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In Defense of My People – Prof. Olivas Establishes Perales Scholarship

Hispanic Collections, In the News

The work of professor and scholar Michael A. Olivas, of the UH Law Center, will now be translated into a gift of philanthropy, scholarship, and conscience.

perales

Alonso S. Perales (aged 17, 1915), available for high resolution download at our Digital Library here

This month, Arte Público Press publishes In Defense of My People edited by Professor Olivas.  The book assembles a collection of essays from Mexican and U.S. scholars on the life and legacy of Alonso S. Perales, initially presented as part of a 2012 conference and exhibit organized in conjunction with the University of Houston Special Collections and the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project.  Alonso S. Perales was noted for his civil rights legal work in the Mexican-American community as well as his influential and prolific writing on the topic of racial equality.  However, he is perhaps most remembered for the leadership he was able to provide in maneuvering the legal and logistical hurdles of uniting a number of disparate civil rights organizations under the banner of LULAC.



(Professor Olivas provides some background and perspective on Alonso S. Perales)


Arte Público Press and Olivas will donate royalties from purchases of the book to establish a scholarship with the UH Law Center’s Hispanic Law Student Association.  The first scheduled award, to a recipient exhibiting “academic merit and a record of involvement in the Houston Latino community,” is slated for 2014.

Thanks to the generous donation of the Perales family, the Alonso S. Perales Papers are now more accessible to the community at large and we are pleased to have them available for study in the Special Collections reading room during normal reference hours.  This collection, a part of our larger Hispanic Collections, is a rich resource and draw for scholars still attempting to provide a robust picture of a region and time complicated by competing ambitions and voices.  For starters, the collection includes correspondence with other noted civil rights leaders, organizational documents for LULAC, as well as his notes regarding personal writings, interviews, and radio addresses.  However, the detailed finding aid will be able to guide your research and provide more insight into the contents.

from our digital library, available for high resolution download here

“League of Latin American Citizens – Aims and Purposes,” from our Digital Library, available for high resolution download here

Our Digital Library has assembled a number of documents and photographs as highlights from this collection and they are available for viewing and high resolution download here.  In addition to the Perales papers, our Hispanic Collections offer a number of finding aid resources that may complement your study.

The history of “Aztlán” is infinitely complex and made more so when voices are muted.  We are pleased that, thanks to the efforts of scholars like Professor Olivas and others, those voices continue to garner an audience.  In addition, thanks to the continued generosity of he and his wife, Professor Augustina Reyes, now another scholarship has been established to ensure those futures voices are heard.

Please take a look at some of the online resources above.  If you are just beginning your education on Perales and his impact, videos from scholars on the exhibit page should provide a nice introduction.  However, if you are looking to expand your research, come visit us at your earliest convenience.

Items Added to Perales Digital Collection

Collections, Digitization, Exhibits, Hispanic Collections
Service denials

A list of locations where Mexicans were denied service, from the Alonso S. Perales files, 1940s.

The digital collection formerly called Photographs from the Alonso S. Perales Papers has been expanded and renamed Selections from the Alonso S. Perales Papers. In addition the the previous published photographs, the collection now contains documents that further highlight Perales’ life and career as a civil rights lawyer, diplomat, and political leader.

Alonso S. Perales (1898-1960) was one of the most influential Mexican Americans of his time.  Perales saw himself as a defender of la raza, or race, especially battling charges that Mexicans and Latin Americans were inferior and a social problem. Perales was one of the founders of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in 1929 and helped write LULAC’s constitution, and he served as the organization’s second president.

Alonso S. Perales

Alonso S. Perales

An intellectual who firmly believed in the law, Perales wrote about civil rights, religion and racial discrimination, which he argued “had the approval of the majority.” His work included the pamphlet “Are We Good Neighbors?” and the two-volume set, “En defense de mi raza.” A member of the American Legion and the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, Perales was also a columnist for “La Prensa” and other Spanish-language newspapers.

View the complete collection in the UH Digital Library, or learn more about the conference that accompanied the release of the original digital collection, In Defense of My People: Alonso S. Perales and the Development of Mexican-American Public Intellectuals.

QR Codes Enhance Perales Exhibit; Conference Coming Tomorrow

Digitization, Events, Exhibits, Hispanic Collections

Perales ExhibitThe Alonso S. Perales exhibit, currently on view in the M.D. Anderson Library, now comes complete with QR codes! These codes provide quick access to interviews with scholars and family members, as well as English translations of the Spanish-language documents contained in the exhibit. You can also access the videos and translations at the online exhibit page.

Tomorrow, January 13, In Defense of My People: Alonso S. Perales and the Development of Mexican-American Public Intellectuals, a conference highlighting the life and works of the civil rights leader, will be held in the library’s Rockwell Pavilion. The conference will feature scholarly papers on Perales’ work in civil rights, influence, and more.Perales exhibit

Special Collections holds the Alonso S. Perales Papers, which document the life, work, and related interests of the civil rights leader from his birth in 1898 until well after his death in 1960. A digital collection of photographs from the papers can be seen in the UH Digital Library, and his papers can be seen in the Special Collections Reading Room.

Perales Exhibit and Conference Site and Videos Now Available

Department News, Events, Exhibits, Hispanic Collections

Special Collections and the UH Libraries Web Services Department have been working together to put together a exhibit web page about the upcoming physical exhibit and conference, In Defense of My People: Alonso S. Perales and the Development of Mexican-American Public Intellectuals. This online exhibit page also contains videos featuring Perales’ children and University of Houston scholars discussing Perales’ life and the materials.

Alonso Perales (1898-1960) was a civil rights lawyer and diplomat. From the 1920s until his death, Perales remained a prominent political leader, particularly as a defender of Mexican-American civil rights. Special Collections holds his papers, which document his life and works.

The exhibit, which will run from December 21 through March 1, will explore Perales’ early life and family, his political life and diplomatic service, and his lifelong crusade against discrimination against Mexican Americans. The conference on January 13 will feature scholarly presentations covering a variety of topics related to Perales and his work.

All four videos can be viewed from the web page or via this YouTube playlist, and more information about the Alonso S. Perales Papers can be found in the finding aid.

New Digital Collection Highlights Life and Work of LULAC Founder

Digitization, Events, Exhibits, Hispanic Collections

In collaboration with UH Digital Services, Special Collections has published a new digital collection featuring photographs from the Alonso S. Perales Papers. The photographs highlight aspects of the life and career of Perales, who was a one of the founders of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). Perales, a civil rights lawyer, diplomat, political leader, and soldier, was one of the most influential Mexican Americans of his time.

Perales photo

Perales, second from left, being awarded the Medal of Civil Merit from the Spanish government, granted by Generalissimo Francisco Franco, on March 20, 1952.

Some of these photographs will be featured in an upcoming exhibit at M.D. Anderson Library, along with manuscripts, letters and documents, broadsides, books, and memorabilia from the Perales Papers. Among the topics to be covered in the exhibit are Perales’ early life and family, his political life and diplomatic service, and his lifelong crusade against discrimination against Mexican Americans. The exhibit, In Defense of My People: Alonso S. Perales and the Development of Mexican-American Public Intellectuals, will be on view from December 8, 2011 through February 29, 2012.

On January 13, a conference sharing the name of the exhibit will feature scholarly presentations covering a variety of topics related to Perales and his work, including research on his activism and defense of Latinos, the impact of religion on Latinos, and the concept of race.

Watch this blog for more information on the exhibit and the conference!

 

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