Dr. Hector P. Garcia, or Hector
Garcia Perez, was born on January 17, 1914.
He was born in Llera, Tamaulipas, Mexico to Jose Garcia Garcia and
Faustina Perez Garcia. Both of his
parents were schoolteachers. His family
legally immigrated to Texas to flee the Mexican Revolution. In 1929, Dr. Garcia joined the Citizens
Military Training Corps, a peacetime branch of the United States Army. In 1932, Dr. Garcia graduated from a
segregated high school where he saw the discrimination towards Mexican-Americans. A teacher even stated that he never gave “As”
to Mexicans. This infuriated Dr. Garcia
and only forced him to try harder in order to prove him wrong.
Dr. Garcia attended Edinburg Junior
College, hitchhiking 30 miles to and from the college. His father cashed in his life insurance to pay
for his college. Dr. Garcia graduated
with a degree in zoology from the University of Texas in Austin and earned his
doctorate in medicine from the University of Texas in Galveston. Following his internship, Dr. Garcia
volunteered for combat in the army and was placed in the infantry. He commanded a company of combat engineers
and was then transferred to the medical corps in Europe. Dr. Garcia rose to the rank of major, earned
the Bronze star and six battle stars. He met his wife, Wanda Fusillo in Naples,
while stationed abroad. They were married
in 1945.
After the war, Dr. Garcia worked with
the League of the United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and in 1947 was
elected President of his local chapter.
Dr. Garcia also started a private medical practice with his brother Jose
Antonio. Dr. Garcia felt that the health
needs of Mexican-Americans were not addressed as evidenced by the lack of
Mexican-American physicians, medical care available in rural areas, and medical
research related to Mexican-Americans. Dr.
Garcia and his brother treated everyone regardless of their ability to pay. In 1947, Dr. Garcia’s hospitalization due to
nephritis marked a turning point in his life.
After overhearing a local superintendent brag about segregated schools
in the hospital, Dr. Garcia vowed to dedicate himself to fighting inequality.
Dr. Garcia helped Hispanic veterans
file claims with the Veteran’s Administration.
On March 26, 1947 he called a meeting to discuss Mexican-American needs,
this meeting turned into the American G.I. Forum. The G.I. Forum advocated for the burial of Mexican-American
Private Felix Longoria. The funeral
director in Three Rivers, Texas had denied the chapel to Longoria’s widow
because the whites in town would not like the idea. Dr. Garcia intervened and was rebuffed by the
funeral director in Three Rivers. Dr.
Garcia then wrote to President Lyndon B. Johnson, who stated that although he
could not arrange for Private Longoria to be buried in Three Rivers, he had
arranged for him to be buried with full military honors in Arlington
Cemetery. In 1952, Edna Ferber modeled
the character of a Mexican-American doctor after Dr. Garcia in her novel
“Giant.”
The American G.I. Forum has represented
the Mexican-American community since post World War II. The American G.I. Forum advocated for
veterans, raised funds to pay poll taxes for the indigent, campaigned against
the Bracero Program and came to play an important role in lawsuits to end
discrimination against Mexican-Americans.
Additionally the G.I. Forum helped fund the Hernandez v. State of Texas lawsuit. The case ended the discrimination of
Mexican-Americans in grand juries in Texas.
Garcia won the American G.I. Forum’s Medalla al Merito in 1952. Dr. Garcia also helped raise funds for the
legal expenses related to Minerva Delgado et al v. Bastrop ISD. This is the landmark Mexican-American
desegregation case in Texas. Today, the
G.I. Forum has nearly 160,000 members in 502 chapters in 24 states.
President Johnson appointed him to
serve on the United States Commission on Civil Rights, he was the first Mexican
American appointed. Dr. Garcia was also the Alternate Ambassador to the United
Nations. He was the first person to
speak in a language other than English at the U.N. Dr. Garcia was also the first Mexican
American awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Dr. Garcia died July 26, 1996 in
Corpus Christi, Texas. He was 82. In
April 2010, the United States House of Representatives passed H. Con. Res. 222,
which recognized the leadership and historical contributions of Dr. Garcia.
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