1. Photograph of Dr. Hector P. Garcia
Roughly 500,000 Latinos (including perhaps 300,000 Mexican Americans) served in the US military during World War II. Like their African American counterparts, these veterans returned to a country that continued to deny them many of their Constitutional rights--and veterans' benefits.
The photograph below is of physician and World War II veteran (and President of the local LULAC council) Hector P. Garcia who, along with other veterans, organized the American G.I. Forum (AGIF) in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1948. In addition to lobbying for the benefits and rights of veterans, Garcia and other members of the AGIF became active in wide range of campaigns fighting against discrimination, segregation, and other injustices.
Garcia marched alongside striking farm workers in the summer heat in 1966. In 1969, he was arrested at a protest against segregation in Corpus Christi schools. In 1972, he testified to a subcommittee of the US Senate about police abuse in Texas targeting Mexican Americans.
Garcia was praised by civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and labor leader Cesar Chavez, as well as by numerous US Presidents. He also regularly received hate mail from white supremacists.
He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, in 1984.
Dr. Hector P. Garcia of the American GI Forum, ca. 1940s or 1950s
SOURCE:
Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. “Dr. Hector Garcia of Corpus Christi, activist for veterans groups and national trustee of the League of United Latin-American Citizens (LULAC) [ca. 1940s-1950s].” UTA Libraries Digital Gallery. 1940. Accessed June 28, 2024. https://library.uta.edu/digitalgallery/img/10010312