An analysis of Utah's Chicano civil rights movement through S.O.C.I.O. and its involvement in affirmative action programs, 1964-1984

Utah's Chicano Civil Rights Movement developed under unique circumstances in comparison to the greater Chicano Civil Rights Movement in the Southwestern States. While Chicanos outside of Utah chose to march, boycott and have sit-ins, those in Utah worked alongside government officials in order to accomplish their goals. The reformist nature of the movement in Utah had a distinct and tame tone in comparison to the revolutionary attitude that classified all other Chicano movements in the Southwest. Through organizations such as the American G.I. Forum (AGIF) and Centro Cívico Mexicano (CCM) Latinos in Utah strived to create social equality and opportunity while working independently from each other. This divided effort proved fruitless in some aspects of the fight towards equality as they were never represented as a united front but rather as many separate entities. They eventually accomplished the aforementioned goals through an organization that unified and advanced the movement's goals called S.O.C.I.O. (The Spanish-Speaking Organization for Community, Integrity, and Opportunity). This grassroots movement created many diverse programs that served as an umbrella in its ability to organize and cover all of Utah's Latino population under one banner. This research will follow the evolution of S.O.C.I.O. from its inception as an independent movement until its co-optation and dissolution by the local government. Another integral part of this work will establish the fact that S.O.C.I.O. was a reformist movement in comparison to the greater Chicano Civil Rights Movement in the Southwest while trying to determine whether this type of interaction caused Utah's Chicano organization S.O.C.I.O. to be co-opted, and in part lose some of their goals as a trade-off for government approval and support. The primary purpose of this research is to analyze how factors such as religion, and the conservative nature of the state helped shape the way the movement would unfold in Utah. Working with primary documents donated to the University of Utah after S.O.C.I.O.'s termination, I will piece together a historiography of Utah's Chicano Civil Rights Movement and focus specifically on their attempts at implementing affirmative action in Utah.