“A Portrait of Community and Violence in South Texas, 1930-1975”
OUTLINE
1. Abstract
2. Introduction & Background
3. Context
4. Argument
5. Methodology
6. New Horizons in Early Texas
7. The Mexican American Struggle: Discrimination and Segregation
8. Forging the Way: Political Movements and Civil Rights
9. All For One and One For All: LULAC
10. Conclusion
1
ABSTRACT
My research project is titled “A Portrait of Community and Violence in South Texas, 19301975.” It seeks to answer the question: How did LULAC help South Texas Mexican American
communities bring about positive social, economic, and political change after decades of
segregation, discrimination and marginalization? The Portraiture Methodology of social science
research used in this qualitative research project seeks to bridge art and science in a way that
informs and inspires. Portraiture requires researchers to combine quantitative and qualitative
research methods by weaving interviews, observational site visits, library data, and personal
narrative. I interviewed a historian and a LULAC ex-officer, recorded two observational site
visits, researched library and web research materials and included my personal narrative. In
utilizing my personal history and that of my interviewees, this research project exposes primary
information not found in the historical record. The themes weave an intricate pattern as “New
Horizons in Early Texas” explains the economic, social and political climate in South Texas.
“The Mexican American Struggle” depicts incidences of discrimination and segregation against
Mexican Americans. “Forging the Way” highlights Mexican American civil rights groups, their
origins and involvement in forging change. Finally, “All For One and One For All” gives a
detailed historical account of LULACS birth and contributions to combat Mexican American
discrimination. In the United States, Mexican Americans suffering decades of segregation and
discrimination in every aspect of society found in LULAC and other civil rights organizations, a
way to combat the persecution and oppression they faced. I found that by utilizing the tools of
education, the United States court system, LULAC and other civil rights organizations helped
bring about a measure of positive change for Latinos.
2
Introduction and Background
My parents were both born in South Texas to a long line of devout Catholic families. All
9 of my siblings and I were born in Illinois. We relocated to the lower Rio Grande Valley of
South Texas in 1962 where I grew up during the 1960s and 1970s. I always wondered why my
grandparents were left behind in South Texas while both my parents’ siblings migrated to
Illinois. I wasn’t aware of the repressive South Texas community they fled as targets of
discrimination for their Catholic faith, their traditional Hispanic large family size, and for being
of Mexican descent. Ramos stated that the three things South Texas Anglos hated most about
Mexican Americans were their Catholic faith, their large family sizes, and their ethnicity. 1 This
idea never dawned on me as I grew up in South Texas. In Illinois, whenever my mother would
take us with her on public outings, people always stopped her and commented on “what a
blessing” she had in so many children. I grew up with a desire to have a large family like my
mother because I also wanted that blessing.
Context
There were no equitable jobs for uneducated minorities when my parent returned to
South Texas. My father only had a 4th grade education. My mother had a 3rd grade education.
Any acquired education there-after was self- taught. After a long search for work, my father, a
master mechanic for the Ford Motor Company in Illinois, was forced into the trucking industry.
While my mother took care of our family and my father’s parents, my father drove a truck
locally, carrying abundant “caliche” around the Rio Grande Valley to industrial building sites.
Later he would truck regionally and then nationally. As a consequence, our home went fatherless
as my father appeared periodically after prolonged absences from 1962 until adulthood.
1
Henry A.J Ramos, The American GI Forum: In Pursuit of the Dream 1948-1983 (Houston: Arte Publico Press,
1998), xix.
3
As a child growing up, I knew my family was poor because we had to migrate to the
Northern United States with my mother to work in the agricultural fields. Field labor allowed us
to pay our home mortgage, and have clothes and supplies for the school term. There was little
work and extremely low pay for Mexican Americans in the 1960’s.2 When we began traveling to
the Northern States as migrant laborers, I became aware of class differences and racial
discrimination against Mexican Americans by some of the Anglo community. Most of the people
I met as a child in states such as Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio in public institutions and
businesses were warm and welcoming, while many of the people in these same institutions in
South Texas were arrogant, unfriendly, and condescending. In the Northern States, we went to
desegregated schools with White children. In Edcouch, Texas, my siblings and I were forced to
go to the all Hispanic “Migrant School” in which children were tagged “Burros,” the Spanish
word for “donkey.” This implied that the students at this school were hard headed and ignorant
because we missed too much school. Other children sometimes taunted us as going to “la escuela
de los burros,” or the school for the ignorant. As migrants, we left to the northern states around
April or May for the early crops and did not return until late September or October after the late
harvests. LULAC officer Lico Reyes feels that people are all endued with tremendous learning
abilities, regardless of their ethnicity.
There’s no Anglo Saxon that is smarter than a Hispanic; or man better than woman. God
created minds exactly the same. We all have the same capabilities and capacities. But in
those times you’re talking about, many resources were wasted. We could have had an
“Abraham Lincoln” in the Hispanic community in the “Barrio.” We could have had an
“Einstein” in the Barrio. We didn’t cultivate that particular aspect.
2
Julian Nava, Mexican Americans: past, present, and future (New York: American Book Co.,
1969), 102.
4
Through my child eyes, attitude differences between the northern and southern states left an
indelible impression of how geographical locations presented differential treatment to individuals
based on status, economy, or race.3
Seized with a desire to know South Texas history and how it related to my life, I sought
out the historical written record through which I was able to begin piecing together my life
experience.
Through my research I investigated violence tactics perpetrated against Hispanics,
following the path of civil rights groups to investigate Hispanic lifestyle changes and what
perpetuated those changes. I found that historically, many Anglos from the Deep South actively
practiced racial discrimination, segregation, and marginalization in relation to Mexican
Americans throughout the United States in society, economics, and politics. Attitudes embedded
from “Jim Crow” traditions dominating people of color were automatically transferred to all
persons of color. Since the majority of the population in South Texas was White or Hispanic,
Hispanics became the colored people. These attitudes were prevalent in South Texas from 19301975.
The lack of Mexican American history in the textbooks, for me as a student growing up
in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, was a defining reason for investigating this work.
Historian Joe Willoughby agrees that “it’s really important for Mexican American children to
know their cultural histories.”4 It is my desire to bring awareness to the Mexican American
struggle and history. I believe that Mexican American children, adolescents, and adults should
have access to scholastic textbooks that uncovers history from the viewpoint of their ancestors.
My goal is to expand my historical contribution with interviews and personal narrative.
3
4
Lico Reyes Interview.
Joe Willoughby Interview.
5
Argument
My research investigation focuses on the League of United Latin American Citizens
(LULAC) organization. My research question is: How did LULAC help South Texas Hispanic
communities bring about positive social, economic, and political change after decades of
segregation, discrimination and marginalization? I found that as LULAC and other civil rights
organizations utilized the tools of education, the U.S. court system, and the political process,
their combined efforts were able to help bring about positive change for Latinos. In the United
States, Mexican Americans suffering decades of employment denial, school segregation policies,
little or no medical care options, and denial of public services, among many other things; finally
found representation for their causes and a voice through these organizations.
Before this project, my knowledge of LULACs structure and purpose was limited. I felt
alienated from the organization under the impression that membership catered to upper class,
conservative people, of which I was not a part. It was only through research that I realized the
importance of LULACs’ strategies in the years before 1964. LULACs inclusion of professionally
educated members with alliances within the borderland White and Mexican community was
necessary in order to push for change and acquire a voice in the South Texas Anglo community.
Methodology
The Portraiture methodology used in my research focuses on combining qualitative
research methods with a first person narrative style of writing. It is a research method bridging
art and science to inform and inspire. Through portraiture, I combined data obtained from two
interviews, two observational site visits, numerous library and web research materials and
personal narrative, interweaving all the information into one article.
6
I visited the Nettie Benson Latin American Collections Library located at the University
of Texas at Austin to obtain literary resources and historical archives not found in my locale. I
also visited Rio Grande City, Texas, known as the cradle of Texas history. It is located just one
mile from the Rio Grande River in the Texas borderlands.
I interviewed Joe Willoughby in early October of 2014. Mr. Willoughby is a historian,
book author, and professor of Texas History at Austin Community College in Austin, Texas. I
also interviewed Mr. Federico (Lico) Reyes, a Texas LULAC officer who lived in South Texas,
and who has served as a civil rights investigator for some time. After being unjustifiably
incarcerated, Mr. Reyes joined the civil rights cause through the LULAC organization. I
interviewed Mr. Reyes in late October, 2014.
I also used several library sources to aid in this narrative. Among those resources are
books by several authors. They include Julian Nava’s’ Mexican Americans: Past, Present, and
Future, Cynthia E. Orozco’s No Mexicans, Women, or Dogs Allowed -The Rise of the Mexican
American Civil Rights Movement, and Henry A.J. Ramos’ The American GI Forum: In Pursuit
of the Dream, 1948-1983.
New Horizons in Early Texas
A study in the American history of European colonization of America reveals that Anglo
Europeans brought beliefs, values, and lifestyles that were very different from those of the
Indigenous people who inhabited the Americas. Seeking to establish rule, the Europeans
forcefully subdued the natives, propagated among them, and changed their culture forever.5
Mexican Americans in the early 19th century derived from any combination of three distinct
racial groups through intermarriage: Spaniards, Indians and Negros.6
5
6
Nava, 48-49.
Ibid., 39.
7
In South Texas, Spanish colonizers crossing the Rio Grande River in northern Mexico
were awarded land grants by Spain that reached the Nueces River near San Antonio. At the time,
there were approximately 77,000 Mexicans living in the unconquered lands alongside the diverse
Indigenous populations. Mexicans had lived in this territory for 250 years before the Anglo
moved to the region.7 Mexican Americans were a “territorial minority” along with Native
Americans. They were an ethnic group enjoying stable viable communities before the European
arrival. Under the Treaty of Guadalupe signed on February 2, 1848 between the U.S. and
Mexico, Texas Mexicans were awarded full American citizenship and classified as “White.”
Many historians believe that Texas/Mexican wars specifically served to create negative attitudes
of hatred and vicious treatment against Hispanics by South Texas Anglo communities. Many
Southern Anglos already believed in racial superiority predicated on skin color. Southern Anglos
transferred their treatment of Black slaves to Hispanics. Racial superiority provided these groups
justification for discrimination against Hispanics.8 Consequently, the contempt against all
Mexican descent populations progressively increased. The U.S./Mexico border’s proximity
helped fuel that particular sentiment among Whites.9 Hispanics pursuing the American dreams
promise of freedom, democracy, justice, equality, opportunity, morality, and destiny were often
denied the right.10 Not until the 1964 Civil Rights Law would that dream begin to become a
reality. With the advent of WWII, increased industry, and the need for labor, Hispanics saw a ray
of hope, only to find they were often excluded from equal participation under the law. History
was forced to expose the path of the Hispanic dreamer.
7
LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS, LULAC: Past Presidents,
http://lulac.org/about/history/past_presidents (accessed October 28, 2014).
8
Robert J Rosenbaum, The History of Mexican Americans in Texas (Boston. American Press, 1980), 7.
9
Rosenbaum. 5.
10
Ramos. Vvi.
8
The Mexican American Struggle: Discrimination and Segregation
Mexican Americans, whether by citizenship before or after the Treaty of Guadalupe,
were all considered “Mexicans.” It was not until 1936 that LULAC was successful in changing
the census classification from Mexican to Mexican American.11 Many were rampantly called
“Meskins,” “Messcans,” or “greasers.” 12 Mexican Americans were neither White nor Black,
creating confusion as to their constitutional citizenship. Violence against Hispanics was not only
physical, but emotional, mental, and psychological. Oftentimes, Hispanics lost their legal rights,
social and economic advancement opportunities, and any discourse in public discussion and
debate simply because of their dark skin or Spanish surname.13 Mexican Americans had their
lands stolen, were stripped of political power, their culture disparaged, and their historical role in
history erased, were physically attacked and demoralized, and were isolated from the community
at large.14 Historian Joe Willoughby explains how the Hispanic heritage was stolen from
Mexican Americans in the early years and the reaction of the young Mexican American
community to forge change:
I have friends who have gone through this process: Say you’re a twenty, or thirty year
old Mexican American in the Rio Grande Valley and you’re educational level gets up
there; maybe post high school. You start to realize that the history of that area was
Spanish territory; that this was Mexican land. The people who created the ranching
traditions down there were the Hispanic people and culture. And it was the White Texans
who came in and took the land, some by violence. Mostly it was legal; going into the
courthouse and changing records. But generations began to realize that their legacy had
been stolen. Now they are demanding change; political change which means economic
and social change. As more Mexican Americans become more highly educated and more
fluent after 1965 when the Voting Rights Act and the Jim Crow Laws were eliminated a
year earlier, there are no legal restrictions anymore that the state can put on Mexican
American participation. You’ll see, all over the Southwest, just like you saw in the south
11
LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS, LULAC's Milestones,
http://lulac.org/about/history/milestones (accessed October 28,2014).
12
Cynthia E. Orozco, No Mexicans, Women, or Dogs Allowed -The Rise of the Mexican American Civil Rights
Movement (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2009), 27.
13
Ramos. ix
14
LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS, LULAC: Past Presidents,
http://lulac.org/about/history/past_presidents (accessed October 30, 2014).
9
with Blacks, tremendous numbers of Mexican Americans moving into the political
system. And I don’t mean governors; I mean City Council, school boards, mayors of
small towns and so forth. And so that is what kind of sets the stage that brings about the
change.15
Change began to take effect as a result of the confusion between Mexicans and Mexican
American citizens within the Anglo community. From 1930 to 1940, after the stock market
crashed, the country was in a depression. Mexican Aliens on U.S. Government relief rolls
became a burden. U.S. immigration officials could not distinguish Mexican American citizens
from Mexican citizens when it instituted the U.S. Repatriation Act to expel Mexicans to Mexico.
The tactics they used to round up the people were humiliating interrogations, raids, and roundups. In 1929 and 1930, about one hundred thousand persons were exported to Mexico. In 1931,
the U.S. Public Health Service squeezed over two thousand repatriates into makeshift corrals.
Without proper sanitation and starving, the people waited for deportation. Many Mexican
Americans who had never been to Mexico were caught in the throng and exported.
In contradiction to Repatriation, the U.S. made repeated treaties with Mexico to allow
thousands of Mexican farm workers to come to the U.S. due to so called labor shortages. During
WWII, it was called the “Bracero Program” under Public Law 58.16 Braceros and Mexican
persons entering Texas from Mexico were subject to bathing, chemical delousing, and
vaccination for typhus and syphilis. The United States Public Health Service (USPHS) was
responsible for this activity based on suspicions of disease contamination. It was a practice not
imposed on Americans going to Mexico.17 Mexican Americans, including LULAC and the G.I.
Forum were against the Bracero program because it took jobs away from Mexican Americans
who like my family, had to migrate to other states in search for work. During the Bracero
15
Joe Willoughby Interview
Nava, 89.
17
John McKiernan-Gonzales, Fevered Measures: Public Health and Race at the Texas Mexico Border, 18481942 (Duke University Press, 2012), 244-245.
16
10
Program, the League of United Latin American Citizens organization promoted the banning of
Braceros from Texas due to the exploitation of these populations. During the 1954 Repatriation
or “Operation Wetback”, LULAC supported the U.S. drive to deport undocumented workers.
Agricultural and industrial employers during America’s postwar years of rapid economic
expansion frequently used and exploited illegal Mexican immigrants. Mexican workers were
pushed to the U.S. by their personal economic hardships and pulled by Anglo business as a low
wage, non- striking workforce.18 Mexican Americans felt that the Bracero program hurt them
and other native workers as employers hired Braceros over American employees. Braceros
worked for lower wages, had few rights, and did not require health or retirement benefits from
their employers. Mexicans and Mexican Americans resented political and law enforcement
officials for unfair law practices.19 Unfairness by U.S. officials brought forth questions about a
government that invited cheap labor into the country and when it was no longer economically
beneficial, those populations were exported back. Many Hispanics have felt alienated from
Anglo society due to beliefs they are still not wanted but are used for the benefit of U.S
interests.20 Many Mexican Americans feel they are a people without a country; not of Mexican
citizenry, but not fully accepted in the U.S.
Mexicans were wanted and needed when they helped the U.S. free Texas from Mexico
during the Texas/Mexican war. After the war, some talented, educated and ambitious Hispanics
helped make Texas prosperous. Regardless of Hispanic educational, occupational, or historical
distinctions, Anglos often treated them with equal contempt as racial undesirables.21 Hispanics
were typically denied access to jobs, social centers, public establishments, and integrated living
18
Ramos, 58.
Nava, 90-91.
20
Rosenbaum, 21.
21
Rosenbaum, 4.
19
11
quarters due to Anglo restrictions. 22 Many Anglos disliked Hispanic customs, language and
religion.23 Such was the repulsion of Hispanics by South Texas Anglos that a Nueces County
Farmer stated, “I don’t believe in mixing. They are filthy and lousy . . . I have raised my two
children with the idea that they are above the doggone Mexican nationality and I believe a man
should.”24
Sometimes Hispanics were denied their lands because the courts refused to allow
Hispanics to testify on their own behalf, allowing Anglos to claim Hispanic lands. In 1957,
Hector Garcia with the G.I. Forum won the right for Hispanics to be judged by a jury of their
peers after 25 years of “White Only” juries in South Texas.25 Some resorted to violence
perpetrated personally or by the use of the Texas Rangers law enforcement officers, in order to
gain access to Hispanic property. Eventually, many Anglo Americans became owners of
Hispanic property and many Hispanics became tenant workers in their own land.26 The majority
of Hispanics were working class, poor, and Catholic. Local Anglo service establishments such as
restaurants, hotels, hospitals, neighborhoods, grocery stores, parks, swimming pools, beauty and
barber shops, were ordinarily off limits to Latinos.27
In addition to stripping Hispanics of their lands and denying them public services, federal
agencies tried to strip Hispanics of their culture. Agents claimed that government program
beneficiaries were for the culturally deprived. Federal agencies implied minorities were the cause
of America’s social problems, classifying them as second class citizens. In addition to this,
Hispanics were exposed to informal manifestations of racial threats, slurs, public signs, and
22
Nava, 78.
Ibid., 76.
24
Ramos, 49-50.
25
Cornell Law School ,HERNANDEZ v. STATE OF TEXAS,
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/347/475 (accessed November 20, 2014).
26
Ramos, 77.
27
Ibid., vvi.
23
12
social restrictions.28 These Anglo attitudes would be further exposed as U.S. Hispanic veterans
returned home from WWII to a country in the depths of the Great Depression.
Hispanics have served in every American war since the Europeans arrived in America.
Fighting valiantly for their country, numerous WWII Hispanic veterans returned to find that their
families had been inexcusably neglected during their absence. Veteran families were among the
highest in illness and disease related to poverty and discrimination. A 1930 South Texas study
showed Mexican Americans typically lived in a one or two-room frame shack with dirt floors
and outdoor toilets in depressed conditions. Homes were put together from lumber scraps,
discarded signboards, tar paper, and flattened oil cans. Children were forced to sleep on dirt
floors, wrapped in quilts. With no money or accommodations, clothing was stored in boxes.29
Poverty was not secluded to the Rio Grande Valley. Corpus Christi, Nueces County was
largely inhabited by Hispanics in 1948. During this time, 34 percent of homes were considered
substandard by the city and county health units. Tuberculosis was twice the state average;
dysentery was eight times more than other parts of the state, and pneumonia was 20 percent
higher than the state average.30
Housing and healthcare in South Texas were directly linked to education and
employment. From 1930-1960, Hispanics in South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley had
difficulty acquiring meaningful employment or schooling. Employment for Mexican Americans
in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas in 1950 was $1.25 per hundred pounds of product for
pickers, with many farmers paying as little as .35 to .75 cents. The national average was $2.45
per hundred pounds.31 Low wages kept families in poverty, without healthcare, and uneducated.
28
Ramos., 2.
Ibid., 8-9.
30
Ibid., 9.
31
Ibid., 69.
29
13
In addition, stepping out of the “status quo” had the potential to render a family in much worse
condition. Historian Henry Ramos explains:
The significance for Hispanics is that it entrenched them in a position of relative
powerlessness and compromise. Tolerating circumstances as they were meant, accepting
criminally low wages and punishing work conditions. Challenging these injustices,
however, meant risking the possibility of job loss, defaming accusations of subversiveness for any number of social, political, or economic reasons, persons of Mexican
ancestry could be unjustly but legally subjected to official action and intimidation; and
throughout the late 1940s and the 1950s, they were.32
Until 1960, another risk to job loss or intimidation was at the voting poll as Hispanics
were forced to the bottom of the political and socio-cultural order through discrimination and
violent force. The poll tax instituted in 1902 along with the all-White primaries of 1904
effectively disenfranchised Latinos. In 1949 and 1950, the American GI Forum began “poll tax”
drives, but it was not until 1956 that the first majority Mexican American electorate occurred in
the Rio Grande Valley.33 $1.75 per year was required for statewide, regional, and local elections.
The average pay for Hispanics was $19 per week. Many Hispanic were excluded because they
had no funds to pay the poll. Anglo employers were known to pay for their employee’s poll tax
and dictate who the employee should vote for.34 In addition, Anglos often altered the Mexican
electorate by manipulating voting qualifications and playing upon language differences, since
Hispanics were not allowed to learn English.35 Reports of South Texas ranchers locking ranch
gates on Election Day to prevent Mexican-American workers from voting were frequent.36
Economics and politics were not the only area of marginalization. Education in South
Texas was noted for its deplorable condition as early as the 1920s. Most Hispanics were migrant
32
Ramos, 71-72.
Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, “Our First Poll Tax Drive: The American G.I. Forum Fights Disenfranchisement of
Mexican Americans in Texas,” http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6582/ (accessed October 17,2014)
34
LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS, LULAC: Past Presidents.
35
Rosenbaum, 8.
36
Ramos, 24.
33
14
farmworkers earning poverty level wages. Education was geared to provide a constant supply of
a menial labor workforce to major state industries. Urbanites were educated with low skills to
provide domestic services and a manufacturing low wage labor force.37
Though Hispanics longed to advance their education in South Texas, the elements that
kept them from their objectives were systematic barriers, segregation, and racially disparate
school financing, outdated programs, dilapidated facilities and materials, and culturally and
linguistically biased performance evaluation measures.38 Ethnic segregation alone denied
Mexican Americans the educational opportunities given to Whites. 39 MALDEF (Mexican
American Legal Defense Education Fund) fought and won the Edgewood ISD v. State of Texas
case whereby the Texas Supreme Court unanimously charged that the state's system of public
finance of education was unconstitutional. This led to the South Texas Initiative which the
Border Region of Higher Education Council helped to pass and afterwards, monitored the
program's progress.40 Historian Henry Ramos gives us an example of the refusal of the Anglo
community to integrate Hispanics in education:
An Aguas Dulces superintendent explained that “Anglos would drop dead if you
mentioned mixing Mexicans with Whites. They would rather not have an education
themselves than associate with these dirty Mexicans.” “There would be a revolution in
the community if Mexicans wanted to come to white schools. Sentiment is bitterly
against it. It is based on racial inferiority.” Sentiments of this nature caused many
Hispanics to question their intellectual equality and whether to seek continuing
education.41
Studies showed segregation tactics were used by many school districts. Tactics were
used, such as gerrymandering or confining Hispanic children to a zone away from Anglo
37
Monica Perales and Raul A. Ramos, Recovering the Hispanic History of Texas( Houston: Arte Publico Press,
2010), 93.
38
Perales and Ramos, 50.
39
Ibid., 52.
40
Teresa Palomo Acosta, "Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund ," Handbook of Texas, (June
2010), http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/jom01 (accessed March 09, 2014).
41
Ramos, 49-50.
15
children. Freedom of choice plans allowed Anglo children the option to integrate into Hispanic
schools but Hispanics were not allowed that choice.42
Whether in employment, politics, or education, most South Texas Hispanics chose not to
submit to local Anglo dominance and instead protected their culture and traditions by withdrawal
tactics. 43 As Hispanics fought to survive, they learned to adopt Americanized tools as aids,
developed tactics, and took stances to improve their situation under an Anglo dominated world.
The most proficient of those tools were the very ones denied to Mexican Americans by the
Anglo community: education and political power.44 LULAC member Lico Reyes was born in
Mexico but moved to El Paso Texas with his mother at a young age. Attending Catholic schools
and seminaries in El Paso, Chicago, Illinois, and Alexandria, Louisiana, Mr. Reyes studied to be
a Catholic Jesuit Priest. He shared his story about why he joined the LULAC civil rights
organization:
I started as a (LULAC) member in 1982 right after I got arrested by the Arlington Police
Department, taken to a jail where they took all my clothes off, including all my religious
items including my scapular. They wouldn’t tell me why they arrested me. “Why are you
arresting me?” I asked. They said, “We don’t have to tell you.” I said, “I need to talk to
my attorney.” They said, “You watch too many movies.” I said, “OK.” Then they took
me to the jail and they took all my clothes off and they said to go to the bathroom. I said,
“I don’t want to go to the bathroom.” They said, “You’re gonna go to the bathroom.”
And when I went there they said, “Don’t close the door.” I said, “Oh.” Then they closed
the door and when I came out, they let me call my attorney. They cleared my record and
gave me a letter of apology. That’s why I became a member of LULAC. LULAC was the
first to write a letter to the newspapers saying: “We need a little bit of sensitivity towards
Mexicans. I think there’s a justice, and we fight for those people’s (justice). (Speaking
tearfully) No money, only to help our people progress and to have their grievances heard
and resolved. You know, the Justice Department agent whom you will see said, “We
settled in court and we made you whole.” Guess what? (Speaking tearfully) I will never
be made whole from being naked in a jail in Arlington, Texas, ever! So I joined LULAC.
I formed a council that serves only civil rights cases.45
42
Ramos, 55.
Nava, 14.
44
Rosenbaum, 2.
45
Lico Reyes Interview
43
16
Many civil rights organization members applied for membership, as Mr. Reyes did, after
undergoing discrimination. Highly educated members made the most difference in the legal
process, as the emergent LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) organization
would soon understand.
Forging the Way: Political Movements and Civil Rights
In 1929, the League of United Latin American Citizens was formed in the South Texas
town of Corpus Christi. The formation of this civil rights organization prompted the formation of
other civil rights organizations. The American GI Forum was founded in 1948, the Political
Association of Spanish-Speaking Organizations in 1961, the Mexican American Political
Association in 1960, the United Farm Workers Union founded in 1962 and highlighted by Cesar
Chavez with the Delano Grape Strike of 1965 that also helped the South Texas Melon Strike and
1979 Onion Strike, the Mexican American Legal Defense Association in 1967, La Raza Unida in
1970 and the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project in 1974.46 These organizations
focused in creating political unity in order to effect political change. According to LULAC exofficer Lico Reyes, civil rights organizations served to open doors of justice for Hispanics:
There was a time when the Texas Rangers would go out in the country and they would
find Mexicans that look like me and Rudy. And they would scalp them and take their
scalp for bounty to their supervisors; now these are the Texas Rangers that we talk about
and respect all the time. So I’m beginning to learn that it’s better to be with us (LULAC)
than against us because we are a force to be reckoned with politically. But People like
Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King and Jose Angel Gutierrez; these people opened the
doors for justice and interbreeding into the political system.47
In search for justice, Mexican Americans from WWI to the mid 1950’s came to
understand that American legal procedures governed the system in which they lived and
struggled to survive. The LULAC and G.I. Forum organizations turned to the courts and
46
47
Ramos, 17-1.
Lico Reyes Interview
17
legislatures as their battleground to obtain equality and individual liberty for all Hispanics. A
common tactic used was encouraging Hispanics towards Americaness instead of Mexicaness.48
Great numbers of Hispanics still cling to their cultural roots while adhering to the rules of
American citizenship.
When Hispanic Veterans returned from WWII and continued to be classified as racially
inferior and denied their constitutional rights, they were propelled into action. South Texas
WWII veteran physician and military Captain Hector Garcia founded the G.I. Forum. The Forum
was created to address Hispanic veteran grievances and later expanded to other civil rights
issues. At the time of the Forum’s founding, Hispanics organizing civil rights groups such as
LULAC were being targeted as communists, with un-American behavior, and dissention.49 The
Forum was exempt due to an impeccable record of the highest honorable and patriotic service by
its veteran membership.50 The Forum also advocated for citizenship rights and opposed migrant
labor on the grounds that it was unfair competition for Mexican American citizens. They helped
integrate public schools against segregation practices. The GI Forum also addressed civil rights
issues and events on education, equal treatment under the law, voter registration drives,
publicity, and test cases in court and also functioned as a political pressure group.51 Ramos
delineates the Forums aims and objectives that began with Hispanic veteran advocacy to
advocating for Hispanics within the community at large on diverse issues:
The Forum’s basic aims and objectives were to aid needy and disabled veterans; develop
leadership by creating interest in the Spanish-speaking population to participate
intelligently and wholeheartedly in community, civic, and political affairs; advance
understanding between citizens of various national origins and religious beliefs to
develop a more enlightened citizenry and a greater America; preserve and advance the
48
Rosenbaum, 33.
LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS, LULAC: Past Presidents.
50
Rosenbaum, 23.
51
Ibid., 23-25.
49
18
basic principles of democracy, the religious and political freedoms of the individual, and
equal social and economic for all citizens; secure and protect for all veterans and their
families, regardless of race, color, or creed, the privileges vested in them by the
Constitution and laws of our country; combat juvenile delinquency through a Junior GI
Forum program which teaches respect for law and order, discipline, good sportsmanship,
and the value of team work; uphold and maintain loyalty to the Constitution and flag of
the United States; award scholarships to deserving students; preserve and defend the
United States of America from all enemies. 52
Many Hispanic WWII veterans returning home from service were among the most
decorated soldiers of that war. Their medals for bravery included an exceptional number of
Congressional Medals of Honor, the highest award than can be given for valor.53 Among the
Hispanic WWII veterans who have recieved the Medal of Honor were Lucian Adams, Pedro
Cano, Rudolph Davila, Joe Gandara, Marcario Garcia, Harold Gonsalves, David Gonzales,
Silvestre Herrera, Salvador Lara, Jose M. Lopez, Joe P. Martinez, Manuel Perez Jr., Manuel
Mendoza, Cleto Rodriguez, Alejandro Ruiz, Jose Valdez, Miguel A. Vera, Felix Conde Falcon,
Jesus Duran, Eduardo Gomez, Joe, Baldonado, Mike Pena, Jose Rodela, Candelario Garcia,
Leonard Alvarado, Juan Negron, Victor Espinoza, Santiago Erevia, Ardie Copas, Demensio
Rivera, and Ysmael Villegas. In the frozen Aleutian Islands of Alaska, Colorado citizen, Private
Joseph P. Martinez became the first Hispanic-American to receive the Medal of Honor during
World War II. His posthumous award was the first act for combat heroism on American soil
(other than the 15 at Pearl Harbor) since the Indian Campaigns.
In their capacity in court cases, the G.I. Forum represented the South Texas family of
WWII Veteran Felix Longoria. When the family of fallen Hispanic soldier Felix Longoria was
denied service in a South Texas funeral home, Dr. Hector Garcia and G.I. Forum leaders sprang
into action. Garcia sent letters to several high political figures that included Senator Lyndon B.
Johnson. The Hispanic community was enraged that Hispanics incorporated for war efforts,
52
53
Ramos, 6.
Nava, 110-111.
19
fought on the front lines of combat to the death, but were refused the dignity of a proper funeral
in their own country. Such was the fierce racial sentiment in South Texas communities that
Anglos feared the repercussions of their neighbors more than the desire for justice on behalf of
U.S. servicemen.54
Having seen firsthand what role racial prejudice played in South Texas and speaking on
behalf of fallen U.S. combat veteran Felix Longoria, President Lyndon B. Johnson stated, “I
deeply regret to learn that the prejudice of some individuals extends beyond this life. This
injustice and prejudice is deplorable. I am happy to have a part in seeing that this Texas hero is
laid to rest with the honor and dignity his service deserves.” Longoria was laid to rest at
Arlington National cemetery in Washington D.C. with LBJ and Lady Bird Johnson present on
February 16, 1949. Even when Hispanics gave their life for the country they loved, prejudiced
individuals did not fail to discriminate and marginalize these honored U.S. heroes.55 As the G.I.
Forum in conjunction with LULAC ventured into the legal system, more cases were fought in
U.S. courts. Sadly, many deserving veterans would have to wait decades before recognition for
their service was given.
An article published by Scott Wilson on a February 2014 Washington Post issue
headlined: “Obama to award Medal of Honor to 19 soldiers who were overlooked because of
their ethnicity.”56 The awards were handed out on March 18, 2014 by President Barak Obama.
Twenty four Medal of Honor awards were presented; all except five to Hispanic veterans.57 From
the White House, President Barak Obama had this to say:
Carl V. Allsup, "American G.I. Forum of Texas,” Handbook of Texas. (June 2010),
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/voa01 (accessed March 09, 2014).
55
Ramos, 12-13.
56
U. S. Army Center of Military History, “WWII Veteran Medal of Honor Recipients,”
http://www.history.army.mil/moh/wwII-a-f.html (accessed November 6, 2014).
57
Scott Wilson, “Obama to award medal of honor to 19 soldiers who were overlooked because of their ethnicity.”
Washington Post, February 2014, (accessed November 4, 2014).
54
20
This ceremony reminds us of one of the enduring qualities that make America great -that make us exceptional. No nation is perfect, but here in America we confront our
imperfections and face a sometimes painful past -- including the truth that some of these
soldiers fought, and died, for a country that did not always see them as equal. So with
each generation we keep on striving to live up to our ideals of freedom and equality, and
to recognize the dignity and patriotism of every person, no matter who they are, what
they look like, or how they pray. And that’s why, more than a decade ago, Congress
mandated a review to make sure that the heroism of our veterans wasn’t overlooked
because of prejudice or discrimination. It was painstaking work, made even harder
because sometimes our service members felt they needed to change their last names to fit
in. That tells a story about our past. But, ultimately, after years of review, these two
dozen soldiers -- among them Hispanic, African American and Jewish veterans -- were
identified as having earned the Medal of Honor.58
In a legal landmark civil rights case on an issue that had never been challenged before,
the G.I. Forum attorneys defended South Texan Pete Hernandez who was convicted of murder.
The case went all the way to the Supreme Court under Hernandez vs The State of Texas.59 The
Forum successfully argued that Hernandez suffered discrimination when he was convicted by an
all-White jury in a South Texas courthouse, who had been served at every level by White men
only, for the past twenty five years. Hernandez was not allowed a jury of his peers. The Forum
argued that Hernandez did not have a fair trial under the fourteenth amendment of the
constitution.60 The Forum won the case and helped forge change for civil rights.
The Forum in conjunction with LULAC came to the political front under the “Viva
Kennedy-Viva Johnson” campaign of 1960.This campaign paved the way for influential
appointments of Hispanics to government positions and agencies awarded by President Lyndon
Johnson. The Mexican American Political Action group (MAPA), the first explicitly political
statewide organization was born directly after President Kennedy’s election. In 1961 the name
was changed to the Political Association of Spanish Speaking Organizations (PASSO). Its
C-SPAN, Pres. Barak Obama, “Medal of Honor Ceremony,” March 2014
http://www.c-span.org/video/?318354-2/president-presents-medal-honor (accessed October 12, 2014).
59
Cornell Law School, HERNANDEZ v. STATE OF TEXAS.
60
Ramos, 73-74.
58
21
purpose was to unite Hispanic political sub-groups and organizations to emphasize Hispanic
candidates for office and lobby for Hispanic government appointees.61 This became an effective
tool during elections as more and more Hispanics in South Texas entered into and were elected
to politics. This success was evident during my site visit trip to South Texas. As I drove from
town to town, all the 2014 election candidate posters I visualized displayed Hispanic surnames.
In towns such as Edinburg, Raymondville, McAllen, Harlingen, Rio Grande City, Weslaco,
Mercedes, Pharr, San Juan, Alamo, Mission and other South Texas cities, the work and influence
of early civil rights organizations was evident. While the courts were instrumental in civil rights
victories, the legislatures also proved to be a battleground for justice on behalf of Hispanics
suffering exploitation, discrimination, and abuse.
In 1966, the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee, a union of the National Farm
Workers Association and the Filipino Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee was formed
in Texas. It initially intended to organize farmworkers during the violent and highly
discriminatory 1967 Rio Grande Valley Starr County Melon Strike and later, the 1979
Raymondville, Texas onion strike. The UFW goal was to raise the hourly wage to $1.25 by
boycotting businesses. The UFWU organization drew attention to the appalling living and
working conditions of farm-laborers. The UFWU pressured legislators into providing benefits for
agricultural workers they had never had before. As a consequence, agricultural workers were
awarded workers' compensation, minimum-wage increases, toilets and drinking water in the
fields. Furthermore, they obtained child-care programs, housing reconstruction programs, and
61
Rosenbaum, 26.
22
began their own organic farm cooperative.62 Small successes encouraged other civil rights
organizations to seek recourse in their own geographical areas.
In the 1930’s, violence was the common response to ambitious Hispanics in the political
realm, but in 1970, South Texas Hispanics Jose Angel Gutierrez and Mario Campean forged
ahead and formed La Raza Unida in Crystal City, Texas. Their goal was defending Hispanic
interests and protecting Hispanic civil rights. La Raza’s focus was to strengthen Hispanic
visibility in local, state, and national positions in order to bring economic, social and political
self determination to Hispanics in South Texas where little Hispanic representation was
available. By emphasizing bilingual education, women and worker rights, improved public
education funding, medical care, and solutions to urban problems, the organization served to
bring about political change during its era of activism.63 While some worked on discrimination,
health, housing, education, and politics, others committed to the political arena by way of the
voting system.64
William C. Velasquez, Jr. founded The Southwest Voter Registration Education Project
(SVREP) in 1974 “to ensure the voting rights of the people in the Southwest and thereby provide
them "meaningful political participation," a prerogative that they had largely been denied before
the mid-1960s.”65 It is the largest and oldest non-partisan Latino voter participation organization
in the U.S. SVREP has registered 2.6 Latino voters and trained 150,000 leaders. It encouraged
community volunteerism.66 This is particularly important in South Texas where volunteers
commonly register participants and campaign for candidates door to door. Volunteers also make
62
Teresa Palomo Acosta, "United Farm Workers Union," Handbook of Texas online, (June 2010),
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ocu02 (accessed November 27, 2014).
63
Rosenbaum, 30.
64
Teresa Palomo Acosta, "Raza Unida Party," Handbook of Texas Online, (June 2010),
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/war01. (accessed November 27, 2014).
65
Teresa Palomo Acosta, "Southwest Voter Registration Education Project,” Handbook of Texas (June 2010),
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/wcs01 (accessed November 27, 2014).
66
Teresa Palomo Acosta, "Southwest Voter Registration Education Project”.
23
themselves available on Election Day to drive voters to the polls. SVREP founder William C.
Velasquez, Jr. stated: "If Latinos have something to vote for, they will vote.” Each of the civil
rights organizations founded from 1929 to 1975 contributed to the Mexican American plight of
segregation, discrimination, and marginalization in different ways. The most visible, longest
lasting, and most progressive of them all was LULAC.
All For One and One For All: LULAC
LULAC was founded in 1929 from the combined organizations of “La Orden de los hijos
de America” and “The Order of the Knights of America” in Corpus Christi, Texas by middle
class professionals. They advocated for adult education to qualify for citizenship, integrated
public schools, civic participation, voting, and civic awareness of candidates sympathetic to
LULAC programs. At a time when the KKK was receiving wide support, Congress was
regulating immigration, and Nativism was rampant, it behooved LULAC to seek the most
successful membership, highlight patriotism, and good citizenship. Nativism is the concern of
enemy threat to the U.S. The three primary causes of Anglo concern were Catholics due to Papal
loyalty, political radicals undermining the government, and “inferior” races who might
contaminate the Anglo bloodlines. Hispanics were on suspicion on all three counts.67
At the time of LULACS founding in 1929, survival for Hispanics was a big
question. From 1865-1920, more lynching’s occurred among South Texas Hispanic communities
than in the Black communities. Assault, murder and lynching were widespread, yet no Anglo
jury convictions ever occurred. In one instance, a Hispanic fourteen year old died choking on a
tortilla because her peers were denied water from a “White Only” water faucet. “No Mexicans
Allowed” signs were commonplace. In Mexican American schools, there was not even a
pretense of equality. Hispanics were routinely turned away from voting polls and were
67
Rosenbaum, 19-20.
24
continually denied property in White neighborhoods. There were no Hispanics in managerial or
office positions or laws protecting Hispanic farm workers. Despite the widespread prejudice,
intimidation, repression and murder, the desire for change compelled some to organize in favor
of justice.68
Because Hispanics were on continual suspicion, LULAC demanded full commitment to
the United States Nation by its members. Though other organizations before were modeled on
Spanish as the primary language, LULAC was modeled after U.S. civic organizations like the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) founded in 1910.
LULAC believed in mixing with American society in every respect.69 Although the League’s
1929 constitution cited the English language as the official organization language, LULAC
promoted bilingual speech. Its emblem symbolizes defense and protection from racism.70
Though the organization believed in defending and protecting against injustices, they did not
believe in active street protests.
By the 60’s and 70’s, some LULAC members were still reluctant to protest for their
rights as other Hispanic organizations were actively engaging in. They felt they were too
educated and dignified to participate in public street protests and resorted instead, to the rules of
law.71 From 1929 when LULAC was founded to 1965 when the Civil Rights Act was passed,
organizations had to work within the political and legal working system of the time. LULAC was
forced to advance with care in their efforts to aid Mexican American civil rights. Historian Joe
Willoughby gives his perspective:
68
Rosenbaum, 19-20.
LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS, LULAC: Past Presidents.
70
Cynthia E. Orozco, "League of Latin American Citizens," Handbook of Texas (September 2014),
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/wel01 (accessed September 13, 2014).
71
Brian D. Behnken, Fighting Their Own Battles – Mexican Americans, African Americans, and the Struggle for
Civil Rights in Texas (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2011), 95.
69
25
From my 60’s friends’ perspective, they saw LULAC as not active enough; as
cooperating too much with the power structure. Now a lot of that had to do with the
reality of – if you don’t work with the power structure, the power structure will destroy
you. And I don’t mean just politically, I mean, they will kill you; and they did. In South
Texas, the Texas Rangers turned their head the other way and let (violent events or
deaths) it happen; which is one of the terrible parts of our state’s history. But that 60’s
group that sort of saw LULAC as not strong enough and aggressive enough; they gave
rise to the Chicano Movement which gave rise to La Raza Unida of which I was a
champion of. I was a member of The Raza in the early 70’s. We were saying the same
thing to the Democratic Party. “You’re too conservative; you’re too much a part of the
system- change!”72
LULAC knew of communist suspicions against Hispanics and were careful in conducting
their community organization and meetings. LULAC members were accused of subversive-ness,
communism, agitators, and rabble rousers. Anglos did not approve of Hispanics seeking a better
education or American rights. Consequently, LULAC officers were harassed, threatened, and
ostracized. A “Flying Squad” was formed to recruit members and form new councils across
Texas. Funding their own expenses, members spent every weekend away from their families
under burdensome conditions without food. They slept in cars, bathed in puddles, made
sandwiches to eat, and borrowed gas money. When a LULAC member was denied entry into the
town of Rosenberg, Texas, he dressed as a woman in order to enter the city and form a LULAC
council there. In another incident, “Flying Squad” members were denied hamburgers because
they were Hispanics and not Blacks. In Houston, a LULAC member was threatened with job loss
if he did not resign his LULAC membership. The member sued the supervisor, the company, and
the U.S. President and won his case.73
LULAC has served the Hispanic community for over one hundred years with an allvolunteer member force. LULAC serves Latinos in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Guam.
Membership is extended to all Latino citizens. In addition, LULAC helped found many
72
73
Joe Willoughby Interview.
LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS, LULAC: Past Presidents.
26
successful Hispanic civil rights organizations and programs including the American G.I. Forum,
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), SER-Jobs for Progress,
Inc. which is the largest Latino employment agency in the U.S., and helped build thousands of
low income housing units in the Southwest. The Little School of 400 became the Head Start
model. LULAC National Scholarship Fund (LNSF) has provided millions of dollars in
scholarship funds and provided educational counseling, tutoring and mentoring to the Hispanic
community.74 LULAC filed fifteen desegregation cases in Texas in conjunction with the
American G.I. Forum in the 1950’s.75 In addition, LULAC supported the first public housing in
the U.S.; fought for the reclassification in the 1940 Census from Mexican to Mexican American,
promoted bilingual education in Texas schools, worked with the Federal Employment Practices
Commission to employ Hispanics, opposed the 1950 Immigration Act, helped disintegrate the
Huntsville prison system, were involved in legal cases to allow Hispanics the right to jury duty,
supported the 1966 Texas Farmworkers march, endorsed the 1974 Equal Rights Amendment,
and represented the Jose Campos Torres police brutality case. LULAC women have additionally
expanded their energies to provide protective services to the poor, children and elderly. They
have also established the Junior LULAC youth chapter, and eyeglass services for children. Many
of the programs incorporated by LULAC and other Hispanic organizations came from the
generous coffers of The Ford Foundation.76
Conclusion
LULAC and other Hispanic organizations helped Hispanics cope with, overcome, and
bring about positive social change for the Mexican American community of South Texas after
decades of segregation, discrimination and marginalization through advocacy, community
74
LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS, LULAC: Past Presidents.
Orozco, "League of Latin American Citizens".
76
Orozco, "League of Latin American Citizens".
75
27
involvement, with great risk and duress. LULAC and other Hispanic organizations helped bring
about legal changes in favor of education, employment, societal norms, and better housing for
many Hispanics. The American dream became attainable to persons of Mexican descent as the
promises of freedom, democracy, justice, equality, opportunity, morality, and destiny became
more of a reality than ever before by 1975. Through the combined efforts of LULAC and other
civil rights organizations who utilized the tools of education, the U.S. court system, and the
political process, history shows that, as Cesar Chavez, UFW founder said: Si Se Puede! – Yes,
We Can!77
77
United Farm Workers Website, “History of “Si Se Puede,” (accessed October 17, 2014).
http://www.ufw.org/_board.php?mode=view&b_code=cc_his_research&b_no=5970
28
CITED WORKS
Behnken, Brian D. Fighting Their Own Battles – Mexican Americans, African Americans, and
the Struggle for Civil Rights in Texas. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina
Press, 2011.
Lawrence-Lightfoot, Sarah and Davis, Jessica Hoffman. The Art and Science of Portraiture.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997.
Nava, Julian. Mexican Americans: Past, Present, and Future. New York: American Book Co.,
1969.
McKiernan-Gonzales, John. Fevered Measures: Public Health and Race at the Texas Mexico
Border, 1848-1942. Durham: Duke University Press, 2012.
Perales, Monica and Ramos, Raul A. Recovering the Hispanic History of Texas. Houston: Arte
Publico Press, 2010.
Ramos, Henry A.J. The American GI Forum: In Pursuit of the Dream, 1948-1983. Houston: Arte
Publico Press, 1998.
Orozco, Cynthia E. No Mexicans, Women, or Dogs Allowed -The Rise of the Mexican American
Civil Rights Movement. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2009
Rosenbaum, Robert J. The History of Mexican Americans in Texas. Boston: American Press,
1980.
29
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Allsup, V. Carl. "American G.I. Forum," Handbook of Texas Online, (June 2010),
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/voa01 (accessed March 09, 2014).
Acosta, Teresa Palomo. "UNITED FARM WORKERS UNION," Handbook of Texas Online,
(June 2010), (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ocu02),
(accessed November 27, 2014).
Orozco, Cynthia E. "League of Latin American Citizens," Handbook of Texas Online,
(September 2014), http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/wel01
(accessed September 13, 2014).
Acosta, Teresa Palomo. "Raza Unida Party," Handbook of Texas Online, (June 2010),
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/war01. (accessed November 27, 2014).
Acosta, Teresa Palomo. "MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL
FUND," Handbook of Texas Online (June 15, 2010),
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/jom01 (accessed March 09, 2014).
Acosta, Teresa Palomo. "Southwest Voter Registration Education Project,” Handbook of Texas
Online. (June 2010), http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/wcs01.
(accessed November 27, 2014).
30
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31