Julian Samora

American sociologist, educator, and activist

• Born: March 1, 1920
• Birthplace: Pagosa Springs, Colorado
• Died: February 2, 1996
• Place of death: Albuquerque, New Mexico

A prominent Mexican American researcher, scholar, and activist, Samora overcame personal hardship and became one of the first Mexican American sociologists in the United States. His research made significant contributions on issues directly affecting the Latino population. His advocacy benefited many, and his research and scholarship continues through the Julian Samora Research Institute.

Early Life

Julian Samora (HOO-lee-ahn sah-MOR-ah) was born in the ranching town of Pagosa Springs, Colorado, on March 1, 1920. Despite pervasive prejudice and discrimination against Mexican Americans, he distinguished himself academically. In 1938, he earned the Frederick G. Bonfils Foundation scholarship, which allowed him to go to college. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Adams State Teacher’s College in Alamosa, Colorado, in 1942. He then worked as a school teacher from 1942 to 1943. In 1947, he received a master’s of science degree in sociology from Colorado State University at Fort Collins, Colorado. In 1953, he was the first Mexican American to earn a Ph.D. in sociology and anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis.

Immediately after his doctoral training, Samora taught at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, where he was an assistant professor of preventive medicine and public health from 1955 to 1957. During this time, he was also a visiting professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. From 1957 to 1959, he was an associate professor of sociology and anthropology at Michigan State University. He was a professor of sociology and anthropology at Notre Dame University from 1959 until his retirement in 1985.

Life’s Work

Samora’s doctoral dissertation was titled “Minority Leadership in a Bilingual Community.” He investigated perceptions and styles of leadership in a Mexican American community that operated within a European-American environment. During his academic career, he conducted research in medical sociology, immigration, border studies, rural poverty, and Chicano studies. His research had the consistent focus of elucidating the cultural, political, economic, and medical experiences of Mexicans and Mexican Americans. He researched the medical delivery systems of Mexican Americans during his academic tenure at Colorado State University. Samora was particularly interested in studying indigenous conceptions of health and disease as perceived by Mexican Americans. His writings in this area provide a comprehensive framework of information on disease prevention, causation, diagnosis, and treatment from the perspective of Mexican American folk healing.

Samora was a prolific author, and the following coauthored publications are widely known in the area of Chicano studies: Conceptions of Health and Disease Among Spanish-Americans, published in 1961 in the American Catholic Sociological Journal; La Raza: Forgotten Americans (1966); Mexican-Americans in the Southwest (1969); Los Mojados: The Wetback Story (1971); A History of the Mexican-American People (1977); and Gunpowder Justice: A Reassessment of the Texas Rangers (1979). He was a frequent reviewer of scholarly writings as a member of several editorial boards of prestigious journals, including Ethnicity: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the Study of Ethnic Relations, Migration Today, and the Latin American Research Review.?

In A History of the Mexican-American People, Samora and coauthor Patricia Vandel Simon emphasized the historical and cultural linkages between Mexican Americans and their ancestry in Latin America at a time when other historians often omitted this Latin American heritage. Los Mojados: The Weback Story is a study of illegal immigration from Mexico to the United States conducted by the United States-Mexico Border Studies Project at the University of Notre Dame and funded by the Ford Foundation. Considered a classic in Chicano studies based on its sociological methodology, the study surveyed undocumented Mexicans at several detention centers in the Southwest. One of Samora’s graduate students at Notre Dame University assumed the identity of an undocumented Mexican citizen in order to experience the pathos and hardship of these detainees. Gunpowder Justice: A Reassessment of the Texas Rangers, coauthored with Joe Bernal and Albert Peña, critically discusses the popular image of the Texas Rangers and analyses the reasons why the Texas Ranger is a popular figure and often a folk hero among many Anglos, while the Ranger is a dreaded symbol of oppression among a large number of Mexican Americans.

In addition to his scholarly pursuits, Samora was also an advocate for social justice. He was one of the founders of the National Council of La Raza, a civil rights organization dedicated to improving opportunities for Hispanic Americans. He played a crucial role in the founding of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. His activism was acknowledged by his receipt of multiple awards. He was the recipient of the La Raza Award in 1979 presented by the National Council of La Raza. In 1985, the White House recognized his contributions to the U.S. Latino population with the White House Hispanic Heritage Award. In 1990, the Mexican government presented him the prestigious national award of the Order of the Aztec Eagle in recognition of his scholarly contributions for a better understanding of Mexicans and Mexican Americans.

Samora died in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on February 2, 1996, at the age of seventy-five from medical complications related to progressive supranuclear palsy.

Significance

Samora’s research topics and findings made important scholarly breakthroughs and continue to have important implications, and his work increased the understanding of Chicanos and Mexicans. His nationally respected writings and scholarly reputation attracted a large group of Mexican American students to Notre Dame University, where he became a mentor for a new generation of future Chicano scholars, researchers, writers, and activists. Samora’s research and academic legacy continues through the Julian Samora Research Institute, which was established in 1989 at Michigan State University and conducts extensive research on Hispanic Americans.

He was also distinguished for this advocacy and involvement in the promotion of social justice.

Bibliography

Blea, Irene Isabel. Toward a Chicano Social Science. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1988. Provides an in-depth discussion of Chicano social science and the primary Chicano social scientists working with Samora.

López Pulido, Alberto, Barbara Driscoll de Alvarado, and Carmen Samora, eds. Moving Beyond Borders: Julian Samora and the Establishment of Latino Studies. Champaign: University of Illinois, 2009. Details the life of Samora, citing original sources. Researchers who knew him personally provide a comprehensive overview of his academic and activist career.

Samora, Julian. Julian Samora Papers, 1934-1989. Austin: University of Texas. A comprehensive scholarly and biographical collection of Samora’s correspondence, written works, and personal and biographical materials. The repository can be accessed at the Texas Archival Resources Online at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utlac/00117/lac-00117p1.html.