Hector P. Garcia - Legacy

Legacy

As one of the early pioneers of Hispanic civil rights, García's activities foreshadowed much of the struggle of the Chicano Movement. As a figure of national and international prominence, the effects of his life have been felt at all levels of society, from the poor barrios that he fought to improve, to the highest echelons of government. The end of the 1950s desegregated Texan hotels, cinemas, and restaurants. Beauty parlors and barbershops were desegregated in the 1960s, with cemeteries and swimming pools not being opened to Mexican Americans until the 1970s.

In the realm of popular culture, in 1950, Pulitzer Prize winner Edna Ferber to get a sense of the Mexican American experience in Texas interviewed Garcia She later wrote the 1952 novel Giant, basing some of the incidents in the work on her interview. The book was later turned into a 1956 film starring James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and Dennis Hopper.

In 1985, the Dr. Héctor Pérez García Endowed Chair was created at Yale University. In 1988, the main branch of the Corpus Christi post office was renamed in his honor. In 1996, a nine-foot statue of him was dedicated at Texas A&M's Corpus Christi campus. In 1999, his image was placed on the U.S. Treasury's $75 I Bond series honoring great Americans.

A biography was written by Michelle Kells titled "Hector P. Garcia: Everyday Rhetoric and Mexican American Civil Rights".

In 2002, public television station KEDT in Corpus Christi, Texas produced a documentary on him entitled "Justice for my People: The Dr. Hector P. Garcia Story". The program was broadcast nationally on PBS.

Under Senate Bill 495, Signed on May 30, 2009 by the Governor of Texas, The State of Texas established the third Wednesday of each September as "Dr. Hector P. Garcia Day."

In April, 2010 the United States House of Representatives passed H.CON.RES.222, recognizing the leadership and historical contributions of Dr. Hector Garcia to the Hispanic community and his remarkable efforts to combat racial and ethnic discrimination in the United States of America.