José Vasconcelos

José Vasconcelos was a philosopher, writer and educator, one of the great intellectual figures of post-revolutionary Mexico and the author of “La raza cósmica”. In 1920 he became rector of the National University with the words “I do not come to work for the University, but to ask the University to work for the people”, and in 1921 he gave it its motto: “Por mi raza hablará el espíritu” (“The spirit shall speak for my race”).

He was the first Secretary of Public Education (the SEP was created in 1921): he led mass literacy and rural school campaigns and was a patron of Mexican muralism. Don’t confuse him with Justo Sierra, who founded the modern National University in 1910.