Biography
Castro was a Mexican American educator and major figure in the 1968 East L.A. walkouts (“Chicano Blowouts”), encouraging students to organize for equal educational opportunity, culturally relevant curriculum, and an end to discriminatory school policies within Los Angeles. He became a recognized leader in the movement that pressured Los Angeles Unified School District and city officials to address long-standing inequalities.
Following the walkouts, he was arrested with other organizers on felony conspiracy-related charges and briefly lost his teaching position, becoming a rallying point for community mobilization demanding his reinstatement. The prosecutions against him and the broader group of organizers were ultimately dismissed, and he continued his work as an educator and activist associated with the wider Chicano movement, including links to organizations such as the Brown Berets.
The Berkeley Barb of June 7–13, 1968 names Sal Castro among seven arrested supporters of the East Los Angeles school walkouts and explicitly reports that bail bonds were paid and the prisoners released on Monday, June 3. Its June 2 dateline places the arrests two days earlier, whereas The Movement's July report gives June 1. The later release evidence corrects the unsupported June 2 endpoint without resolving that contemporary disagreement over the start.