In this wide-ranging biography, historian Cynthia Orozco examines the life and work of one of the most influential Mexican Americans of the twentieth century. Alonso S. Perales was born in Alice, Texas, in 1898; he became an attorney, leading civil rights activist, author and US diplomat.
Perales was active in promoting and seeking equality for “La Raza” in numerous arenas. In 1929, he founded the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the most important Latino civil rights organization in the United States. He encouraged the empowerment of Latinos at the voting box and sought to pass state and federal legislation banning racial discrimination. He fought for school desegregation in Texas and initiated a movement for more and better public schools for Mexican-descent people in San Antonio.
A complex and controversial figure, Alonso S. Perales is now largely forgotten, and this first-ever comprehensive biography reveals his work and accomplishments to a new generation of scholars of Mexican-American history and Hispanic civil rights. This volume is divided into four parts: the first is organized chronologically and examines his childhood to his role in World War I, the beginnings of his activism in the 1920s and the founding of LULAC. The second section explores his impact as an attorney, politico, public intellectual, Pan-American ideologue and US diplomat. Perales’ private life is examined in the third part and scholars’ interpretations of his legacy in the fourth.
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Foreword
- Introduction: Forgotten, Remembered, Attacked
- Part I: Across Time
- Chapter 1. The Mexican Colony in San Antonio and South Texas, 1910-1960
- Chapter 2. Early Family Life in Alice, Texas
- Chapter 3. World War I in San Antonio, Texas
- Chapter 4. Education in Washington, DC
- Chapter 5. Organizing in San Antonio and the Lower Rio Grande Valley, 1920s
- Chapter 6. Harlingen, Texas Convention Excludes Mexicans, 1927
- Chapter 7. Founding of the Latin American Citizens (LAC) in the Valley, 1927
- Chapter 8. Founding of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in Corpus Christi, 1929
- Chapter 9. The LULAC Constitution, 1929
- Chapter 10. Perales and LULAC, 1930-1960
- Chapter 11. Activist, 1930s
- Chapter 12. Activist, 1940s
- Chapter 13. Activist, 1950s
- Part II: Public Impact
- Chapter 14. Attorney
- Chapter 15. Politico
- Chapter 16. Public Intellectual
- Chapter 17. US Diplomat in Latin America
- Part III: Private Life
- Chapter 18. Religion
- Chapter 19. Character
- Chapter 20. Family
- Chapter 21. Friends and Adversaries
- Chapter 22. Health and Death
- Part IV: Perales on Trial
- Chapter 23. In Defense of Perales in Latino History
- Chapter 24. Conclusion
- Selected Bibliography
- Timeline: Life of Alonso S. Perales
- Notes
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