Espejo: John J. Herrera remembers when Part: 1 of 2
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8D
The Houston Post,
SUNDAY, AUG. 22, 1976
John J. Herrera
remembers when
John J. Herrera remembers clearly
when employment offices displayed signs
declaring "Mexicans need not apply." Or
when there were three sets of restrooms
tor whites, blacks and browns.
There were different, mostly unfair,
standards for the Spanish-surnamed in
the classroom, in the courts and in the
community, he recalls. John J. Herrera
remembers these things well because he
has spent a good many of his 66 years
fighting to erase them.
s'If I had to do it over again, I would,"
says the tall, silver-sideburned attorney
in a moment of reflection. "I never re-
gretted it."
In the court-
room, Herrera
assisted in two
lawsuits which
resulted in bench-
mark decisions in I
Mexican-Ameri- p
can civil rights in
Texas.
In a 1948 suit
against the Bas-
trop school dis-
trict, a state dis-
trict court ruled
that separate
schools for
Mexican-Ameri-
can children were illegal.
Six vears later, in a lawsuit against the
State'of Texas, the U.S. Supreme court
declared the systematic exclusion of
Spanish-speaking jurors as unconstitu-
tional.
But Herrera did not confine his civil
rights activities just to the courtroom. He
also became a confirmed promoter of the
.League of United Latin American Citi-
zens (LULAC) convinced of its potential
as an instrument of Hispanic advance-
ment,
Recently, Herrera was appointed nat-
ional legal counsel for LULAC and will
help to establish a legal defense fund to
aid in Chicano rights cases.
It's quite a record for a man who didn't
graduate from high school until he was 23
years old and worked his way to a law ca-
reer by driving a taxi for nine years.
Herrera got his yen for a law career
from his father, who had a high regard
fnr ttnrnpv^
"Dad used to think lawyers were big
stuff," he recollects.
But Herrera found himself dropping in
and out of high school supporting himself
as a newsboy, a shineboy. a janitor, a
dishwasher and a migrant worker. In one
HERRERA
high school public speaking class, Her-
rera says, a young teacher named Lyndon
B. Johnson encouraged him to continue
Espejo
By
RICHARD VARA
Post Reporter
the quest for a diploma, which he secured
in 1934.
It was the same year he married and
entered the South Texas School of Law.
He graduated in 1940, supporting his
family by driving a taxi. But it wasn't
until 1943 that Herrera actually began to
practice law.
From the time he joined in 1933, Her-
rera was heavily involved in LULAC ac-
tivities. In 1940, he was involved in pro-
testing employment discrimination
against Mexican-American workers in
wartime Houston shipyards.
Within three years, a small number of
Chicanos working at marginal jobs grew
to a third of the well-paid shipbuilding
personnel, Herrera recounts.
He also worked for the naming of war
ships after Latin-American heros. His ef-
forts paid off in 1943 when the Benito
Juarez, the Miguel Hildago, Jose Bolivar
and Simon Bonifacio were launched.
Despite his law practice, Herrera work-
ed to build up LULAC membership, help-
ing to establish councils throughout the
Gulf Coast area. His efforts advanced him
from local to state to national president
by 1953.
And when he wasn't doing that, he was
badgering Houston city and police offi-
cials about the recruitment and employ-
ment of Mexican-American personnel.
With a good barrister's command of
detail and dates and combining them in
interesting verbal vignettes, Herrera can
recount the big and small gains in the
crusade for Hispanic equality — a cru-
sade, he warns, that is not over yet.
And with the same passaon he can delve
into Texas history and the role of the Hi-
spanic.
Herrera confesses he would like to re-
tire and write a couple of historical
novels. But taking into consideration his
tireless battling for Chicano civil rights,
those novels may remain unwritten.
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Vara, Richard. Espejo: John J. Herrera remembers when, clipping, August 22, 1976; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth248325/m1/1/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hoston History Research Center at Houston Public Library.