The Spanish-Americans of New Mexico: A Heritage of Pride

As the second edition of this book goes to press, in 1969, it seems appropriate to reconsider the conclusions drawn earlier in the light of the current situation. The earlier pages of this manuscript have been edited and updated in accordance with happenings over the two-year period since the manuscript was first completed. But an analysis of recent changes showed that more than this was necessary--that a new chapter had to be written embodying scriptive materials concerning major new trends, some of which were nonexistent or only beginning to bud at that time. And the rapidity with which activism has blossomed in New Mexico has been remarkable. A minority within the minority group of Hispanos has managed to make its voice heard in a variety of ways, and although some may fear the militancy of the new movements, others will welcome them as past-due harbingers of change.

Activism itself is not particularly new in New Mexico or anywhere else, if one means by this the attempts of some members of a depressed or underprivileged sector (or their sympathizers) to improve their status. Romano ( 1968) has emphasized this fact

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