The East LA student walkouts or blowouts was organized primarily by Mexican American students to demand better quality schools and education. The walkouts spread to various high schools including Jefferson and Venice High School. These youth recognized that they didn't have proper books, proper teaching, or an encouraging environment.  At Lincoln High students Vicky Castro and Paula Crisostomo and other student leaders were frustrated at this reality and approached their social studies teacher Sal Castro about their concerns. Castro encouraged the students to organize around the matter which led the students to unite with local college students and groups such as the United Mexican American Students (UMAS) and the Brown Berets. Together they developed thirty-six demands that they would bring to the Board of Education which included smaller class sizes, increases in Latinx teachers and administrators, bilingual education, better facilities, better textbooks and the inclusion of Mexican American history, and the firing of racist teachers. 

After their needs were not met by the Board of Education, the students planned the blowouts because the absence of thousands of students would impact the funding given to the school. From March 1, 1968 to March 8, 15,000 students walked out of Garfield, Roosevelt, Lincoln, Belmont, and Wilson High. The pressure put on by the walkouts forced the LA Board of Education to set a meeting where they agreed to give amnesty to all the students involved, but stated that the demands could not be met due to a lack of funding. 

On June 2, 1968, thirteen men were arrested for their involvement in the Blowouts, including teacher Sal Castro, UCLA Student and later established film director Moctezuma Esparza, brown berets founders David Sanchez and Carlos Montes as well as other members were arrested on a felony charge for disturbing the schools and became known as the LA 13.  This turned the focus of the walkouts to the release of the LA 13 which was supported by the Students of a Democratic Society (SDS), Black Nationalists, Cesar Chavez, and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. The focus on the LA 13 caused some organizations to fall apart. It also resulted in the release of the LA 13 and the reinstatement of Sal Castro as a teacher. The L.A. 13 put a male face to the organizers, even though women were key organizers in the walkouts. Although the focus shifted after the LA 13 and many of the demands were not met, change slowly began to happen in the district as the ripple of the Walkouts empowered the community and more Mexican American teachers and staff were hired.