In this 1967 photo, New Mexico National Guard tanks and troops search northern New Mexico for Reies Lopez Tijerina. New Mexico is marking the 50th anniversary of a violent courthouse raid by Mexican-American activists that generated national attention and helped spark the Chicano Movement. The raid was connected to age-old Spanish land grant disputes and catapulted Texas-born activist Tijerina into the spotlight as a radical Chicano leader. (Ray Cary/The Albuquerque Journal via AP) 
In this 1967 photo, armed guards along with New Mexico State Police guard the Santa Fe County Courthouse before the appearance of Reies Lopez Tijerina in Santa Fe, N.M. New Mexico is marking the 50th anniversary of a violent courthouse raid by Mexican-American activists that generated national attention and helped spark the Chicano Movement. The raid was connected to age-old Spanish land grant disputes and catapulted Texas-born activist Tijerina into the spotlight as a radical Chicano leader. (Ray Cary/The Albuquerque Journal via AP) 
In this June 1967 photo, Reies Lopez Tijerina, right, is led into court by Arthur F. Garcia Santa Fe county under-sheriff in Santa Fe, N.M. New Mexico is marking the 50th anniversary of a violent courthouse raid by Mexican-American activists that generated national attention and helped spark the Chicano Movement. The raid was connected to age-old Spanish land grant disputes and catapulted Texas-born activist Tijerina into the spotlight as a radical Chicano leader. (Ray Cary/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. | New Mexico is marking the 50th anniversary of a violent courthouse raid by Mexican-American activists that generated national attention and helped spark the Chicano Movement.
Various events around the state are scheduled this week to commemorate the raid that is still hotly debated in the American Southwest.
The raid was connected to age-old Spanish land grant disputes and catapulted Texas-born activist Reies Lopez Tijerina into the national spotlight as a radical Chicano leader.
During the June 5, 1967, raid, the group shot and wounded a state police officer and jailer, beat a deputy, and took the sheriff and a reporter hostage before escaping to the Kit Carson National Forest.
The armed attack outraged some, but sparked excitement among Mexican-American college students of the Chicano Movement.