During Hispanic Heritage month, we would like to recognize some notable figures in service that have made great strides for our people throughout the years!

Sonia Sotomayor

Sonia Sotomayor was born and raised in the South Bronx by Puerto Rican parents. This NUYORICAN QUEEN has the distinct honor of being the first Latina and fourth woman appointed as a supreme court justice for the United States of America. She graduated from Princeton University smma cum laude and later graduated from Yale Law. She has climbed up the ranks of the justice system starting from her district in the bronx all the way to the supreme court all the while still making time to contribute to her community by serving on numerous boards such as the Puerto Rican Legal defense council among other organizations. She maintains ties with Puerto Rico, visiting once or twice a year, speaking there occasionally, and visiting cousins and other relatives who still live in the Mayaguez area. She has long stressed her ethnic identity, saying in 1996, “Although I am an American, love my country and could achieve its opportunity of succeeding at anything I worked for, I also have a Latina soul and heart, with the magic that carries.”
Through her hard work and dedication, Sotomayor has become a role model to follow for all those Hispanics that are trying to get an education and a great career. For Sotomayor, it did not come easy, but she made success a necessity not an option. She is living proof of the American Dream. The Hispanic Alliance is so proud to celebrate this AMAZING LATINA!!!!

Octaviano Larrazolo

We’d like to introduce you to Octaviano Larrazolo. Larrazolo was born in Chihuahua, Mexico eventually moving to Arizona in 1870. He became the F I R S T Mexican-born Latino to be elected to the U.S Senate in New Mexico in 1918. Larrazolo politics focused on the civil rights of Latinxs who comprised two-thirds of New Mexico’s population. He advocated and was successful in implementing bilingual education in public schools, supported civil rights of immigrants, and a supporter of the Women’s Suffrage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Round of applause for our hermano and pioneer, Octaviano Larrazolo. Thank you for serving our nation!

Dr. Hector P. Garcia

Dr. Hector P. Garcia was born in Mexico in 1914 before settling in Texas. He earned his medical degree in the University of Texas before serving in the Army during WW2. He led a long, decorated career as an Army officer. In 1945, Garcia heard of a fallen soldier, Felix Longoria, who was K.I.A. and denied burial in his hometown Three Rivers, Texas because “the whites don’t like it”. Garcia lobbied President Lyndon B. Johnson to correct the situation and was able to have Longoria buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Dr. Hector P. Garcia opened a medical practice in Corpus Cristi where he helped veterans and migrant workers. He became known as the “doctor to the barrios”. He also founded the American GI Forum, which organized veterans to fight for educational and medical benefits and later received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Gracias for your contributions Dr. Hector P. Garcia!!!!

Sylvia Mendez

The monumental case of Brown v. Board to desegregate schools has been spoken about time and time again. BUT DID YOU KNOW, if it wasn’t for the 1947 case of MENDEZ V. WESTMINISTER, 10 years earlier, Brown v. Board would not have been as successful. Sylvia Mendez was born in 1936 when Hispanics were sent to “Mexican only” schools. The “whites only” schools received better books and other educational benefits. Sylvia’s cousins could enroll the “Whites Only” schools because they were light-skinned but Sylvia, being darker skinned could not and was denied admission. Her parents sued the California public school system. After years of litigation, Sylvia was finally allowed to attend and become the first Hispanic to enroll in a “Whites Only” school. In 2011, President Obama awarded Mendez with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor. Gracias Sylvia Mendez for your contributions to this country.