Héctor P. García
Until now, minorities’ complaints about
discrimination had largely fallen on deaf ears. After
World War II, however, minority veterans began making
their voices heard. Hispanic veteran Héctor P. García was
one of the most vocal leaders in Texas. In 1948, he
founded the American GI Forum. This organization helped
many minority veterans obtain the same benefits other
veterans received, including health care, housing, and
education.
Under García’s leadership, Hispanic veterans also began demanding that
businesses serve people from minority groups in the same way that they served
white customers. In 1948, the GI Forum and the League of United Latin American
Citizens (LULAC) won a federal court case banning segregation of Hispanic children
in the schools.
The GI Forum
The GI Forum was organized by Héctor
P. García who was infuriated with the unfair
treatment of Mexican Americans in Texas.
This group’s original purpose was to improve
veterans’ benefits and their medical care. The
organizational structure promoted this goal.
The local chapter was the basic unit; the
membership of each local chapter had to be 75
percent veterans.
In 1957 the Texas forum ended a ten-year struggle when a federal court
agreed that school segregation of Mexican-American children in Texas schools was
unjustified. In the same decade the forum helped thousands of Mexican Americans
in the Rio Grande valley to register to vote, and incidents of police brutality were
confronted in forum efforts.
Delgado vs Bastrop
Until the late 1940s the public
education system in Texas for Mexican
Americans offered segregated campuses
with often minimal facilities. In 1947 a
court in California found that separation
"within one of the great races" without a
specific state law requiring the separation
was not allowed; therefore, segregation of
Mexican-American children, who were considered Caucasian, was illegal. In Texas,
following this ruling, the attorney general, a Mexican-American attorney, agreed
that segregation of Mexican-American children in the public school system by
national origin was unlawful and justified only by scientific language tests applied
to all students.
On June 15, 1948, LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) filed
suit against the Bastrop Independent School District and three other districts.
Representing Minerva Delgado and twenty
other Mexican-American parents, the suit
charged the district with segregation of
Mexican children from other white races
without specific state law and in violation
of the attorney general's opinion. The
parents also accused these districts of
depriving such children of equal facilities, services, and education instruction as
the white students. The judge agreed and ended this separation by September the
following year. The Delgado decision undermined the rigid segregation of Mexican
Americans and began a ten-year struggle led by the American G.I. Forum and
LULAC.
LULAC
When Texas was annexed into the U.S., nearly
77,000 Mexicans became U.S. citizens. For generations,
these citizens were to be plagued by prejudice that
would result in acts of discrimination and segregation.
This prejudice led to the denial of many civil rights.
Mexican Americans were not allowed to learn
English. Thus, they were disenfranchised and unable to
vote. Many were unable to pay voting taxes. Thus, their
Anglo bosses paid this charge and told them who to vote
for. Many Mexican American families worked in fields, farms, and ranches and
their children never went to school. Many were denied jobs because they were
perceived as lazy, poorly dressed, dirty, ill-educated, and thought to be thieves.
Mexican American children had to attend segregated schools known as “Mexican
Schools.” In those days “Mexican Schools” were legal in the Southwest. These
schools were staffed with the worst teachers and the buildings were in terrible
conditions.
Discrimination against Mexican
Americans was rampant. During those years
there were more Mexican Americans hung than
the total number of blacks hung during the
Civil War. Discrimination knew no age limits. In
one incident a young Mexican American girl was
eating a dry tortilla and choked to death
because her peers were not allowed to get her
a drink of water from a “whites only” water fountain.
This was the discrimination that led many Mexican Americans to build strong
traditions of self-determination which eventually led to the creation of LULAC.
Because of LULAC, many public places such as barber shops, restaurants,
restrooms, and other public places were desegregated.
1. What is the significance of Héctor P. García?
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2. What was the GI Forum able to accomplish as a result of Héctor P. García?
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3. Who organized the GI Forum?
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4. What is the purpose of the GI Forum?
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5. What did the GI Forum accomplish in 1957 and the years after?
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6. What was the problem with the American public school system that caused
Delgado vs Bastrop?
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7. What did a Californian court rule in 1947?
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8. Who filed suit against the Bastrop Independent School District?
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9. Why was Bastrop Independent School District sued?
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10. What was the result of Delgado vs Bastrop?
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11. When Texas was annexed into the U.S., what were many Mexican Americans
denied?
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12. What were Mexican Americans not allowed to learn?
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13. Describe the Mexican American voting situation.
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14. Why were Mexican Americans denied jobs?
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15. Where did most Mexican Americans work?
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16. What places were desegregated as a result of LULAC?
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*When you are done, turn in your assignment to your class box and grab a piece of large sized paper.
Fold the paper hotdog style and then trace the line with a marker. Once you trace the line you will write
the title of your timeline at the top of your paper. Your title is “Civil Rights and Conservatism”. This must
be in either marker or colored pencil. After you write your title, draw a line (One that looks like this “|”)
on your crease that you folded earlier. Above that line, write “GI Forum”. Below that line, you will write
a summary of what you have learned about the GI Forum. All summaries must be 3-5 sentences long.
Above where you wrote GI Forum, you will draw an image that represents what you learned about this
program. When you finish that, you will then draw another line (One that looks like this “|”) on your
crease that you folder earlier; this time, a little further down on the paper. Above that line, write
Delgado vs Bastrop. Below that line, you will write a summary of what you have learned about Delgado
vs Bastrop. All summaries must be 3-5 sentences long. Above where you wrote Delgado vs Bastrop, you
will draw an image that represents what you learned about this court case. An example is below.
GI Forum
Delgado vs Bastrop
__|_______________|____________________________________________________
*3-5 sentence
*3-5 sentence
summary
summary