A few years ago I used to live near the U.S. post office on Los Ebanos. One Sunday, I wanted to mail some letters and decided to walk from my house. Along the way, I noticed many books piled near a trash can, apparently waiting for the garbage truck the next Monday.
I glanced at some of the titles and was struck by the wealth of literature that was being thrown away.
There was a copy (1933) of the complete works of Shakespeare, Candide, by Voltaire, several tomes by Jack Barnes, a U.S. Communist and Socialist leader, Jose Angel Gutierrez, of Raza Unida fame, among others.
Then I glanced at the name of the owner in one of the books. The books used to belong to an old friend of mine named Ricardo Molina. Molina, to those of us who knew him, was an ardent Hispanic rights advocate who was also instrumental in civil right struggle in the Rio Grande Valley.
He was, at the time I knew him, the acting engineer for the City of Brownsville. He was hefty for a Mexican, and at first blush appeared to be gruff. However, after a few minutes with him, his gentleness was discernible and his genuine concerns for the rights of Hispanics surfaced.
Ricardo had died a few years before I came upon his collection in that alley behind his home. I know that he would have been hurt by the treatment that his unthinking descendants had given his lifetime collection of great books.
I returned in my car after I mailed my letters and scooped up as many books from the trash as I could. I think they filled two boxes with a few spilling over into the back seat of my car.
One of the books caught my eye. It had a beige fabric cover and something had gnawed away a part of the right bottom cover. Its author was one J. de la Luz Saenz.
I knew nothing about Saenz then, but the title (in Spanish) was "Los méxico-americanos en la Gran Guerra y su contingente en pro de la democracia, la humanidad, y la justicia."
It turned out to be the diary of a Mexican-American soldier in World War I, a subject I had never heard about. It was published by Artes Graficas in San Antonio in 1933. Even more intriguing was the listing of the contributors from throughout South Texas to its printing. There were people from as far away as Laredo, El Paso, San Antonio, Edinburg, Port Isabel, and even one from Brownsville.
As I leafed through the book, I knew that I was holding a unique narrative of a Mexican-American soldier and writer. Only later would I find out that Saenz was a school teacher who had enlisted in the U.S. Army after he tired of hearing the Mexican population called "slackers" by whites.
I knew that even though the book might have been worth some money, it was even more valuable as a resource for students who might want to learn more about Hispanics of the era. I ambled over to the John Hunter Room at the Arnulfo Oliveira Library at TSC and struck a bargain with Javier Garcia, a library assistant and writer who worked there.
In return for a photostatic copy of the book, I would donate it for their historical collection. Garcia agreed and the school kept the book. I understand that some students have already used it to write papers for their classes.
I then learned that the collected papers of José de la Luz Sáenz (1888-1953)are stored in the Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas-Austin.
Here' the biographical sketch provided by the collection's archivist:
"José de la Luz Sáenz was born May 17, 1888, in Realitos, Duval County, Texas. He was one of eight children of Rosalío Sáenz and Cristina Hernández. Growing up in South Texas, José de la Luz heard stories of his indigenous ancestry from his father, from whom he inherited a strong feeling of pride in his heritage. In 1900 the Sáenz family moved to Alice, Texas, where José de la Luz graduated high school in 1908.
After attending business college in San Antonio, Sáenz obtained his teacher's certificate and began his lifelong vocation as an educator in South Texas. He married María Petra Esparza in 1917, and together they were the parents of nine children: Adán, María de la Luz, Enrique, Evangelina, Eduardo, Eva Olivia, Cristina, Beatriz, and José de la Luz, Jr.
Following the entrance of the United States into World War I, Sáenz volunteered in 1918 for service in the armed forces. He served in the 360th Regiment Infantry of the 90th Division from Texas, stationed in France and occupied Germany. During his years in Europe, Sáenz kept a diary which was published in 1933 as Los méxico-americanos en la Gran Guerra y su contingente en pro de la democracia, la humanidad, y la justicia (San Antonio: Artes Gráficas). In his diary, Sáenz linked the American World War I "rhetoric of democracy" with the Mexican American struggle for civil rights.
Upon his return from the war, Sáenz translated his experiences and sacrifices—and those of the many other American soldiers of Mexican descent—fighting for democracy into a movement for Mexican American civil rights in Texas. Sáenz had an early involvement in the establishment of LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens. He was a member of the LULAC Board of Trustees between 1930 and 1932, and was president of the McAllen chapter in the 1930s. Through his numerous writings and his leadership in local activist organizations, Sáenz continued to battle discrimination.
During the Depression, Sáenz found work through the Federal Works Agency and continued his career as a teacher and school administrator in the South Texas towns of Moore, New Braunfels, Benavides, Premont, La Joya, Oilton, and Edinburg. United States involvement in World War II—and the participation of his own children in the war effort—brought renewed vigor to his belief that these contributions to the defense and promotion of American democracy made Mexican Americans deserving of equal legal and social treatment, and his writings and actions fighting discrimination demonstrate his continued leadership.
Professor José de la Luz Sáenz died on April 12, 1953. He is buried in the National Cemetery at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.
P.S. After I told some of my friends this story, I learned that there is a translation of his war diary in the works as well as a story of his life by noted Chicano professor Emilio Zamora.
If Ricardo could hear me, I would thank him for turning me on to this piece of knowledge, even if it was from the great beyond.
6 comments:
Good story,
I just can't pass books being thrown away. The lives and thoughts that reside there stir my passions about what was and what could have been if more folks were aware of what really lives between the covers of the books. Thanks for saving the books and sharing he story.
In Brownsville, "read" is a four letter word. It is amazing that so few people can or will read. Brownsville is the most ignorant city in the United States....and the citizens are proud of their ignorance.
Look at the reading programs that are provided for the middle and high schools here in Brownsville. Once the students make it through elementary, their reading is almost nothing. They hire one certified reading teaching at each middle and high school when more than 3/4 of the students are reading behind grade level by 4 or 5 grades. Yet, we have all these specialists and superintendents sitting on their you know what in the main office. We need reading specialist in each campus to help our students understand and are able to read. They do not read because they do not know how to read. How sad, but our board members could care less. The children are taught the skills that they need to pass TAKS so all our schools can be exemplary or recommended, but they can not read a book for pleasure. What a shame!
Great Story Juan. I remember my Father always had a Readers Digest in the bathroom. That publication was the seed that motivated me to discover a diversity of knowledge beyond what my Southmost Barrio had already filled me with.
J Luz Saenz was my great uncle (Grandfather's brother) and I hope he is forever remembered
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