[2] It was established on February 17, 1929, in Corpus Christi, Texas, largely by Hispanics returning from World War I who sought to end ethnic discrimination against Latinos in the United States.

The goal of LULAC is to advance the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, housing, health, and civil rights of Hispanic people in the United States.

With respect to organizational structure, the League of Latin American Citizens was similar to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

David G. Gutierrez said, "considering themselves part of a progressive and enlightened leadership elite, LULAC's leaders set out to implement general goals and a political strategy that were similar in form and content to those advocated early in the century by W.E.B.

[4]: 31  In 1936 the league "engaged in a series of lobbying activities as soon as it [the USCB] perceived that Mexican Americans would be categorized as part of a group of dark-skinned minorities.

During the 1930s, LULAC's activities included voter-registration and petition drives; attempts to repeal the poll tax imposed in several states, which reduced its members' ability to register; and litigation to improve the conditions of Mexican Americans.

[12]Although the United States had recruited Mexican workers during the first quarter century, the economic problems of the depression increased animosity against immigrants and minority groups as people competed for work.

As a result, the proportion of native-born Americans among the total ethnic Mexican population was higher than had been the case in previous decades, and many grew up in United States culture rather than among immigrant communities.

It asserted that Mexican Americans should disavow any allegiance to Mexico, remain permanently in the United States, and commit fully to democratic ideals.

LULAC's central means of achieving equal status with European Americans was dependent on promoting the image of Mexican residents as conforming to the cultural norms of the United States.

New immigrants from Mexico resisted the assimilation strategy, as they had stronger ties to their native culture, limited English proficiency, and were willing to work for low wages.

[3]: 134–6 After the war, LULAC was revived by the enthusiasm of returning veterans who sought to claim the civil liberties they believed they had earned by their loyal military service.

[4]: 115  The group continued to help the Mexican community with local activities such as Christmas toy drives, sponsoring Boy Scout troops, and campaigns against poll taxes.

In the Mendez case, Thurgood Marshall, then a lawyer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed an amicus brief in support of LULAC.

[18] As Marquez notes, "Relying strictly on the volunteer labor of LULAC attorneys and their staff, from 1950 to 1957, approximately fifteen suits or complaints were filed against school districts throughout the Southwest".

[2] Benjamin Marquez asserts, "Segregated schools, inferior equipment, and the lack of qualified teachers were seen as the primary obstacles to the full economic and social assimilation of the Mexican American".

[4]: 28  LULAC believed that the public-school system, with the aforementioned issues corrected, would serve as a central instrument in the assimilation process of children, and thereby the Mexican-American community as a whole.

[15] Despite national visibility, LULAC lost strength since the late-twentieth century, with declines in membership and operating funds because of competition from other Mexican-American groups.

[4]: 105  He writes, "While the league's public profile grew in the mid-1960s, and the group was involved in a wide range of political activities, these events occurred with decreasing mass participation".

Victory in a precedent-setting 1945 lawsuit challenging segregation of Mexican American students in Orange County, California, helped the organization grow.

[19] Roger Rocha (born c. 1971), a health-care analyst from Laredo, Texas, was elected as the 2015 LULAC president at the annual meeting held in Salt Lake City, Utah.