Dionicio Morales

Who was Dionicio Morales?

Dionicio Morales ‘’ Latino civil rights leader and social entrepreneur. ‘’ Mr. Morales was founder of the Mexican American Opportunity Foundation, the largest Hispanic nonprofit in the nation. He spent his life fighting segregation and prejudice in the United States. His abilities to work with corporate and political leaders opened the doors and jobs for thousands of Latinos in the U.S. His personal relationship with President Lyndon Johnson allowed MOAF to win significant civil rights victories for Latinos. His civil rights activism earned him recognition as “an urban Cesar Chavez” and social entrepreneur. He worked tirelessly inspiring several new generation of Mexican American business and political leaders as he pursued his vision of a U.S.A. where all Latinos have equal opportunities in education and the workplace.

Mr. Morales was the first of his parents’ 11 children who came of age during the Great Depression era in the then rural community of Moorpark, California. Mr. Moreles’ parents were Mexican immigrants who had settled in Southern California to work in the agricultural fields. Competition for work during the Great Depression worsened anti-Mexican sentiments and Los Angeles County set up a fund to finance their expulsion. Those who remained suffered numerous hardships including deplorable living conditions, lack of adequate health care, which contributed to widespread tuberculosis. Mr. Morales nearly died of the disease just as seven of his siblings did. In school, Mexican and Mexican American children were separated from Anglo students and prohibited from speaking in Spanish with the threat of corporal punishment. Mr. Morales’ autobiography, ‘’Dionicio Morales: A Life in Two Cultures’’, provides numerous insights into the subjection of the Mexican American community to the Jim Crow era segregation in the U.S. based on “race.” Mr. Morales refused to accept the “silent rules” of our society that supported discrimination and inequity. These injustices led him to dedicate his life’s work to bettering the plight of Mexican Americans.