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Colored Men and Hombres Aqui: Hernandez v. Texas and the Emergence of Mexican American Lawyering
373
by MIchael A. OlivasMIchael A. Olivas
21.95
In Stock
Overview
This collection of ten essays originally published in 2006 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of an important but almost forgotten U.S. Supreme court case, Hernández v. Texas, (1954), is now available in trade paperback for the first time. Involving Mexican Americans and jury selection, this major case was published just before Brown v. Board of Education in the 1954 Supreme Court reporter.
This landmark case, the first to be tried by Mexican American lawyers before the US Supreme Court, held that Mexican Americans were a discrete group for purposes of applying Equal Protection. Although the case was about discriminatory state jury selection and trial practices, it has been cited for many other civil rights precedents in the intervening years. Even so, it has not been given the prominence it deserves, in part because it lives in the shadow of the more compelling Brown v. Board case.
There had been earlier efforts to diversify juries, reaching back at least to the trial of Gregorio Cortez in 1901 and continuing with efforts by the legendary Oscar Zeta Acosta in Los Angeles in the 1960s. Even as recently as 2005 there has been clear evidence that Latino participation in the Texas jury system is still substantially unrepresentative of the growing population. But in a brief and shining moment in 1954, Mexican-American lawyers prevailed in a system that accorded their community no legal status and no respect. Through sheer tenacity, brilliance and some luck, they showed that it is possible to tilt against windmills and slay the dragon.
Edited and with an introduction by University of Houston law scholar Michael A. Olivas, Colored Men and Hombres Aquí is the first full-length book on this case. This volume contains the papers presented at the Hernández at 50 conference that took place in 2004 at the University of Houston Law Center and also contains source materials, trial briefs, and a chronology of the case.
This landmark case, the first to be tried by Mexican American lawyers before the US Supreme Court, held that Mexican Americans were a discrete group for purposes of applying Equal Protection. Although the case was about discriminatory state jury selection and trial practices, it has been cited for many other civil rights precedents in the intervening years. Even so, it has not been given the prominence it deserves, in part because it lives in the shadow of the more compelling Brown v. Board case.
There had been earlier efforts to diversify juries, reaching back at least to the trial of Gregorio Cortez in 1901 and continuing with efforts by the legendary Oscar Zeta Acosta in Los Angeles in the 1960s. Even as recently as 2005 there has been clear evidence that Latino participation in the Texas jury system is still substantially unrepresentative of the growing population. But in a brief and shining moment in 1954, Mexican-American lawyers prevailed in a system that accorded their community no legal status and no respect. Through sheer tenacity, brilliance and some luck, they showed that it is possible to tilt against windmills and slay the dragon.
Edited and with an introduction by University of Houston law scholar Michael A. Olivas, Colored Men and Hombres Aquí is the first full-length book on this case. This volume contains the papers presented at the Hernández at 50 conference that took place in 2004 at the University of Houston Law Center and also contains source materials, trial briefs, and a chronology of the case.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781558859036 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Arte Publico Press |
Publication date: | 02/28/2020 |
Series: | Hispanic Civil Rights Series |
Pages: | 373 |
Product dimensions: | 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d) |
About the Author
MICHAEL A. OLIVAS is the William B. Bates Distinguished Chair of Law at the University of Houston Law Center and director of the Institute for Higher Education Law and Governance at the University of Houston. In 2001, he was the recipient of the Esther Farfel Award, the University of Houston’s most distinguished faculty recognition. He is the author or co-author of eight other books, including The Dilemma of Access (Howard University Press, 1979), Latino College Students (Teachers College Press, 1986), Prepaid College Tuition Programs (College Board, 1993) and The Law and Higher Education (Carolina Academic Press, 2006). He currently is serving a term as a member of the executive board of the Association of American Law Schools and is a trustee of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF).
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