Felix Longoria's Wake by Patrick J Carroll
Winner, Tullis Prize, Texas State Historical Association, 2004 Private First Class Felix Longoria earned a Bronze Service Star, a Purple Heart, a Good Conduct Medal, and a Combat Infantryman's badge for service in the Philippines during World War II. Yet the only funeral parlor in his hometown of Three Rivers, Texas, refused to hold a wake for the slain soldier because "the whites would not like it." Almost overnight, this act of discrimination became a defining moment in the rise of Mexican American activism. It launched Dr. Héctor P. García and his newly formed American G.I. Forum into the vanguard of the Mexican civil rights movement, while simultaneously endangering and advancing the career of Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, who arranged for Longoria's burial with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery. In this book, Patrick Carroll provides the first fully researched account of the Longoria controversy and its far-reaching consequences. Drawing on extensive documentary evidence and interviews with many key figures, including Dr. García and Mrs. Longoria, Carroll convincingly explains why the Longoria incident, though less severe than other acts of discrimination against Mexican Americans, ignited the activism of a whole range of interest groups from Argentina to Minneapolis. By putting Longoria's wake in a national and international context, he also clarifies why it became such a flash point for conflicting understandings of bereavement, nationalism, reason, and emotion between two powerful cultures—Mexicanidad and Americanism.
"Carroll provides abundant evidence of the importance of the Longoria incident for Mexican Americans, for a rising Lyndon Johnson, for Texas politics, and, indirectly, for US. society. His insights ... have the potential of appealing to both historians and general readers, particularly those interested in Mexican American and/or Texas history." Julie Leininger Pycior, author of Lyndon Johnson and Mexican Americans: The Paradox of Power
Patrick J. Carroll is Professor of History at Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780292712492 |
| ISBN 10 | 0292712499 |
| Title | Felix Longoria's Wake |
| Author | Patrick J Carroll |
| Series | Cmas History Culture And Society Series |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | University of Texas Press |
| Year published | 2003-04-01 |
| Number of pages | 288 |
| Prizes | Winner of Coral Horton Tullis Memorial Prize for Best Book on Texas History 2004 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |