Gustavo C. Garcia
Gustavo "Gus" C. Garcia (July 27, 1915 – June 3, 1964) was an American
Early life
Garcia was born in
Career
He was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1938, and worked as an assistant for the district attorney of Bexar County, Texas, John Schook, in 1938, and city attorney Victor Keller in 1941. In 1941 he was drafted into the United States Army. He became a first lieutenant in the United States Army, and was stationed in Japan with the judge advocate corps. Garcia participated in the founding of the UN in San Francisco in 1945. On February 1, 1947, he joined the office of the Mexican Consulate General in San Antonio, Texas. In April 1947, Garcia filed suit against Cuero, Texas school authorities to force closure of the segregated schools for Mexicans there. After the Mendez v. Westminster ISD case ended de jure segregation of Mexican-descent children in California, Garcia filed a similar suit in Texas, aided by R. C. Eckhardt of Austin and A. L. Wirin of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. Delgado v. Bastrop ISD (1948) made the segregation of children of Mexican descent in Texas illegal.
Garcia served as legal advisor to the
Garcia became legal counsel for the League of United Latin American Citizens, and the
In 1955, Garcia stayed in a hospital several times, probably due to alcohol abuse. Invitations to LULAC and G.I. Forum meetings and conventions declined by 1956. Garcia passed several bad checks in 1960 and 1961, leading James Tafolla, Jr., and other San Antonio lawyers to seek his disbarment. His law license was suspended from August 1961 to August 1963.
Personal life
Garcia married three times and had two children with his second wife. After the Hernandez case had been won Garcia began to drink heavily and suffer from mental illness. During this time he was in and out of mental institutions until he eventually died of liver failure at age 48. Garcia was penniless and nearly friendless.[citation needed] He was buried in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.
Legacy
In 1964, the League of United Latin American Citizens established the Gus C. Garcia Memorial Fund. A middle school in San Antonio is named after him.[1] In 1983, the Gus Garcia Memorial Foundation was established in San Antonio to sponsor programs and media events to recognize his contribution.
References
- Buitron Jr., Richard (2004). "Another community: Identity among working class Mexican Americans, 1935–41". The quest for Tejano identity in San Antonio, Texas, 1913–2000. Latino communities: Emerging voices – political, social, cultural and legal issues. New York: Routledge. pp. 43–44. OCLC 54778399.
External links
- Gustavo C. Garcia from the Handbook of Texas Online
- Hernández v. the State of Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online
- A Class Apart – From a small-town Texas murder emerged a landmark civil rights case. The little-known story of the -style discrimination. Aired February 23, 2009.