Welcome to Phoenix, Arizona! The year was 1955. Elvis was on the radio, newspapers cost a quarter, women couldn’t open bank accounts without their husband’s permission, and Dwight D. Eisenhower was the President. My name is Rosa Capistrano, I was a high school senior in South Phoenix, and this was the time and place that my life changed forever.
Rogue Columnist: Phoenix in the fifties
I lived in South Phoenix, south of the Salt River. South Phoenix wouldn’t be annexed officially into the City of Phoenix until 1960, so at this time, it felt like a whole different world for a variety of reasons. This part of town was lush and rural, lots of farmlands and flower fields and citrus groves. It was also where many people of color lived, largely due to racially discriminatory housing codes that prohibited Black people, Chinese people and Mexicans like myself from living in the white neighborhoods in north and central Phoenix. I didn’t mind though. Golden Gate, my neighborhood in South Phoenix, was a beautiful and tight-knit community. Not many pictures remain today though. Golden Gate was razed through eminent domain for the expansion of Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport in the 1970s.
My story started when I made the decision to attend North Phoenix High School instead of the school opened on the south side to accommodate all the students of color in the wake of integration, Phoenix South Mountain. North was a much nicer school with more rigorous academics that were better suited to college. Since I was light-skinned, my parents and I decided I could pass as white in order to get a better education than the technical courses typically offered to students in South Phoenix. Brown v. Board of Education ruled in 1954 that schools couldn’t segregate students of different races–although Arizona never legally required separate learning facilities for high schools, though many school districts did so anyway. Even when the law said one thing, leaders and community members often acted in accordance with their prejudices–and the same thing happened as we integrated. I was technically allowed to go to school at North, but I didn’t think I’d be welcome, so I kept my true identity a secret for as long as I could.
North Phoenix High School – Hoofbeats Yearbook (Phoenix, AZ), Class of 1956, Page 167 of 242
Historic schools in metro Phoenix
When tragedy struck my two closest friends, I was forced to not only reveal my true background, but speak out on behalf of my community. I became involved with a group of community organizers, working to achieve equality and justice for Mexican Americans in Arizona. This group gathered at the Sacred Heart Church in Golden Gate. Though this church is no longer operational, it’s one of the last remnants of my neighborhood today.
Photos – Braun Sacred Heart Center
With this group, we worked on many different strategies to share our stories. One of those was a peaceful march to the Arizona State Capitol. This remains a place for civil disobedience and protest demonstrations today.
This chapter of my story came to a close as I was preparing to apply to college at Arizona State College–what is now Arizona State University. I had so many hopes as I stood on the steps of Old Main. I’d endured unimaginable hardship, but I still had hope for what the future would bring if I was brave enough to seek it.
Old Main: The heart of ASU | ASU News
ROSA BY ANY OTHER NAME by Hailey Alcaraz
Rosa Capistrano has been attending posh North Phoenix High School to boost her chances of a college education and a career in journalism, thanks to the groundbreaking Brown v. Board of Education verdict for desegregation. But though she’s legally allowed to be there, it’s still unsafe for Mexican Americans. That’s why she’s secretly passing as Rosie, a white girl. All she has to do to secure her future is make sure her Mexican home life and her white school experience never intersect.
However, Rosa’s two worlds collide when her best friend Ramon and classmate Julianne meet and find themselves entangled in a star-crossed romance. Rosa is terrified about what their relationship could mean for her and them . . . and her worst fears are soon realized in an unspeakable tragedy. Rosa is thrown into the center of a town-wide scandal and her true identity is put in the spotlight. With the help of Marco, Ramon’s brooding and volatile brother whose passion ignites hers, Rosa must choose what is more important to her—protecting her fragile future, or risking everything to help her friends find justice.
Rosa by Any Other Name is a harrowingly beautiful coming-of-age tale that shines a light on an important and often overlooked facet of US history. An extensive author’s note with research details and a further reading list are included.
Historical | Young Adult Historical [Penguin Young Readers Group, On Sale: August 5, 2025, Hardcover / e-Book , ISBN: 9780593525579 / eISBN: 9780593525593]
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About Hailey Alcaraz
Hailey began her writing career in the sixth grade as a kid reporter for Time for Kids magazine, and has been addicted to storytelling ever since. Born in California and raised in Arizona, she’s a Southwest girl through and through who loves stories about fellow multicultural girls finding their way in the world.She currently lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with her husband, two daughters and precocious German Shepherd.
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