Activist's story told from a daughter’s perspective
Since Dr. Héctor P. García’s death in 1996, books, films and exhibits have told of the civil rights leader’s impact on U.S. history. Schools and libraries have been named for him across the country, including in San Antonio, and his life continues to be written about and studied.
His was an incomparable life: an immigrant and Texan who became a political powerhouse and ally of presidents, a veteran and hero who founded the American GI Forum for civil, voting and educational rights. And he did it while running a medical practice in Corpus Christi.
His daughter Cecilia García Akers’ new book now adds to the historical record a more personal view of a man, husband and father who sacrificed so much and funneled a parent’s greatest loss into a greater good.
Labor de veterano hispano queda archivada en la biblioteca del congreso
Biblioteca del Congreso SULEMA SALAZAR
Este viernes 20 de mayo en La Biblioteca del Congreso fue presentado el libro "La inspiradora vida de Héctor P. García" un médico veterano de guerra originario de Tamaulipas, México quién emigro con sus padres y hermanos a Mercedes, Texas huyendo de la revolución mexicana. Su hija, Cecilia García Akers, autora del libro entregó fotografías que serán archivadas en la biblioteca. El doctor Garcia, sirvió en el militar sin ser ciudadano estadounidense y fue pionero en la lucha por los derechos civiles, tras estudiar en una escuela segregada. También recibió la Medalla Presidencial de la Libertad.
El Tiempo Latino
La Biblioteca del Congreso a través de su programa "Veterans History Project" presentó el libro "The Inspiring Life of Texan Héctor P. García". Nacido en México, el doctor Héctor P. García es recordado como un padre, médico, cirujano y luchador incansable por la igualdad y la educación. Recibió la medalla presidencial “Medal of Freedom” y fue un luchador incansable por los derechos civiles. A través de este libro, su hija Cecilia García Akers, cuenta la vida de su padre que al igual a muchos hispanos, es importante mantener y conocer la historia sobre el progreso y apoyo que le han entregado al país. "No contamos con mucha información histórica de los mexicanos sirviendo a las fuerzas armadas. Las nuevas generaciones deben conocerla y no olvidarla", dijo Cecilia García. La escritora del libro donó algunas fotografías de su padre a la biblioteca y firmó su libro a los presentes.
The Library of Congress
Today working with Roberto Juan Carlos Gonzalez-Homs in the library of Congress where he was presented the book " the inspiring life of Hector P. Garcia " A Doctor War Veteran originating in tamaulipas, Mexico. His daughter, Cecilia Garcia Akers, author of the book I deliver photographs that will be archived in the library. Dr. Garcia, served in the military without being an American citizen and was a pioneer in the fight for civil rights after studying in a segregated school in Texas. It should be mentioned, that he received the presidential medal of freedom.
The Inspiring Life of Texan Héctor P. García book signing
Before Héctor García founded the American G.I. Forum and became the first Mexican-American to earn a Presidential Medal of Freedom, he was the first Mexican to graduate from the University of Texas-Galveston, earning a doctorate in medicine in 1940. Later, as a second lieutenant serving in the United States Army, he received a Bronze Star Medal and a World War II Victory Medal. And he did all this without U.S. citizenship, something his daughter, Cecilia García Akers, didn’t know until years after her father’s 1996 passing. (He did become a U.S. citizen later in life and before receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom.) “He was so brave and humble,” says the San Antonio-based Akers, author of The Inspiring Life of Texan Héctor P. García. “He never complained about his struggles.”