The Longoria Affair

Master in Arts/Leadership Communications

The Longoria Affair
What had become an unfortunate and devastating aspect of World War II (WWII) suddenly saw the small town of Three Rivers, Texas thrust into the national spotlight. The untimely death of Private Felix Longoria, a hero and patriot became the symbol of Mexican Americans, while his story, The Longoria Affair provided proud Mexican Americans a purpose to unify and expand their struggle for civil rights in the decades to follow. The far reaching impacts would go down for many as the turning point in history for the civil rights of Mexican Americans, while for others involved, it became a cornerstone to some very powerful political careers.
Three Rivers
The small South Texas town of Three Rivers, just 100 Miles from the Mexican border was like many towns across the country that shaped itself along a racial divide. There were clear signs of segregation between the towns Anglo Saxon community and its Hispanics residents and this was even evident down to the street names used respectively on each side of town. The unwritten rules within racially divided towns often were born from the heart of discrimination and could often point to the underlying violation of civil rights. Evidence of such acts was often subtle but it was commonly known that a Mexican American for example could not purchase a home within the Anglo Saxon community. Three Rivers on the contrary also had residents that were very up front and vocal with their bigotry and hatred, but it was the deep under current of discrimination that hide around corners and behind doors that held this community and many like it across the country back from growth as well as prosperity. It was believed that many people wanted to sweep this under the rug and move on in an attempt to not have to acknowledge that any wrongdoing had