was also in charge of fundraising for the Berets on a couple occasions. She organized a "Zoot Suit Party" where they made money selling beer to fund the Brown Berets' activities.
Arellanes, among many other women Berets, chiefly arranged and assembled the newsletter that went out for Mexicans and Chicanos to read, titled La Causa. However, limited resources and funds made the production and distribution of the paper difficult.