Defender of Civil Rights, Alonos S. Perales Subject of New Volume of Essays

In Defense of My People; Alonso S. Perales and The Development of Mexican-American Public Intellectuals is an engrossing collection of scholarly essays edited by Michael A. Olivas

One of the most influential MexicanAmericans of his time, Alonso S. Perales (1898-1960) was a graduate of George Washington University School of Law and one of the earliest Mexican-American attorneys to practice law in Texas. Perales helped found the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), served his country in several diplomatic capacities and was a prolific writer.

In Defense of My People sheds light on Perales’ activism and the history of Mexican-American and Latino civil rights movements. The essays, written by scholars representing a number of disciplines from the U.S. and Mexico, touch on a variety of topics, including the impact of religion on Latinos, the concept of “race” and individual versus community action to bring about social and political change.

Edited and with an introduction and chapter by law scholar Michael A. Olivas, In Defense of My People is the first full-length book available on this trailblazing Mexican-American leader. Scholars were able to take advantage of Perales’ never-before-accessible personal archive, which his family donated to the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project and is now housed at the University of Houston’s Special Collections Department of the M.D. Anderson Library.

Originally presented at a conference on Alonso S. Perales at the University of Houston in 2012, this volume is required reading for anyone interested in the history of civil rights organizations, public intellectuals of the early 20th century and Mexican-American political development in Texas.