There were two great ambitions in the life of Alonso S. Perales: the first was to help his people, the Mexican-Americans; the second was to help all of mankind. To pursue this first ambition, Perales became very active as a major political leader who supported civil rights and the abolishment of racial discrimination. Many viewed him as a defender of la raza (the Mexican-American race) and one of the most influential Mexican-Americans of his time. As such, Perales devoted most of his work to defending Mexican-Americans and battling charges that Mexicans were an inferior people and a social problem. He participated in various Civil Rights organizations and was one of the founders of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). This author argues that without Perales’ involvement, LULAC would have never existed. This work solely focuses on Perales’ life from the late 1920s to the early 1930s. It begins by examining Perales’ roots and his first involvement with Mexican-American civil rights. It then covers his role in the origin of LULAC, specifically its predecessor organization, the League of Latin American Citizens. Furthermore, this work explores Perales’ involvement in the defeat of the 1930 Box Bill and his role in the American electoral missions in Nicaragua between 1928 and 1932. Lastly, this work examines why LULAC has forgotten Perales. The main goal is to shed light on this often neglected aspect of Mexican-American history and hopefully to bring forth the importance and impact that Perales’ work had on la raza not only in Texas but nationwide.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc407764 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Mila, Brandon H. |
| Contributors | Calderón, Roberto R., Mendiola-Garcia, Sandra, Seligmann, Gustav L. |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | Text |
| Rights | Public, Mila, Brandon H., Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved. |
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