This week we're traveling back to 1940s LA with Zoot Suit! Join us to learn more about the zoot suit style, the history of the word "Chicano", the CIO's work on the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial, and the real fate of main character Henry Leyvas. *

*Note: Sofia would like to let readers know that she had a long day prior to recording this and was bitten by the "um" bug, so thank you for your understanding.

Sources:

Film Background: Siskel and Ebert Review, Zoot Suit: https://siskelebert.org/?p=7033 Center Theater Group, "How 'Zoot Suit' Changed Theater Forever." https://www.centertheatregroup.org/news-and-blogs/news/2017/january/how-zoot-suit-changed-theatre-forever/ Robert Ito, "Zoot Suit, a Pioneering Play, Comes Full Circle," New York Times, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/theater/zoot-suit-a-pioneering-chicano-play-comes-full-circle.html Zoot Suit, IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083365/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

Chicano:

Google Books Ngram, Chicano: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=chicano&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cchicano%3B%2Cc0#t1%3B%2Cchicano%3B%2Cc0 Jose Limon, "The Folk Performance of Chicano and the Cultural Limits of Political Ideology," Unpublished working paper, UCLA. Code Switch, "You Say Chicano, I Say. . ." Available at https://www.npr.org/transcripts/718703438

Henry Leyvas:

"Enrique "Henry" Reyes Leyvas (1923-1971)," American Experience, PBS. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/zoot-enrique-henry-reyes-leyvas/. "Sleepy Lagoon Trial: The Sleepy Lagoon Murder Trial of 12," Zoot Suit Discovery Guide. https://research.pomona.edu/zootsuit/en/trial/ . Sleepy Lagoon Trial Photos: https://digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog?f%5Bsubject_sim%5D%5B%5D=Sleepy+Lagoon+Trial%2C+Los+Angeles%2C+1942-1943&sort=title_alpha_numeric_ssort+asc

Zoot Suits:

Kathy Peiss, Zoot Suit: The Enigmatic Career of an Extreme Style, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011). https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt3fhn0m Stuart Cosgrove, "The Zoot-Suit and Style Warfare," History Workshop 18 (1984): 77-91. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4288588. Steve Chibnall, "Whistle and Zoot: The Changing Meaning of a Suit of Clothes," History Workshop 20 (1985): 56-81. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4288649. Ralph H. Turner and Samuel J. Surace, "Zoot-Suiters and Mexicans: Symbols in Crowd Behavior," American Journal of Sociology 62, no.1 (1956): 14-20. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2773799. Catherine S. Ramirez, "Crimes of Fashion: The Pachuca and Chicana Style Politics," Meridians 2, no.2 (2002): 1-35. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40338497. Catherine S. Ramirez, "Saying "Nothin": Pachucas and the Languages of Resistance," Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 27, no.3 (2006): 1-33. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4137381.

Alice McGrath:

PBS, American Experience, "Zoot Suit Riots": https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/zoot/#transcript Joan Trossman Bien, "Outlaw Activist: Alice McGrath Turns 90," Ventura County Reporter, available at https://web.archive.org/web/20080606170822/http://www.vcreporter.com/cms/story/detail/?id=4917&IssueNum=133 Carlos Larralde, "Josefina Fierro and the Sleepy Lagoon Crusade, 1942-1945," Southern California Quarterly 92, 2 (2010) V. Ruiz, "Una Mujer Sin Fronteras," Pacific Historical Review 73, 1 (2004) Kenneth C Burt, "The Power of a Mobilized Citizenry and Coalition Politics: The 1949 Election of Edward R. Roybal to the Los Angeles City Council," Southern California Quarterly 85, 4 (2003)