As reported by the Los Angeles Times, Cruz found nine reels of 16-millimeter film from “Chicano I and II: The Mexican American Heritage Series,” the television show that first aired on KNBC-TV in Los Angeles in July 1971. The series, hosted by Cruz when he was in his early 30s, was also broadcast on sister stations in Chicago, New York, Cleveland, and Washington, D.C. Following this period of social and political activism, Sal Castro, one of the main leaders of the historic strikes, and Julian Nava, the first Mexican-American elected to the Los Angeles Board of Education, approached KNBC-TV in Los Angeles with the proposal. The “Chicano I and II” series is still going strong, and thanks to USC archivist Dino Everett nine of the 20 episodes are available to the public on USC’s Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive website. With information from the Los Angeles Times.

Source: Los Angeles Times November 10, 2021 14:27 UTC