Date Created:
Place Created: New Mexico
Year Created: 1967
Historical Theme:
Description: The Tierra Amarilla Land Grant, a 524,215‑acre tract granted by Mexico in 1832, became the focus of a mid‑20th‑century Chicano land‑rights movement led by Reies López Tijerina. On June 5, 1967, Tijerina and about 20 followers of his Alianza Federal de Mercedes occupied the Río Arriba County Courthouse in Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico, to protest decades of land dispossession and to free arrested compatriots. The raid resulted in a brief armed confrontation, wounding two law‑enforcement officers, and culminated in a massive manhunt and the eventual arrest and prosecution of Tijerina and his supporters.
Categories of Documents:
New Mexico