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Veterans found G.I. Forum
On this day in 1948, 700 Mexican-American veterans, led by Hector P.
Garcia, met in Corpus Christi and organized the American G.I. Forum, a
civil-rights organization devoted to securing equal rights for Hispanic
Americans. The first issue the forum dealt with was the failure of the
Veterans Administration to deliver benefits earned through the 1944 G.I.
Bill of Rights. After securing those benefits, the forum addressed other
veterans' concerns, such as hospital care and Mexican-American
representation on draft boards. In 1949 the group's involvement in the
Felix Longoria Affair established the forum as an effective civil-rights
advocate for Hispanics and expanded the scope and nature of its
activities. The forum worked with the League of United Latin American
Citizens on educational reform and voting rights issues. In 1958 the
forum became a national organization, and its members led Mexican
Americans into national politics. The American G.I. Forum continued its
work through the 1970s with such efforts as the first application of the
due-process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to de facto
Mexican-American school segregation in Corpus Christi.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- AMERICAN G.I. FORUM OF TEXAS
- FELIX LONGORIA AFFAIR
- LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS
- MEXICAN AMERICANS
- CIVIL-RIGHTS MOVEMENT
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Battleship Texas continues outstanding service (1945)
- Mexican raiders attack Nuecestown (1875)
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