In the Aztec religion, Aztlan is the mythical homeland of the Aztecs.
To Chicano activists in the 1960s, it was a name for the American Southwest.
In 1969, Chicano boxer, poet, and movement leader Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez made it the focus of El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan, the “Spiritual Plan of Aztlan.” This plan, supported by many Chicano organizations, called for creation of a separate Mexican American state in the Southwest.
Gonzalez founded the Crusade for Justice in Denver in 1969 and wrote the influential poem “I am Joaquin.”
